1. Which of the following definitions best describes a constellation?
a. a region of the sky containing a certain star pattern
b. a group of very bright stars
c. a group of very faint stars
d. the dividing line between the north and south celestial hemispheres
ANSWER: a
2. H...
CHAPTER 1 - THE SCALE OF THE COSMOS: SPACE AND TIME
1. Why is scientific notation used in science?
a. because it makes it easy to write very big or very small numbers
b. because all astronomical distances are expressed in metric units
c. because it makes conversions between units easy
d. because it makes conversions between distances easy
ANSWER: a
2. What is the approximate diameter of the Earth?
a. 1 AU
b. 13,000 light-years
c. 13,000 kilometres
d. 1,000,000 kilometres
ANSWER: c
3. What is the average distance from Earth to the Sun?
a. 1 ly
b. 1 AU
c. 1 million km
d. 1 billion km
ANSWER: b
4. Which one of the following statements best describes a planet?
a. a non-luminous body
b. an irregular shape
c. a body that generates energy by nuclear fusion
d. a body located at the centre of the Solar System
ANSWER: a
5. Which one of the following statements best describes the Sun?
a. generates energy by nuclear fusion
b. located 10 AU from Earth
c. orbiting the Solar System
d. located in the centre of the Milky Way
ANSWER: a
6. What does the Solar System contain?
a. the Sun, its planets, and some smaller bodies
b. the Sun, galaxies, planets, and stars
c. the Sun, planets, moons, and stars
d. the Sun, planets, asteroids, and galaxies
ANSWER: a
7. Approximately how many times larger than the diameter of a typical planet (the Earth) is the diameter of a typical star
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CHAPTER 1 - THE SCALE OF THE COSMOS: SPACE AND TIME
(the Sun)?
a. 10 times
b. 100 times
c. 1000 times
d. 10,000 times
ANSWER: b
8. How does the radius of the Moon’s orbit compare to the radius of the Earth?
a. It is 0.6 times as large.
b. It is 6 times as large.
c. It is 60 times as large.
d. It is 600 times as large.
ANSWER: c
9. Which of the following is no longer considered a major planet?
a. Mercury
b. Uranus
c. Pluto
d. Saturn
ANSWER: c
10. In the diagram, what is the diameter of Mercury?
a. about 240 km
b. about 2400 km
c. about 24,000 km
d. about 240,000 km
ANSWER: b
11. If the distance from the Sun to the Earth is represented by roughly 15 metres, then what would the distance from the
Earth to the Moon on the same scale be?
a. about 30 metres
b. about 10 metres
c. about 1 metre
d. smaller than the width of your hand
ANSWER: d
12. Earth has a radius of about 6400 km, the Sun has a radius of about 7.0×105 km, and a rubber ball has a radius of 6.4
cm. If you were to construct a scale model of the Solar System using the rubber ball to represent Earth, what is the radius
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CHAPTER 1 - THE SCALE OF THE COSMOS: SPACE AND TIME
of a ball needed to represent the Sun in your model?
a. 7.0 × 105 cm
b. 7.0 cm
c. 700 cm
d. 70 cm
ANSWER: c
13. How is a planet different from a star?
a. Planets are larger than stars.
b. Planets reflect light, while stars produce their own light.
c. Stars move faster in the sky than planets.
d. Planets are brighter than stars.
ANSWER: b
14. Which of the following is the smallest?
a. size of a typical planet
b. 1 AU
c. 1 light-year
d. size of a typical galaxy
ANSWER: a
15. Assume the size of the Sun is represented by a baseball (diameter about 7 cm). At this scale, the Earth is about 15
metres (150 million km or 8 light-minutes) away. How far away, to scale, would the nearest stars to the Sun be? Pick the
closest answer.
a. about the distance between Windsor and Toronto (about 400 km)
b. about 100 metres away
c. about the distance across Canada from Toronto to Vancouver (about 4300 km)
d. about the distance across 50 football fields (50 x 100 m, or 5 km)
ANSWER: c
16. In the diagram, what is the diameter of Jupiter?
a. 4
about 7.0 × 10 km
b. 5
about 7.0 × 10 km
c. 4
about 1.4 × 10 km
d. 5
about 1.4 × 10 km
ANSWER: d
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