Supp Qs Final Exam Astro 320 Spring 08

Supplemental Questions to Study for the Final Exam.
In studying for the final exam, focus on THESE questions as well as the questions on the
midterm exams and the quizzes. The final exam will be constructed from these sources.
Good luck!!
MULTIPLE CHOICE. Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the
question.
1) Based on galactic rotation curves and cluster dynamics, we think dark matter:
A) does not exist.
B) is a very minor component on the total mass of the universe.
C) is best detected by X-rays in intracluster gas clouds.
D) comprises about 90% of the entire mass of the universe.
E) exists, but has no observable effect on the visible universe.
Answer: D
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 25.1R
2) For nearby spiral galaxies, the best present method of determining their mass is:
A) their observed apparent magnitude and distances from red shifts.
B) their visible luminosity and distances from Cepheid data.
C) their rotation curves.
D) by the distribution and motions of globular clusters in their halo.
E) by radio observations of their dark matter halos.
Answer: C
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 25.1N
3) The type of galaxy where we can track its motion through the intergalactic medium is a:
A) blazar.
B) quasar.
C) pulsar.
D) Head-Tail Radio Galaxy.
E) Seyfert galaxy.
Answer: D
4) Collisions between galaxies can:

A) turn irregulars into ellipticals.
B) cause both galaxies to collapse into a supermassive black hole.
C) cause bursts of star formation as starburst galaxies.
D) cause large numbers of stars to collide and explode.
E) hardly ever occur; like stars, galaxies are far apart, compared to their sizes.
Answer: C
5) Which of these is NOT considered a fine example of galactic collisions?
A) the Cartwheel Galaxy
B) the Antennae Galaxies
C) the Whirlpool Galaxy
D) M-31 in Andromeda
E) Centaurus A
Answer: D
6) When spiral galaxies do collide, the impact is greatest on their:
A) individual stars.
B) galactic nuclei.
C) giant molecular clouds.
D) open clusters.
E) globular clusters.
Answer: C
7) Compared to the Milky Way, how many stars are contained in the most massive galaxies?
A) two-three times
B) tens of times
C) hundreds of times
D) thousands of times
E) millions of times
Answer: B
8) The distance between adjacent galaxies in a typical cluster is about ________ times the size of a typical
galaxy.
A) two or three
B) five or less
C) ten to twenty
D) a hundred
E) a thousand
Answer: B
9) Due to the galaxy density and collisions, ________ are rare in the centers of clusters.
A) irregulars
B) quasars
C) spirals
D) black holes
E) blazars
Answer: C
10) Why are supermassive galaxies often found at the cores of rich galaxy clusters?
A) Most of the matter forming the cluster fell into the center to form one large galaxy.
B) They are the result of many galactic mergers; one galaxy growing at the expense of others.
C) Such a large galaxy attracted smaller galaxies around it to form a cluster.
D) Large galaxies, passing a cluster, get captured into the center.
E) Many globular clusters swarmed together to form it.
Answer: B
11) In its most energetic phase, a quasar can probably last only a:
A) a few years.
B) a few decades.
C) a few thousand years.
D) a few million years.
E) a few billion years.
Answer: D
12) ________ galaxies may bridge the gap between spiral galaxies and quasars.
A) Hickson
B) Arp
C) Core-halo
D) Seyfert
E) Hubble
Answer: D
13) A billion solar mass black hole has a radius of only:

A) one solar diameter.
B) 20 A.U.
C) 400 A.U.
D) 3 parsecs.
E) 20 parsecs.
Answer: B
14) Not only does the central engine of active galaxies and quasars require a black hole, ________ is also
needed to provide the energy radiated.
A) a collision with another galaxy
B) an accretion disk of matter
C) a very strong magnetic field
D) a source of very high energy electrons
E) a high rate of rotation of the black hole
Answer: B
15) Active galaxies are having their central engines temporarily fed by what occurrence?
A) a sudden surge in star formation in the nucleus
B) a series of supernovae all occurring in the dense nuclear bulge
C) a close interaction with a neighboring galaxy
D) attack by a swarm of globular clusters
E) the merger of a binary black hole system
Answer: C
16) What is implied about an active galaxy or quasar that varies its energy output rapidly?
A) The source of energy must be relatively small.
B) The source is due to a collision between matter and antimatter.
C) The energy source must be rapidly rotating.
D) The source of energy must be a chain reaction of supernovae occurring.
E) There are many separate tiny sources of energy in the object.
Answer: A
17) When mass is accreted into a black hole, how much total mass-energy can be radiated away?
A) .007%
B) .08%
C) 1.4%
D) 20%
E) 50%
Answer: D
18) The energy radiated from a typical quasar requires that its black hole accrete about:
A) 1 solar mass per 100 years.
B) 1 solar mass per 10,000 years.
C) 1 Jupiter mass per year.
D) 10 solar masses per year.
E) 1,000 solar masses per year.
Answer: D
19) What is the Great Wall?

