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PSU Astro 7N Midterm Questions and Correct Answers Updated 2025-2026 Rated A
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A comet's nucleus is composed of: - ANSDust, dry ice, and water ice A comet's tail points - ANSAway from the sun A meteor shower can occur when: - ANSEarth's orbit crosses a trail of debris left behind from a comet A moon orbits a planet in exactly the same plane as the planet orbits its star. How often does this planet experience a solar eclipse? - ANSOnce every orbit of its moon(its month) A mountain top is a good location for optical telescopes because the site...
A planet in a nearly circular orbit with its rotation axis tilted by 5 degrees relative to its orbital plane around its star would have... - ANSHave seasons that are not very different from each other as compared to Earth's A planet is in orbit around the Sun. The semimajor axis of the orbit is 5 Astronomical Units (AU). Use P^2 = a^3 to calculate the period of the orbit, in years. - ANS11.2 years A star is a hot, dense gas surrounded by a cooler, low density atmosphere. What type of spectrum will a star create? - ANSAbsorption spectrum According to Newton's 2nd law of motion, if the net force acting on the object increases while the mass of the object remains constant, what happens to the acceleration? - ANSAcceleration increases An emission line is produced when: - ANSAn electron passes from a higher to a lower energy level Approximately 2 weeks after a solar eclipse, what phase will the moon be in? - ANSFull As compared to a cool star, a hotter star emits... - ANSShorter wavelength, higher frequency, bluer color At approximately what time does the 3rd quarter moon rise? - ANSmidnight At what time will the Moon set on the day of a Solar eclipse? - ANSSunset
Craters on Venus: - ANSAre about the same in size and structure to those on Earth, Moon, and Mars Dark lines in an absorption spectrum represent: - ANSParticular energies of light coming from a distant object that are absorbed by material in between Describe a bluer color light in terms of its energy, frequency, and wavelength - ANSHigh-energy light, high frequency, low/short wavelength Describe a redder color light in terms of its energy, frequency, and wavelength - ANSLow-energy light, low frequency, high/long wavelength Even the largest ground-based telescopes have resolution restrictions imposed by: - ANSAtmospheric blurring of images From Earth, in which constellation might you find the planet Saturn? - ANSTaurus How are the Sun, Earth, and Moon positioned when it is a lunar eclipse, and what phase is the Moon in? - ANSSun, Earth, moon(as in full moon) How are the Sun, Earth, and Moon positioned when it is a solar eclipse? - ANSSun, moon, Earth(as in new moon) How are the Sun, Earth, and Moon positioned when it is full Moon? - ANSSun, Earth, moon
How are the Sun, Earth, and Moon positioned when it is new Moon? - ANSIn a straight line: Sun, moon, Earth How did Kepler himself originally state his second law? - ANSA line joining a planet and the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal intervals of time How do most craters on moons form? - ANSImpact of asteroids How does the Sun appear to move in the sky in the course of a day? - ANSEast to West, because of Earth's rotation. The stars and planets move in the same way from our point of view, also, because of Earth's rotation How is the Earth's axis tilted when we have summer in the Northern hemisphere? - ANSWith the North pole toward the Sun How long would one need to observe a star on a 10 meter telescope to collect the same amount of light as one collects in one hour on a 5 meter telescope? - ANS15 minutes How many astronomical units are between the Earth and the Sun? - ANS How many Earth years does it take Uranus to orbit the Sun? - ANS How much of the total surface area of the moon is illuminated by sunlight during the full moon phase? - ANS1/
Meteors are... - ANSAsteroids or comet debris that passes into Earth's atmosphere and burns up Most meteors: - ANSAre very small pieces of rock burning in the Earth's atmosphere Of the 4 Galilean moons, which is the closest to Jupiter? - ANSLo Radio waves can travel large distances without interference because... - ANSThey have longer wavelengths than visible light Reflecting telescopes use what to collect focus and light? - ANSA mirror Refracting telescopes use what to collect focus and light? - ANSA lens Saturn is about 10x as far from the sun as Earth is (a=10 AU). About how many times does Earth orbit the sun in the time it takes Saturn to orbit just once? - ANSAbout 30 Say that there were a Planet X in our Solar System with a mass 1/4 the mass of Earth and a radius 1/2 the radius or Earth. How will the gravity on its surface compare to the surface gravity of Earth? - ANSSurface gravity on Planet X is the same as on Earth Star A is 4000 K, and Star B is 8000 K. True or false: The color of Star A is redder than Star B. - ANSTrue
Stars that are in the same constellation... - ANSAre likely to be at very different distances from us The "North Star" is a star in the constellation of Ursa Minor, which lies just above the North Pole of Earth. True or false: Ursa Minor is not a Zodiac constellation. - ANSTrue The densities of the four Terrestrial planets are similar to each other. This means - ANSThey are made of similar substances The Earth radius is about 6400 km. If you were in orbit in the space station 150km above the ground, the force of gravity you feel from Earth would be
