Astronomy Test
  • 1. What takes place in the center of the sun?
A) helium is formed
B) hydrogen fuses together
C) nuclear fusion
D) all of the answers are correct
  • 2. True or False The sun gives off all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.
A) False
B) True
  • 3. Which planet is largest?
A) Jupiter
B) Mercury
C) Uranus
D) Saturn
  • 4. Name the order of the planets
A) Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Uranus
B) Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus
C) Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune
D) Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
  • 5. What causes the seasons?
A) The earth's orbit
B) The tilt of the earth's axis
C) Both the tilt of the earth's axis and the earth's orbit
D) How close earth is to the sun
  • 6. What month does the 1st day of spring occur?
A) March
B) May
C) April
D) June
  • 7. What causes tides?
A) an earthquake
B) The earth's gravity
C) a tsunami
D) The moon's gravity
  • 8. Neap tides cause what to happen to tides?
A) They are higher than usual
B) They cause tsunamis
C) They have no effect on the height of tides
D) They are lower than usual
  • 9. What causes the phases of the moon
A) The earth's rotation
B) The sun's gravity
C) The earth's orbit
D) The moon's orbit
  • 10. How long does it take for the moon to complete all of its phases?
A) 2 weeks
B) 1 year
C) 29 days
D) 1 week
  • 11. What is a blue moon?
A) when the moon appears blue in color
B) The second full moon of a month
C) The first full moon of a month
D) when the man on the moon is sad
  • 12. Who was the first person on the moon?
A) John Glenn
B) Buzz Aldren
C) Alan Shepard
D) Neil Armstrong
  • 13. How did the solar system form?
A) From a the gases left over from an exploding star.
B) From the gravitational attraction between molecules.
C) None of the answers are correct.
D) Both of the answers are correct.
  • 14. What causes a lunar eclipse?
A) The earth passes through the moon's shadow.
B) The moon passes through it's own shadow.
C) The earth passes through the sun's shadow.
D) The moon passes through the earth's shadow.
  • 15. What causes a solar eclipse?
A) The moon passes through the earth's shadow.
B) The earth passes through the moon's shadow.
C) The sun passes through the earth's shadow.
D) The earth passes through the sun's shadow.
  • 16. What is the name of our galaxy?
A) One way
B) Milky Way
C) Snickers
D) Milk and Juice
  • 17. What type of galaxy is ours?
A) Irregular
B) Elliptical
C) Spiral
D) Regular
  • 18. What is the hottest star?
A) blue
B) yellow
C) super giant
D) red
  • 19. The Big Bang Theory explains.....
A) how the sound travels through space
B) how long it will take to travel in space
C) the formation of the universe
D) how stars explode
  • 20. What type of star is the sun on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram?
A) white dwarf
B) main sequence
C) red giant
D) super giant
  • 21. How far away is the sun from the earth?
A) 93 thousand miles
B) 93 million miles
C) 93 billion miles
D) 1 light year
  • 22. What causes the aurora borealis?
A) the moon
B) sunset
C) northern lights
D) solar wind
  • 23. Which planet is smallest?
A) Earth
B) Moon
C) Mercury
D) Mars
  • 24. Between which two planets are most of the asteroids located?
A) Jupiter and Saturn
B) Uranus and Neptune
C) Mars and Jupiter
D) Saturn and Uranus
  • 25. Which planet is closest to Earth?
A) Moon
B) Mars
C) Mercury
D) Venus
  • 26. Why is Earth unique in the solar system?
A) It is the last inner planet
B) It has life
C) It has volcanoes
D) It has a moon
  • 27. What causes the comet's tail?
A) the asteroids
B) the gravity of the sun
C) solar wind
D) astronomers aren't sure
  • 28. What is unusual about most comets orbits?
A) The don't orbit they hit the sun.
B) They are perfectly circular
C) It is highly elliptical
D) They travel in the opposite direction around the sun
  • 29. About what date do the seasons change?
A) the last day of the month
B) 15th
C) 1st
D) 21st
  • 30. What is the 1st day of Fall called?
A) Vernal Equinox
B) Autumnal Equinox
C) Vernal Solstice
D) Autumnal Solstice
  • 31. Spring tides are higher because....
A) The gravity of the sun.
B) The combined gravity of the sun and moon
C) The combined gravity of all the planets and the moon
D) The combined gravity of the moon and earth.
  • 32. Where do the world's highest tides occur?
A) United States
B) In the Indian Ocean
C) Canada
D) Sweden
  • 33. What is the postion of the sun, moon and earth for a new moon?
A) Sun, moon, earth
B) Sun, earth, moon
C) earth, sun, moon
D) moon, earth, sun
  • 34. What is it called as the moon goes from new moon to full moon?
A) waxing
B) waning
C) crescent
D) gibbous
  • 35. What is it called as the moon goes from full to new?
A) waxing
B) waning
C) gibbous
D) crescent
  • 36. What year did the moon walk take place?
A) 1969
B) 1949
C) 1979
D) 1959
  • 37. What was the name of the first satellite in space?
A) Apollo 1
B) Cosmo 1
C) Explorer 1
D) Sputnik
  • 38. Who was the first man in space?
A) Alan Shepard
B) Yuri Gargarin
C) John Glenn
D) Neil Armstrong
  • 39. What is the famous quote from the first moon walk?
A) "Houston, we have a problem."
B) Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."
C) "To go places and do things that have never been done before - that's what living is all about."
D) "That's one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind."
  • 40. During what phase of the moon does a lunar eclipse take place?
A) Full
B) Last Quarter
C) 1st quarter
D) New
  • 41. During what moon phase does a solar eclipse take place?
A) Full
B) New
C) 1st quarter
D) Last Quarter
  • 42. Why doesn't each eclipse happen every month?
A) It depends on what time of year it is
B) It depends on the earth's orbit
C) They do occur once a month you just can't seem them from all places on the earth
D) The moon doesn't revolve around the earth in the same plane as the earth
  • 43. About how far away is the nearest star besides the sun?
A) 40 light years
B) 40,000,000 miles
C) 400 light years
D) 4 light years
  • 44. Which of the following is not a constellation of the zodiac?
A) Libra
B) Leo
C) Cancer
D) Orion
  • 45. Which is not a circumpolar constellation?
A) Neither of the answers are circumpolar
B) Ursa Major
C) Both of the answers are circumpolar
D) Ursa Minor
  • 46. Absolute magnitude is the brightness of a star...
A) from a standard distance
B) from 1 light year away
C) from right where it is
D) from 100,000 miles away
  • 47. Apparent magnitude is the brightness of a star....
A) from 1 light year away
B) from a standard distance
C) from 100,000 miles away
D) from right where it is
  • 48. What is the closest major galaxy to ours?
A) Andromeda
B) Alpha Centuari
C) Hercules
D) Crab Nebula
  • 49. Astronomers think the universe is about...
A) 4 billion years old
B) 1 billion years old
C) 14 billion years old
D) 1 million years old
  • 50. Astronomers think the universe is...
A) a closed universe
B) an open universe
C) None of the answers are correct
D) astronomers aren't sure if it is open or closed
Students who took this test also took :

Created with That Quiz — where test making and test taking are made easy for math and other subject areas.