1. The Astronomical Unit (AU) is the average distance between
a) the Earth's north and south poles
b) the Moon and the Earth
c) the Sun and Neptune
d) the Sun and the Earth
e) the Sun and the nearest star
2. What is the length of the AU?
a) 13,000 miles
b) 300,000 km
c) 92 million miles
d) 1 light minute
e) 4 light seconds
3. The radius of the Sun's planetary system out to Neptune in AU is
roughly
a) 10 b) 20 c) 30 d) 80 e) 160
4. The distance to the nearest star (other than the Sun) in light
years is
a) 0.4 b) 4 c) 40 d) 400 e) 4000
5. The speed of light in miles per second is
a) 18,600
b) 186,000
c) 300,000
d) 30 million
e) 30,000
6. The Earth's diameter is roughly
a) 8000 kilometers
b) 4000 kilometers
c) 238,000 miles
d) 25,000 miles
e) 13,000 kilometers
7. The Sun's diameter is how many times that of Earth?
a) 10,000 b) 1000 c) 100 d) 10 e) 1
8. The diameter of our Galaxy in light years is roughly
a) 0 b) 100 c) 10,000 d) 100,000 e) a billion
9. About how many stars are there in our Galaxy?
a) 1000
b) 100,000
c) a million
d) 200 million
e) 200 billion
10. How far away (in light years) is the nearest Galaxy that is
similar to ours?
a) 100,000
b) two million
c) 200 million
d) a billion
e) 200 billion
11. Which constellation is most related in mythology and appearance
to Ursa Minor?
a) Ursa Major
b) Canis Minor
c) Orion
d) Canis Major
e) Hercules
12. What constellation contains Polaris and the North Celestial
Pole?
a) Canis Major
b) Canis Minor
c) Ursa Minor
d) Ursa Major
e) Taurus
13. Which constellation is always visible from Urbana (never
setting)?
a) Canis Major
b) Scorpius
c) Crux (the Southern Cross)
d) Orion
e) Ursa Minor
14. What constellation does not belong to the Perseus myth?
a) Andromeda
b) Pegasus
c) Draco
d) Cepheus
e) Cassiopeia
15. A first magnitude star is how many times brighter than one of
sixth magnitude??
a) 2.5 b) 5 c) 6 d) 25 e) 100
16. The Big Dipper is in
a) Orion
b) Scorpius
c) Canis Minor
d) Orion
e) Ursa Major
17. Which is not a constellation of the Zodiac?
a) Leo
b) Scorpius
c) Sagittarius
d) Cepheus
e) Aquarius
18. Most proper star names are
a) Roman b) Latin c) Greek d) Arabic e) Egyptian
19. The modern constellations were invented
a) by the ancient Greeks
b) by medieval Egyptians
c) by Ptolemy
d) between AD 1600 and 1800
e) in the twentieth century
20. Which would ordinarily be the name of the brightest star in a
constellation?
a) Omega
b) Alpha
c) "1"
d) "a"
e) "A"
21. The Milky Way is made of
a) stars in the disk of our Galaxy
b) dust in the disk of our planetary system
c) a collection of comets in orbit
d) the northern lights
e) reflected moonlight
22. Which is a modern constellation?
a) Microscopium
b) Canis Minor
c) Draco
d) all of the above
e) none of the above
23. Who developed a system that numbered stars by
constellation?
a) J. S. Bach
b) Johannes Bayer
c) nobody
d) John Flamsteed
e) George Darwin
24. The Winter Triangle is made of stars in
a) Cygnus, Lyra, and Aquila
b) Orion, Canis Major, Ursa Minor
c) Canis Minor, Draco, Cepheus
d) Orion, Canis Major, Canis Minor
e) Canis Major, Ursa Major, Ursa Tertiary
25. The brightest star in our sky is
a) Polaris
b) Deneb
c) Betelgeuse
d) Alpha Centauri
e) Sirius