A) It is a ridge on the Moon near the crater Birt.
B) It is the distance beyond which astronomers cannot view any more galaxies or even quasars.
C) It is a large sheet of galaxies measuring 70 Mpc by 200 Mpc.
D) It is the time before the universe started expanding, about which we can never know anything.
E) It is an enormous intergalactic cloud of dust and gas that hides more distant galaxies.
Answer: C
20) A galaxy is at a distance of one billion light years. Which of the following is true?
A) We see the galaxy the way it will be in one billion years.
B) We see the galaxy the way it was one billion years ago.
C) We see the galaxy the way it was when the universe was one billion years old.
D) We see what our galaxy will be like in one billion years.
E) We have no knowledge of anything at that distance.
Answer: B
21) In studying the large scale distribution on galaxies, we find that:

A) as expected, it is homogeneous and totally random.
B) most of the universe lies in vast voids, relatively empty.
C) the galaxies fall in filaments and sheets, with a "frothy" distribution.
D) Two of these answers are correct.
E) All of these answers are correct.
Answer: D
22) A redshift of seven implies a galaxy is receding at .96c; use Ho = 70. km/s/Mpc to find its distance.
A) 140 million light years
B) 1.4 billion light years
C) 4.2 billion light years
D) 13 billion light years
E) 19 billion light years
Answer: D
23) The look-back time of an object is directly related to its:

A) mass.
B) distance.
C) luminosity.
D) size.
E) composition.
Answer: B
24) The lensing of a distant quasar is produced by ________ of a foreground galaxy.
A) all the normal matter and dark matter
B) only the mass of the black hole in the nucleus
C) an individual star
D) a pulsar's intense magnetic field
E) a relativistic jet
Answer: A
25) What would a redshift of Z = 3 imply about the velocity of the object?
A) velocity = 3 km/s.
B) velocity = 3 times the speed of light
C) velocity = 1/3 the speed of light
D) velocity = 88% of the speed of light
E) velocity = 99.9% of the speed of light
Answer: D
TRUE/FALSE. Write 'T' if the statement is true and 'F' if the statement is false.
1) We now believe the majority of mass for most galaxies lies in their dark halos.
Answer: TRUE
2) For nearby spirals, their rotation curves help measure both light and dark matter.
Answer: TRUE
3) Most large spirals and ellipticals are comparable to the Milky Way in mass.
Answer: TRUE
4) Giant irregulars are the most massive of all known galaxies.

Answer: FALSE
5) While yet unseen, some gravitational evidence suggests the existence of dark galaxies.
Answer: TRUE
6) A large cluster's mass can be over a thousand times that of our Galaxy.
Answer: TRUE
7) Collisions between galaxies have little effect on the individual stars.

Answer: TRUE
8) Collisions between galaxies are rare, just as is the case with stars.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 25.2
9) While galaxies often collide, their stars rarely do.

Answer: TRUE
10) While collisions between galaxies have little impact on individual stars, this is not the case for the
giant molecular clouds, where new star formation is sped up.
Answer: TRUE
11) Nearby active galaxies are most likely the result of interactions between galaxies, such as lobe radio
galaxy Centaurus A.
Answer: TRUE
12) Quasars typically remain very energetic for only a few million years before calming down when most
mass near the black hole has been consumed.
Answer: TRUE
13) Probably every massive galaxy went through a quasar-like stage at one time early in its evolution.
Answer: TRUE
14) Quasars end in a massive explosion as a gamma ray burster.

Answer: FALSE
15) Our own Milky Way probably passed through a quasar stage two billion years ago, creating the
Magellanic Clouds from its bipolar jets.
Answer: FALSE
16) The last quasar probably died out a billion years ago, for none lie within a billion light years of us.
Answer: TRUE
17) Distant galaxies are more likely to be spirals than those nearby.
Answer: TRUE
18) Distant galaxies appear to be much larger than those nearby.

Answer: FALSE
19) Distant galaxies tend to be much bluer than those nearby.

