Astronomy Quiz: Stars and Motion of the Earth
  • 1. Planets are bodies, natural satellites, that orbit the Sun, a star.
A) False
B) True
  • 2. Earth is the fifth planet from the Sun in the solar system
A) True
B) False
  • 3. The Sun is the name for the central star in our solar system
A) False
B) True
  • 4. Earth is a planet that does not orbit around the Sun
A) True
B) False
  • 5. Night falls sooner on the Atlantic coast than the Pacific coast.
A) False
B) True
  • 6. An instrument that allows you to see a sprectrum is called:
A) spectroscope
B) stethoscope
C) barometer
D) galvanometer
  • 7. Which is not true about the Earth:
A) It orbits millions of miles from the Sun as the third planet in the solar system.
B) The Earth has no atmosphere
C) Earth has a rocky surface as a planet and also has water on it.
D) It has an atmosphere of gases around it.
  • 8. Which is not true about the Sun:
A) Earth and other planets revolve around it.
B) It has a rocky surface and its atmosphere glows and gives off light.
C) It is located at the center of the solar system.
D) The Sun is a star, a large ball of glowing gases that is extremely hot.
  • 9. By analyzing the spectra of stars, astronomers can:
A) determine what they are made of
B) determine how big they are
C) determine if they have planets
D) determine how far away they are
  • 10. Our Solar system is part of the _________ galaxy.
A) Milky Way
B) Andromeda
C) Ring
  • 11. In the northern hemisphere, some constellations appear to circle the star called ________.
A) Soni
B) Polaris
C) Vega
D) Sirius
  • 12. The North Pole receives 24 hours of sunlight during:
A) winter
B) spring
C) summer
D) fall
  • 13. The Sun produces and gives off its own :
A) food
B) planets
C) water
D) heat
  • 14. Sun is the source of almost all _______ on Earth:
A) shadows
B) coldness
C) water
D) energy
  • 15. The Sun does not:
A) provide the heat that causes the process of evaporation of water on Earth’s surface
B) cause weather conditions on Earth
C) Provide energy for plants to grow
D) Make the earth rotate
  • 16. Earth revolves around the Sun one time each year in about ___ days.
A) 24
B) 12
C) 365
D) 31
  • 17. Earth has seasons because Earth’s _________.
A) is effected by the sun spots
B) the Earth speeds up and slows down
C) sun is hotter at deferent times of the year
D) axis is tilted.
  • 18. Because of the tilt of the Earth , the number of daylight hours _________ throughout the year
A) change
B) change in the summer only
C) change in the winter only
D) never change
  • 19. The two hemispheres have ________seasons.
A) same
B) opposite
  • 20. The seasons do NOT depend on the distance of Earth from the Sun.
A) false
B) true
  • 21. When the tilt is toward the Sun, the season is summer; when the tilt is away from the Sun, the season is winter.
A) true
B) false
  • 22. Earth rotates around an imaginary straight line called an ______that runs through the planet’s center.
A) axis
B) linear pole
C) tab
D) drummit
  • 23. The movement of Earth as it makes an orbit around the Sun in one year.
A) revert
B) rotation
C) blight
D) revolution
  • 24. Summer occurs when part of Earth is tilted most toward the Sun and hence, receiving direct light from the Sun
A) true
B) false
  • 25. Winter occurs when part of Earth is tilted toward the Sun.
A) true
B) false
  • 26. Earth rotates (spins) on its axis and completes one rotation in ___ hours
A) 12
B) 23
C) 24
D) 365
  • 27. Earth rotates from west to east, therefore, the Sun appears to rise in the east and set in the west.
A) true
B) false
  • 28. Because of this rotation of the Earth, only the side of Earth facing the Sun is lit and therefore experiences day
A) true
B) false
  • 29. The side of Earth facing the Sun experiences night.
A) false
B) true
  • 30. In the morning, the Sun appears low in the sky; objects cast
A) short shadows
B) long shadows
C) no shadows
  • 31. As Earth rotates, the Sun’s appears higher in the sky, and the shadows
A) stay the same
B) get shorter
C) get longer
  • 32. At noon, with the Sun overhead, objects cast
A) shortest or no shadow
B) longest shadow
  • 33. As Earth continues to rotate and the Sun appears lower in the sky toward evening, the shadows get
A) stay the same
B) longer
C) shorter
  • 34. True or false, Solar wind causes the phenomoena of Northern Lights.
A) False
B) True
  • 35. A constellation is a group of stars that:
A) early humans attached oral legends to
B) are actually very close to one another
C) share common physical characteristics
  • 36. A tactic used to calculate the distance to nearby stars using trigonometry is:
A) parallax
B) magnitude
C) spectroscopy
D) star finder
  • 37. The light we see from Polaris tonight left that star:
A) 50 years ago
B) 8 minutes ago
C) 6 trillion years ago
  • 38. The reason why Thuban was our North Star in 3000 B.C. is because of ____________.
A) the 23.5 degree tilt of the Earth's axis
B) precession
C) recession
D) retrograde motion
  • 39. The best place to build an observatory to see the most stars rise and set is:
A) at the North Pole
B) at the equator
C) in Wisconsin
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