True or false: Venus rotates in the opposite direction from the three other inner planets - ANSTrue Two planets have the same radius. If Planet A is 5 times more massive than Planet B, how does gravity differ on the surfaces of the two planets? - ANSGravity is 5 times stronger on Planet A Venus is visible to us... - ANSOnly near sunrise or sunset Volcanoes on Venus: - ANSproduce very large lava flows that cover at least 85% of the planet's surface We saw that Kepler's 3rd law states that P^2/a^3 = constant. What does P represent in this equation? - ANSOrbital period, in this case how long it takes for a satellite to orbit Jupiter What about eclipses of the moons of Mars? - ANSMars has two small moons, Phobos and Deimos. Relative to Earth's Moon, they are tiny, and closer to their planet and orbiting faster — and closer to the orbital plane of Mars around the Sun. This leads to more frequent eclipses visible from Mars What are the forms of light in order from highest to lowest energies? - ANSGamma ray, x-ray, ultraviolet, visible, infrared, microwave, radio What best describes the orbit of the Earth around the sun? - ANSAn ellipse that is close to being circular
What causes day and night? - ANSRotation of the Earth on its axis What causes the phases of the Moon? - ANSThe Sun is lighting up different fractions of the part of the Moon we see from Earth what did Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation tell us about how gravity works? - ANSThe force of gravity will be stronger on an object with more mass What do you expect the spectrum of an object that is 1,000,000 Kelvin to be like? - ANSIt should peak at X-ray wavelengths What does ecliptic mean? - ANSThe apparent path of the Sun over the course of a year, with respect to the distant stars What does Kepler's second law support? - ANSWhen a planet is closer to the Sun, its speed is greater than when it is farther away What happens to the Earth in one year? - ANSIt orbits the Sun, once (also referred to as one complete revolution about the Sun) What happens to the moon in 1 month? - ANSIt moves once around the Earth What is a continuum spectrum? - ANSLight at all wavelengths
What is the order of the phases of the Moon? - ANSNew, Waxing Crescent, First quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full, Waning Gibbous, Third Quarter, Waning Crescent What is the relationship between wavelength and frequency? - ANSIf the frequency increases, wavelength decreases What kinds of radiation get through the Earth's atmosphere? - ANSVisible and radio What makes a transition from a lower energy state to a higher energy state when a photon is absorbed into an atom? - ANSElectron What objects have a dark/black sky, even in the daytime? - ANSBoth the moon and Mercury What planet looks the most like Earth's moon? - ANSMercury What season is it in the Southern hemisphere when it is summer in the Northern hemisphere? - ANSWinter What time of year is it dark all day (and night) at the South Pole of Earth? - ANSJune What two properties of a planet affect the gravity we feel on its surface? - ANSMass and radius
What us ozone? - ANS3 oxygen atoms bonded together in a single molecule What was Kepler's first law? - ANSPlanets revolve around the sun in elliptical orbits with the sun at one focus of the ellipse What was Kepler's third law? - ANSThe square of the time period for an orbit of a planet is proportional to cube of its average distance from Sun (in other words P2 is proportional to a3) What would happen if the ozone layer were completely destroyed? - ANSUV radiation from the sun would get through the atmosphere and cause damage to life What would happen to the Earth if the sun's gravity somehow "turned off" instantaneously? - ANSIt would continue to move in a line in the same direction it was moving when gravity turned off When is the best time for you to be able to see the constellation that is your sign of the zodiac? - ANSAt midnight 6 months after your birthday When is the full moon visible? - ANSOnly at night. It transits (is highest in the sky, or overhead) at midnight; the full moon rises 6 hours earlier (at sunset), and sets 6 hours later (at sunrise)
Which planets have temperatures lower than -200 degrees Fahrenheit? - ANSAll the Jovian planets Which song the following scenarios will be true for someone watching the sky from the Venus surface? - ANSThe sun would rise in the West and set in the East Which types of radiation have the lowest energy? - ANSInfrared radiation and radio Why do eclipses not occur every month on Earth? - ANSThe Moon orbits the Earth in a slightly different plane than the Earth orbits the Sun Why do the orbits of the planets all lie in nearly the same plane? - ANSThe early solar nebula flattened into a disk Why do we have seasons? - ANSThe tilt of the Earth's axis of rotation, with respect to the plane of its orbit around the Sun (and not because of changing distance from Sun). The Earth's tilt is about 23 degrees Why don't we see the constellation Orion at night all throughout the year? - ANSAs Earth orbits the sun, its nighttime side points to different constellations at different points along its orbit
Why is Venus's day so long (a day-night cycle on Venus lasts for as long as 243 Earth day and night cycles)? - ANSVenus's rotation time is very long compared to the time it takes to go once around the sun