Answer: TRUE
20) On average, elliptical galaxies are much older than large spiral galaxies.
Answer: FALSE
21) On average, the stars in elliptical galaxies are older than the stars in spiral galaxies.
Answer: TRUE
22) The most difficult property of spiral galaxies to explain is the observed fact that they all look
essentially the same.
Answer: FALSE
23) We now think that when mergers and collisions are taken into account, the sequence Hubble
envisioned is reversed, with spirals turning into ellipticals.
Answer: TRUE
24) Spiral galaxies are much more common in the centers of rich clusters than in the universe as a whole.
Answer: FALSE
25) As the brightest quasars must be devouring about a thousand solar masses per year, they cannot keep
doing this but for a few hundred years.
Answer: FALSE
26) While quasars may have now vanished, the large black holes they formed are still around, just not
being fed as well any more.
Answer: TRUE
27) While some massive neighbor galaxies may once have been quasars, our own Milky Way has too
small a black hole to have been this violent in the past.
Answer: TRUE
28) Galaxies in clusters are much more likely to become "active" than ones alone in space.
Answer: TRUE
29) On the largest scales, galaxies and galaxy clusters have random, disordered motions.
Answer: FALSE
30) The younger the universe was, the more abundant quasars were, according to our deep surveys.
Answer: TRUE
31) When observing a very distant quasar, we are actually seeing the universe the way it was when it was
much younger than it is today.
Answer: TRUE
32) Vast majority of the known volume of the universe lies in the voids.
Answer: TRUE
33) The largest voids may span 300 million light years across.
Answer: TRUE
34) The Lyman-alpha "forest" are absorption lines in a quasar spectrum created by all of the gases along
the billions of light years its energy has traversed.
Answer: TRUE
35) Gravity lensing lets us map the distribution of both visible and dark matter.
Answer: TRUE
question.
1) Homogeneity and isotropy, taken as assumptions regarding the structure and evolution of the universe,
are known as:
A) Obler's Paradox.
B) Hubble's Law.
C) Wien's Law.
D) the Cosmological Principle.
E) the Grand Unified Theory.
Answer: D
2) The largest red shift survey of galaxies to date is called the:

A) 2MASS.
B) Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
C) COBE.
D) WMAP.
E) Palomar Sky Survey.
Answer: B
3) What is the meaning of isotropic?

A) the same density everywhere
B) the same in all directions
C) the same at all times
D) the same temperature everywhere
E) the same in every way throughout space
Answer: B
4) ________ is the concept that all large samples of the universe are alike in appearance anywhere in the
universe.
A) Conformity
B) Isotropy
C) Universality
D) Homogeneity
E) Cosmology
Answer: D
5) Because almost all of the galaxies are redshifted, we know that:

A) there was no beginning to time.
B) we are at or close to the center of the universe.
C) the universe is expanding.
D) the sky is dark at night.
E) All of the above are correct.
Answer: C
6) The darkness of the night sky in a seemingly infinite universe is addressed in:
A) the Doppler shift.
B) parallax shift.
C) Stefan's Law.
D) Olbers' Paradox.
E) the Cosmological Principle.
Answer: D
7) The explanation for the darkness of the night sky is that:

A) the energy of the distant galaxies has been weakened in their red shifting.
B) the Big Bang means the universe is not infinitely old or large.
C) two of these answers both contribute to help understand Olbers' Paradox.
D) we still do not know why it is dark at night.
E) the sky is not dark.
Answer: C
8) The redshift of galaxies in the universe is correctly interpreted as:

A) a Doppler shift due to the motions of the galaxies through space.
B) an "aging" of the light.
C) the effect of intergalactic dust.
D) space itself is expanding with time; the wavelengths of photon are stretched while they travel through
space.
E) the difference in temperatures of distant and nearby galaxies.
Answer: D
9) From the 1970s through the 1990s, the accepted value of H was almost doubled. This meant:
A) the age of the universe was twice as old as previously thought.
B) the Hubble Time was halved.
C) the Cepheids must be evolving with time, throwing off our measurements.
D) the ages of the oldest globular clusters were reliable, after all.
E) the universe is eight times denser than previously believed.
Answer: B
10) The Hubble time is expressed as:

A) H × D.
B) D/v.
C) 1/H.
D) H × T.
E) the critical density/H.
Answer: C
11) For a Hubble constant of about 70 km/sec/Mpc, we get a Hubble Time of:
A) 4.5 billion years.
B) 11 billion years.
C) 14 billion years.
D) 17.6 billion years.
E) 21.4 billion years.
Answer: C
12) While a variety of factors can produce red shifts in the spectrum, the one associated with the expansion
of the universe is called:
A) universal.
B) cosmological.
C) olberian.
D) relativistic.
E) the Zeeman Effect.
Answer: B
13) For a Hubble constant of 70 km/s/Mpc, and given that 1 kg/m3 = 1000 g/cc the critical density is about:
A) 1.4 g/cc
B) 6.23 × 10-27 g/cc
C) 4 × 10-36 g/cc
D) 9 × 10-30 g/cc
E) 6 × 1023g/cc
Answer: D
14) If the density of the universe is less than critical, then:

