Practice Test

Please solve the following questions. This is not a real exam, it will not be graded, and you do not need to submit your solutions to anyone. The questions are simply intended to help you practice for the real exam.

These questions will not appear in the exam itself. Students who don't genuinely attempt to solve the questions on their own, and only memorize the solutions, will have a very hard time in the actual exam!

This sample exam is online, but the real exam will be given in person, at a time and place indicated on the course website.

THIS IS NOT THE ACTUAL EXAM!
THIS IS JUST A PRACTICE EXAM!
THE REAL EXAM IS IN PERSON!

If you need any clarifications for these questions, you can ask for them on the course Teams channel.

Question 1

A star was measured to have a parallax of 0.2 arc seconds. How far away is the star?

6 parsecs.
5 parsecs.
4 parsecs.

Question 2

Star A has brighter apparent magnitude than star B. What does that say about the luminosity of the two stars?

There's no way to know unless we also know the distance to each star.
Star A is more luminous.
Star B is more luminous.

Question 3

I observed an object, larger than Earth but smaller than the Sun, which does not generate light by either deuterium or hydrogen fusion. What is it?

A planet.
A star.
A brown dwarf.

Question 4

A star is located on the top left of the H-R diagram. This star has...

Low luminosity and low temperature.
High luminosity and high temperature.
High luminosity and low temperature.

Question 5

Which of the following is a blue giant?

O4 III
M5 V
M2 III

Question 6

In the proton-proton chain, how many total hydrogen nuclei do we start with? (Remember that steps 1 and 2 happen twice in a full chain!)

1.
2.
4.

Question 7

Which of the following is a bright giant?

B5 II
G2 IV
K6 V

Question 8

I see a very bright star. This could mean:

Either the distance to the star is large or the luminosity of the star is small.
Either the distance to the star is large or the luminosity of the star is large.
Either the distance to the star is small or the luminosity of the star is large.

Question 9

In an atom, the protons are located...

Inside the nucleus.
Either inside or outside the nucleus, depending on the type of atom.
Outside the nucleus.

Question 10

I found a hydrogen-9 isotope. How many neutrons does it have?

8
6
7

Question 11

Object A has mass 1 kg. Object B has mass 9 kg. According to E=mc², how much rest energy does object B have compared to A?

9 times more energy.
3 times more energy.
3 times less energy.

Question 12

Compared to RR Lyrae variables, cepheid variables typically have...

Higher luminosity and shorter period.
Lower luminosity and shorter period.
Higher luminosity and longer period.

Question 13

If a particle has charge +1, what would be the charge of its antiparticle?

0.
+1.
-1.

Question 14

Which of the following stars is the hottest?

K5
K3
K9

Question 15

Which of the following is the longest?

1 parsec.
1 trillion kilometers.
1 light-year.

Question 16

A photon has a wavelength of 530 nm. What color is it?

Blue.
Red.
Green.

Question 17

Which of the following stars is the brightest in the sky?

A star with apparent magnitude +3.1.
A star with apparent magnitude -4.4.
A star with apparent magnitude +7.0.

Question 18

What kind of mass is defined as resistance of an object to acceleration?

Inertial mass.
Gravitational mass.
Neither of the other options is correct.

Question 19

Which is the dominant process used in a star with 2.7 solar masses to generate light?

The proton-proton chain.
The CNO cycle.
Deuterium fusion.

Question 20

In the H-R diagram, red dwarfs can be found...

On the main sequence.
At higher luminosity and higher temperature than the main sequence.
At higher luminosity and lower temperature than the main sequence.

Question 21

What happens to the mass in electron-positron annihilation?

Its rest energy is converted into gravitational potential energy of the produced photons.
The mass is conserved, and converted into the mass of the photons.
Its rest energy is converted into kinetic energy of the produced photons.

Question 22

A neutron is made of...

1 up quark and 2 down quarks.
2 up quarks and 1 down quark.
1 up quark and 1 down quark.

Question 23

If the spectral lines of a star shift toward red, this means...

The star is moving toward us.
The star is moving away from us.
The star is not moving with respect to us.

Question 24

Photon A has wavelength 2 cm. Photon B has wavelength 1 cm. Which photon has a higher frequency?

Both have the same frequency.
Photon A.
Photon B.

Question 25

I want to measure the distance to a star that is estimated to be a few million light-years away. Which method should I use?

Stellar parallax
RR Lyrae variables
Cepheid variables