A) the universe will "survive" to expand forever.
B) the universe on average must be less than 2.73K in temperature.
C) the universal expansion must stop within about twenty billion years.
D) the universe must be static, and the red shifts are not cosmological.
E) the universe will begin contracting immediately into the "Big Crunch."
Answer: A
15) In which of the following models will the universe stop expanding?
A) High Density Universe
B) Low Density Universe
C) Steady State Universe
D) Critical Density Universe
E) Euclidean Universe
Answer: A
16) For a spatially flat (Euclidean) universe, Ωo is:

A) zero.
B) 0.3.
C) 1.0.
D) between 1.4 and 2.
E) infinite.
Answer: C
17) The ratio of the universe's actual density to the critical density is:
r
A) critical
.
B) π/ρ.
C) Ωo.
D) H/D.
E) 1/H.
Answer: C
18) In Robert Frost's classic poem, when he ends with "ice will suffice", the universe is:
A) closed.
B) critical density.
C) open.
D) Euclidean.
E) Relativistic.
Answer: C
19) The universe has three possible futures. Which one is correct depends only on the average density of
matter in the universe. Why is this?
A) The density of matter determines the strength of gravity, which decelerates the expansion over time.
B) The density of matter determines the rate of formation of black holes which will eventually collapse the
universe.
C) The density of matter tells astronomers whether new matter is constantly forming, thereby producing a
steady-state.
D) If the density is sufficiently high, the geometry of space may be curved.
E) The density of visible matter must exactly equal the dark force energy.
Answer: A
20) What is the meaning of a "closed" universe?

A) The universe will expand forever.
B) The universe will someday stop expanding and start to collapse.
C) The universe will stop expanding in an infinite amount of time.
D) The universe is in a steady-state.
E) The universe will disappear into a white hole in time.
Answer: B
21) The geometry of a closed universe, in two dimensions, resembles which one of the following?
A) a space-time pyramid
B) a flat piece of paper
C) the surface of a saddle
D) the surface of a cylinder
E) the surface of a sphere
Answer: E
22) What does the Hubble law imply about the history of the universe?
A) The universe started expanding at some time in the past; the universe has an age.
B) The universe has been expanding forever; it is infinitely old.
C) The Milky Way Galaxy is at the focus where the universe started to expand.
D) That the farthest galaxies are the oldest and most evolved.
E) Before the universe started to this expansion, it had collapsed and expanded many times before.
Answer: A
23) If the presently accepted value of Ωo = 0.3 is indeed correct, then the universe will:
A) expand forever.
B) expand to the critical size for the Steady State model, then become static.
C) stop expanding in about forty billion years, to collapse into the next cosmic cycle.
D) Two of the answers are correct.
E) All of the above are correct.
Answer: A
24) The critical evidence for cosmic acceleration in 1998 came from two teams of astronomers, both
observing:
A) hypernovae.
B) gamma ray bursts.
C) type I supernovae.
D) type II supernovae.
E) ages of globular clusters.
Answer: C
25) The universal accelerating force could NOT be considered:

A) antigravity.
B) Einstein's cosmological constant.
C) dark energy.
D) vacuum pressure.
E) dark matter.
Answer: E
26) The Wilkinson Mapping Project gave:

A) Ωo = 1, but matter (dark and visible) is only 27% of this, the rest is dark energy.
B) a closed universe, where dark matter triumphs over dark energy.
C) an exact picture of the nature of dark energy.
D) us proof that 90% of matter is dark, only 10% normal.
E) the background cosmic temperature is 4.36 K.
Answer: A
27) Recent work with type I supernovae at great distances suggests the universe may in fact be
accelerating its expansion, a discovery attributed to a newly found:
A) repulsive charge on dark matter.
B) polarization and a universal spinning magnetic field.
C) dark energy.
D) magnetic field associated with antimatter.
E) mass determined for the neutrinos.
Answer: C
28) According to their H-R diagram turn-off points, the oldest globular clusters are about:
A) 3.5 billion years old.
B) 4.7 billion years old.
C) 9.2 billion years old.
D) 12 billion years old.
E) 14.5 billion years old.
Answer: D
29) The assumption of an accelerating expanding universe lowers the Hubble Time to:
A) 12.3 billion years.
B) 13.7 billion years.
C) 14.3 billion years.
D) 15.7 billion years.
E) 18 billion years.
Answer: B
30) In our best current theory, the first quasars formed about:
A) 14.5 billion years ago.
B) 13 billion years ago.
C) 12 billion years ago.
D) 11 billion years ago.
E) 9 billion years ago.
Answer: B
31) In the critical universe now proposed, the ratio of matter/energy is about:
A) 50:50.
B) 27:73.
C) 75:25.
D) 10:90.
E) 95:5.
Answer: B
32) The cosmic microwave background is important mostly because:

A) its detection lead to the discovery of dark energy.
B) its detection opened a new form of radiation to observation.
C) it confirmed a major prediction made by the Big Bang theory.
D) it showed that the universe is open.
E) it showed that the universe is closed.
Answer: C
33) The two teams involved in the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation were at:
A) NRAO and Cal Tech.
B) JPL and the Hubble Space Institute.
C) Kitt Peak and the University of Arizona.
D) Bell Labs and Princeton.
E) Mt. Palomar and the VLA.
Answer: D
34) The satellite most responsible for studying the microwave universe and the nature of the cosmic
background radiation is:
A) the Spitzer Space Telescope.
B) the Compton GRO.
C) the Hubble Space Telescope.
D) COBE.
E) the Chandra Observatory.
Answer: D
35) The COBE data showed that with very minor variations, the temperature of the background radiation is
exactly:
A) 37.8 K.
B) 4.8 K.
C) 2.7 K.
D) 1.4 K.
E) 0.23 K.
Answer: C
1) An infinite universe is one of the assumptions of the cosmological principle.
Answer: FALSE
2) Cosmic homogeneity is tested observationally, but cosmic isotropy has no observational test.
Answer: FALSE
3) Olber's paradox asks, "Why is the night sky dark?"

Answer: TRUE
4) The cosmological redshift is actually not a velocity at all, but a measure of the expansion of space-time.
Answer: TRUE
5) The cosmological redshift is a direct measure of the expansion of the universe, thus independent of
direction.
Answer: TRUE
6) The Big Bang was an expansion of matter into empty space.

Answer: FALSE
7) Olber's Paradox is solved in part by the fact that the universe is not infinitely large nor infinitely old.
Answer: TRUE
8) The darkness of night is due in part to the red shift of distant, luminous objects, meaning that much of
their energy was swallowed up in universal expansion.
Answer: TRUE
9) Galaxies appear to be moving away from us and into the vast empty space of the outer universe.
Answer: FALSE
10) If the value of the Hubble constant were doubled, it would also double the age of the universe.
Answer: FALSE
11) The Hubble constant divided into the number one gives a rough estimate for the age of the universe, or
the "Hubble Time."
Answer: TRUE
12) According to the Big Bang model, the universe will either expand forever or it will someday stop
expanding and collapse back to a point.
Answer: TRUE
13) The critical density, ρc, is about 9 × 10-27 kg/m3, if Ho is 70 km/sec/Mpc.

Answer: TRUE
14) The low density universe is an open one, with expansion continuing forever.
Answer: TRUE
15) In a high density universe, gravity ultimately wins.

Answer: TRUE
16) A critically bound universe is geometrically flat, and Euclid rules.

Answer: TRUE
17) Euclidean geometry and Newtonian physics are useful for most common problems but the geometry of
space and the universe requires general relativity.
Answer: TRUE
18) The closed universe would give the cosmos a spherical geometry in space-time.
Answer: TRUE
19) The open universe would be geometrically flat.

Answer: FALSE
20) If the universe has a density greater than Ωo = 1, it is considered high density.
Answer: TRUE
21) The open universe would require Ωo be less than zero.

Answer: FALSE
22) All the known matter, both normal and dark, only gives us an Ωo of about .3.
Answer: TRUE
23) While the average density near the Great Attractor may be near critical, on the whole the material
universe is still not nearly dense enough for closure.
Answer: TRUE
24) It was the dimness of distant type II supernova that led to discovery of dark matter.
Answer: FALSE
25) The universe has been expanding at the same rate since its formation.
Answer: FALSE
26) The fate or future of the universe depends only on the total number of galaxies and quasars.
Answer: FALSE
27) A bound universe will ultimately end in a "cold death."

Answer: FALSE
28) Latest observations of type I supernovae suggest the universe is slowing down more than expected.
Answer: FALSE
29) Einstein's cosmological constant is a leading candidate for the "dark energy".
Answer: TRUE
30) Einstein's original "cosmological constant" was added to stop the expansion of the universe in his
General Theory of Relativity; its modern reincarnation does exactly the opposite.
Answer: FALSE
31) Like dark matter, dark energy will help retard the expansion of the cosmos and lead to its recycling in
a closed Big Bang.
Answer: FALSE
32) Currently we think the matter accounts for only 27% of the cosmos, with dark energy making up the
rest.
Answer: TRUE
33) If the Hubble Constant is 70 km/sec/Mpc, the accelerating universe is about 10 billion years old.
Answer: FALSE
34) The COBE data tells us the solar system is moving toward Leo, due to the Great Attractor.
Answer: TRUE
35) The cosmic microwave background is the total of all the radio emissions from all the galaxies and
quasars in the universe.
Answer: FALSE
question.
1) For how many years did life on Earth consist of only single-celled life forms?
A) less than 30,000 years
B) about 65 million years
C) about 250 million years
D) about 2.5 billion years
E) over 3.8 billion years
Answer: D
2) Which of the following does not reveal information about conditions on the early Earth?
A) the fossil record
B) the sedimentary rocks found on the most ancient exposures in Greenland
C) laboratory simulations of the primordial ocean and atmosphere
D) advanced experiments on amino acids
E) evidence gleaned from other planets in the early stages of their evolution
Answer: E
3) About how long ago did multicellular life forms appear on Earth?
A) 4.6 billion years ago
B) 3.8 billion years ago
C) 1.0 billion years ago
D) 65 million years ago
E) 12 million years ago
Answer: C
4) What important molecules for life were found in the first Miller-Urey experiment?
A) protoplasm
B) simple DNA
C) fatty acids and lipids
D) proteins
E) amino acids
Answer: E
5) For which of these forms of life is it hardest to apply present criteria for life, based on its behavior when
isolated?
A) a bacterial spore
B) a plant seed
C) a virus
D) a fungus spore
E) a slime mold
Answer: C
6) Which type of meteorite is the most primitive, and likely to contain organic molecules from the giant
molecular clouds that make new stars?
A) tektites
B) irons
C) stony-irons
D) carbonaceous chondrites
E) stones
Answer: D
7) Which of these was NOT one of the text's criteria for life?
A) the ability to react to the environment
B) the ability to grow, taking in nourishment and generating energy with it
C) the ability to communicate with other living beings
D) the ability to reproduce
E) the ability to evolve via genetic changes over generations
Answer: C
8) The first tests to demonstrate the possibility of chemical evolution were done in 1953 by:
A) Frank Drake.
B) Jocelyn Bell and Anthony Hewish.
C) Wilson and Penzias.
D) Carl Sagan.
E) Miller and Urey.
Answer: E
9) If the material for life was introduced from space after the Earth formed, a major carrier would have
been:
A) the solar wind.
B) tektites from the Moon.
C) comet impacts.
D) encounters with other solar systems.
E) iron meteorites.
Answer: C
10) What type of molecules, important to life on Earth, were found in the Murchison meteorite?
A) glycemic acids
B) amino acids
C) proteins
D) sugars
E) lipids
Answer: B
11) ALH 84001 is a famed and very controversial meteorite with hints that life might have existed on:
A) an asteroid like Ceres.
B) a comet like Hale-Bopp.
C) Mars.
D) Venus.
E) Europa.
Answer: C
12) Which of these does Mars NOT have to help its case of past or present life?
A) occasional water flows, and past records of much larger ones
B) a protective ozone layer
C) carbon dioxide to provide some greenhouse warming
D) a favorable distance from the Sun
E) rover discoveries of sedimentary rocks and carbonates on the surface of Mars
Answer: B
13) Of all the chemical elements, the one most crucial to the complexity of life is:
A) hydrogen.
B) oxygen.
C) sulfur.
D) carbon.
E) nitrogen.
Answer: D
14) In addition to Mars, which jovian moon shows some promise of life, with a surface not that different
from the Arctic Ocean?
A) Titan
B) Miranda
C) Europa
D) Io
E) Triton
Answer: C
15) In terms of its thick and chemically active atmosphere of hydrocarbons, which jovian moon will merit
a visit from the Huygens probe in 2005?
A) Europa
B) Triton
C) Titan
D) Titania
E) Enceladus
Answer: C
16) What do Viking, Pathfinder, and the two Mars Rovers have in common?
A) They all found proof of life on Mars.
B) They all could move over the surface of Mars to examine the rocks.
C) They all were designed to investigate Mars' potential for life.
D) They all are still transmitting data from Mars to Earth.
E) They all proved Mars was too inhospitable for life to have every existed there.
Answer: C
17) What is a "habitable zone"?

A) a zone of habitability in temperature regions on earthlike planets
B) a zone of habitability for planets orbiting their stars
C) a zone of habitability for stars orbiting the centers of active galaxies
D) a zone of habitability within the dense atmosphere of the planet Jupiter
E) a region beneath the ice of Europa where water is liquid
Answer: B
18) Around which type of star is there the greatest chance of finding planets inhabited by intelligent
beings?
A) a main sequence M star, such as Proxima Centauri
B) a main-sequence K star, such as tau Ceti
C) a main-sequence B star, such as Spica
D) a K-type giant like Arcturus
E) a white dwarf like Sirius B
Answer: B
19) Which of the following factors from the Drake equation has a value that is not at all known?
A) the number of stars in a galaxy
B) rate of star formation in a galaxy like ours
C) average lifetime of a technological civilization
D) fraction of stars having a planetary system
E) fraction of life-bearing planets on which intelligence evolves
Answer: C
20) Which of the following appears to have been most favored by natural selection?
A) vocal cords
B) intelligence
C) opposable thumbs
D) keen vision
E) upright carriage
Answer: B
21) What is the approximate rate of star formation in the Milky Way Galaxy?
A) one star per year
B) ten stars per year
C) a hundred stars per year
D) a star per hundred years
E) a star per thousand years
Answer: B
22) Of the planetary systems that may exist in our galaxy, what fraction may contain a habitable planet?
A) almost all
B) about half
C) about a tenth
D) only one in fifty
E) less than one in a hundred
Answer: C
23) The Drake equation calculates N. What is N?

A) the number of intelligences in the entire universe
B) the number of technical civilizations in our galaxy presently
C) the number of stars with habitable planets
D) the number of planets with life in the universe
E) the number of planets in just our galaxy
Answer: B
24) How is a technical civilization defined?

A) a civilization that can avoid self-destruction for long periods
B) a civilization that can communicate over interstellar distances
C) a civilization that has the ability to store and process information
D) a civilization that has developed interplanetary space travel
E) a civilization that can construct tools out of raw materials
Answer: B
25) The Drake equation now tells us that the number of technological civilizations in our Galaxy at this
time is:
A) only our own.
B) five to ten at most.
C) perhaps 3,000.
D) millions.
E) not known; insufficient data to compute.
Answer: E
26) Which of these factors would take into account the rate of star formation, history of active galactic
nuclei, and populations of stars?
A) the Cosmological Constant
B) the Galactic Habitability Zone
C) the Cosmic Ecosphere
D) Biopshere I
E) Biosphere II
Answer: B
27) The first probe carrying mankind's message to alien civilizations was:
A) Sputnik I.
B) Mariner 4.
C) Pioneer 10.
D) Voyager I.
E) New Horizons.
Answer: C
28) Which of these technological advances would make it harder for ET to find us?
A) FM radio
B) color television
C) the Global Positioning Satellite Network
D) cable TV
E) geosynchronous satellites
Answer: D
29) To date, our serious searches for ET have been done almost entirely:
A) in Roswell and Gulf Breeze.
B) with radio telescopes.
C) with optical telescopes looking for nuclear tests.
D) with microwaves in the giant molecular clouds.
E) with infrared telescopes looking for greenhouse gases.
Answer: B
30) The region between 18 and 21 cm wavelength is called the:

A) ozone gap.
B) Olber's paradox.
C) greenhouse effect.
D) water hole.
E) carbon cycle.
Answer: D
1) The definition of "life" requires only that the entity be able to reproduce and grow.
Answer: FALSE
2) In their ability to react to their environments and even heal themselves, the two Mars Rovers have
proven themselves by these criteria to be "alive".
Answer: TRUE
3) Living cells have already been created in the laboratory from non-living materials.
Answer: FALSE
4) It took about a billion years for multi-cellular organisms to evolve from single-celled ones in the fossil
record.
Answer: FALSE
5) Hundreds of complex organic molecules exist in deep space, especially in the giant molecular clouds.
Answer: TRUE
6) The Miller-Urey experiments created an atmosphere similar to jovian planets, and the reactions created
brownish compounds like the colors of Jupiter's belts.
Answer: TRUE
7) The Miller-Urey experiment tried to bring life to carbon-rich compounds from the Murchison meteorite.
Answer: FALSE
8) Comet impacts might have been a good mechanism for seeding the hot early Earth with the water and
molecules of life.
Answer: TRUE
9) To date, the most promising candidate for extraterrestrial microfossils has come on a meteorite from
Mars.
Answer: TRUE
10) The entirety of human "civilization" is considered to go back at least 50,000 years.
Answer: FALSE
11) Life emerged when Earth was about a billion years old, according to the oldest microfossils yet
identified.
Answer: TRUE
12) All life on Earth depends on the Sun for energy and photosynthesis.
Answer: FALSE
13) The darker the surface of the meteorite, asteroid, or comet, the brighter the prospects for organic
molecules.
Answer: TRUE
14) Of the other worlds in the solar system, from an atmospheric standpoint Titan is most promising, as
our sending of the Huygens probe testifies.
Answer: TRUE
15) In terms of salt water, pack ice, and some organic chemicals, Europa is promising, and will be the
subject of NASA landers in the future.
Answer: TRUE
16) Because of its proximity and similarity to Earth's gravity, it has been much easier to operate rovers on
Venus than on Mars.
Answer: FALSE
17) The Viking landers found no chemical hint that microbes might exist today on Mars.
Answer: FALSE
18) The discovery of abundant carbonate rocks by the Mars Rovers has certainly increased interest in
future exploration for traces of past martian life.
Answer: TRUE
19) We now know that photosynthesis is not the only energy mechanism that life can use to supply it with
energy.
Answer: TRUE
20) Because iron is vital to life on Earth, iron meteorites such as Meteor Crater in Arizona are the best
ones to search for microfossils.
Answer: FALSE
21) Europa's surface and interior is the most promising of the bodies in the outer solar system for life in its
seas.
Answer: TRUE
22) Of the other terrestrial planets, Mars looks the most promising for life in terms of water in its past and
present.
Answer: TRUE
23) A meteorite from our own Moon has shown to have carbonate rocks and possible microfossils.
Answer: FALSE
24) With a little bit of atmospheric luck, the Sun's habitable zone could have contained three planets.
Answer: TRUE
25) Earth-mass planets have been observed, but not orbiting stars we would consider habitable, like our
own Sun.
Answer: TRUE
26) The one term in the Drake equation whose value remains virtually unknown is the average lifetime of a
technological civilization, a factor we can perhaps influence.
Answer: TRUE
27) Each factor in the Drake equation has a well-established value with observational data to support it.
Answer: FALSE
28) The Drake equation estimates the total number of planets in just our own galaxy that contain life.
Answer: FALSE
29) Since two suns are better than one, the chances of life increase with close binary star systems.
Answer: FALSE
30) Based on chemistry and age, population I stars are more likely to have lively planets in the Milky
Way's galactic habitable zone.
Answer: TRUE
31) Elliptical galaxies, with older stars, will be more likely to have evolved intelligences than the stars
close to us in the Milky Way.
Answer: FALSE
32) We think classes F, G, and K are the best candidate stars for SETI.
Answer: TRUE
33) Frank Drake sent the first intentional message to ET in Project Ozma toward the globular cluster M-13
in Hercules, which now based on population II star's chemistry seems to have been a poor choice.
Answer: TRUE
34) Evidence of intelligent and technological life on Earth has already reached out to at least 80 light years
by means of the Voyagers and Pioneers.
Answer: FALSE
35) The discovery of pulsars by Jocelyn Bell in 1967 began as a SETI project, when she detected recurrent,
very regular signals.
Answer: TRUE
36) Earth is a strong source of FM radio wavelength radiation, with a period of 23 hours, 56 minutes.
Answer: TRUE
37) To alien radio astronomers, our planet appears like a pulsar, with a very slow period, a complex wave
pattern that varies by the hour, but fairly repetitive.
Answer: TRUE
38) As yet, humans are unable to launch a probe that could move into interstellar space, breaking the hold
of the Sun's gravity.
Answer: FALSE
39) The "water hole" is near the galactic center, and may be a place were many forms of ET gather.
Answer: FALSE
40) In our seach for cosmic communication, the water hole is a radio region that has the lowest
background noise.
Answer: TRUE

Supp Qs Final Exam Astro 320 Spring 08

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Supplemental Questions to Study for the Final Exam.

4) Collisions between galaxies can:

13) A billion solar mass black hole has a radius of only:

19) What is the Great Wall?

21) In studying the large scale distribution on galaxies, we find that:

23) The look-back time of an object is directly related to its:

4) Giant irregulars are the most massive of all known galaxies.

7) Collisions between galaxies have little effect on the individual stars.

9) While galaxies often collide, their stars rarely do.

14) Quasars end in a massive explosion as a gamma ray burster.

18) Distant galaxies appear to be much larger than those nearby.

19) Distant galaxies tend to be much bluer than those nearby.

2) The largest red shift survey of galaxies to date is called the:

3) What is the meaning of isotropic?

5) Because almost all of the galaxies are redshifted, we know that:

7) The explanation for the darkness of the night sky is that:

8) The redshift of galaxies in the universe is correctly interpreted as:

10) The Hubble time is expressed as:

14) If the density of the universe is less than critical, then:

16) For a spatially flat (Euclidean) universe, Ωo is:

20) What is the meaning of a "closed" universe?

25) The universal accelerating force could NOT be considered:

26) The Wilkinson Mapping Project gave:

32) The cosmic microwave background is important mostly because:

3) Olber's paradox asks, "Why is the night sky dark?"

6) The Big Bang was an expansion of matter into empty space.

13) The critical density, ρc, is about 9 × 10-27 kg/m3, if Ho is 70 km/sec/Mpc.

15) In a high density universe, gravity ultimately wins.

16) A critically bound universe is geometrically flat, and Euclid rules.

19) The open universe would be geometrically flat.

21) The open universe would require Ωo be less than zero.

27) A bound universe will ultimately end in a "cold death."

17) What is a "habitable zone"?

23) The Drake equation calculates N. What is N?

24) How is a technical civilization defined?

30) The region between 18 and 21 cm wavelength is called the:

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