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Hubble space telescope - Exam
Contributed by: Ball
  • 1. When was the Hubble Space Telescope launched?
A) 1990
B) 1985
C) 1995
D) 2000
  • 2. Which space agency launched the Hubble Space Telescope?
A) Roscosmos
B) ISRO
C) NASA
D) ESA
  • 3. What type of telescope is the Hubble Space Telescope?
A) Refracting
B) Infrared
C) Reflecting
D) Radio
  • 4. Which component of the Hubble telescope captures light and directs it to the instruments?
A) Antennas
B) Solar panels
C) Primary mirror
D) Control module
  • 5. What was the main issue with Hubble's primary mirror after its launch?
A) Lost contact with Earth
B) Power failure
C) Cracks in the mirror
D) Spherical aberration
  • 6. Where is the Hubble Space Telescope's control center located?
A) Ames Research Center
B) Johnson Space Center
C) Goddard Space Flight Center
D) Kennedy Space Center
  • 7. How large is the primary mirror of the Hubble Space Telescope?
A) 3 meters
B) 5 meters
C) 2.4 meters
D) 1 meter
  • 8. Who is the telescope named after?
A) Galileo Galilei
B) Isaac Newton
C) Edwin Hubble
D) Albert Einstein
  • 9. What technology was used to correct the Hubble Space Telescope's fuzzy vision?
A) Digital imaging
B) Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement (COSTAR)
C) X-ray optics
D) Laser technology
  • 10. Which regions of the electromagnetic spectrum does Hubble observe in?
A) Microwave and radio waves
B) Ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared
C) Infrared, X-ray, and gamma-ray
D) Visible light only
  • 11. Which mission corrected the spherical aberration in Hubble's optics?
A) STS-135 in 2011
B) STS-61 in 1993
C) STS-125 in 2009
D) STS-31 in 1990
  • 12. How many Space Shuttle missions were conducted to repair and upgrade Hubble?
A) Three
B) Seven
C) Five
D) Six
  • 13. Who was the astronomer that published a paper in 1946 discussing the advantages of an extraterrestrial observatory?
A) Lyman Spitzer
B) Edwin Hubble
C) Nancy Grace Roman
D) Hermann Oberth
  • 14. What was one of the main advantages of a space-based observatory over ground-based telescopes, according to Lyman Spitzer?
A) Space telescopes cannot observe infrared and ultraviolet light.
B) Space telescopes can observe only visible light.
C) Ground-based telescopes have better angular resolution.
D) Limitations on resolution due to atmospheric turbulence are eliminated.
  • 15. What was the first space mission to obtain an ultraviolet spectrum of the Sun?
A) 1983
B) 1975
C) 1946
D) 1962
  • 16. Who is known as the 'Mother of Hubble' for her pivotal role in its development?
A) Nancy Grace Roman
B) Hermann Oberth
C) Lyman Spitzer
D) Edwin Hubble
  • 17. What was the original planned launch year for the Large Space Telescope (LST) before it became known as Hubble?
A) 1979
B) 1990
C) 1983
D) 2001
  • 18. What was the main scientific contribution of Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 2 (OAO-2)?
A) Ultraviolet observations of stars and galaxies from 1968 to 1972.
B) Gamma-ray observations of black holes.
C) X-ray imaging of the Moon.
D) Microwave studies of cosmic microwave background radiation.
  • 19. What program's success encouraged the astronomical community to pursue a Large Space Telescope (LST) as a major goal?
A) The ESA program
B) The LST program
C) The OAO program
D) The Hubble program
  • 20. In which year did NASA establish committees to plan the engineering and scientific goals of the space telescope project?
A) 1983
B) 1974
C) 1970
D) 1977
  • 21. What was the final approved budget by Congress in 1978 for the Hubble project?
A) No funding was approved.
B) $36 million
C) $100 million
D) $5 million
  • 22. What year did NASA aim to launch the Large Space Telescope (LST)?
A) 1978
B) 1990
C) 1974
D) 1983
  • 23. What significant scientific discovery is Edwin Hubble known for confirming?
A) The existence of black holes.
B) The universe is expanding.
C) The structure of DNA.
D) The theory of relativity.
  • 24. What percentage of observing time was guaranteed to European astronomers on Hubble?
A) 25%
B) At least 15%
C) 50%
D) 10%
  • 25. Which company was commissioned to design and build the optical telescope assembly (OTA) for Hubble?
A) Goddard Space Flight Center
B) Kodak
C) Perkin-Elmer
D) Lockheed
  • 26. What was the polishing accuracy required for Hubble's mirror?
A) 500 nanometers
B) 100 nanometers
C) 1 micrometer
D) 10 nanometers
  • 27. Which company constructed a backup mirror using traditional techniques?
A) Perkin-Elmer
B) Itek
C) Kodak
D) Lockheed
  • 28. What was the thickness of each plate in the Hubble mirror's sandwich structure?
A) 25 mm
B) 50 mm
C) 10 mm
D) 5 mm
  • 29. What was the original launch date planned for the Hubble Space Telescope?
A) September 1986
B) October 1984
C) April 1985
D) March 1986
  • 30. What was the thickness of the aluminum reflective coating on Hubble's mirror?
A) 100 nm
B) 50 nm
C) 25 nm
D) 65 nm
  • 31. Which material was used for the protective coating on Hubble's mirror?
A) Magnesium fluoride
B) Titanium nitride
C) Silicon dioxide
D) Aluminum oxide
  • 32. What was the total project budget for the Hubble Space Telescope by 1986?
A) $750 million
B) $1.175 billion
C) $1.5 billion
D) $900 million
  • 33. What was the final launch date for the Hubble Space Telescope after multiple postponements?
A) October 1984
B) April 1985
C) September 1986
D) March 1986
  • 34. What material is used in the HST's frame to keep its parts aligned?
A) Aluminum
B) Titanium alloy
C) Carbon fiber
D) Graphite-epoxy
  • 35. What method was used to reduce the risk of ice formation on HST's instruments?
A) Heating elements were installed in the instruments.
B) The telescope was coated with an anti-ice material.
C) Water-absorbing materials were used.
D) A nitrogen gas purge before launch
  • 36. What was added to the DF-224 during Servicing Mission 1 in 1993?
A) An Intel-based 80386 processor with an 80387 math co-processor
B) A new cooling system.
C) Enhanced communication hardware.
D) Additional memory modules.
  • 37. Which microprocessor did the MAT components use?
A) Intel 80386 processor.
B) RCA 1802 microprocessor.
C) Westinghouse NSSC-1.
D) Hughes Aircraft CDP1802CD
  • 38. Which institution built the Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WF/PC)?
A) NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
B) Goddard Space Flight Center
C) University of Wisconsin–Madison
D) European Space Agency
  • 39. What was the primary function of the Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WF/PC)?
A) Visible light photometry
B) High-resolution optical imaging
C) Ultraviolet spectroscopy
D) Infrared observations
  • 40. How many CCD chips did the WF/PC contain?
A) Eight
B) Twelve
C) Sixteen
D) Four
  • 41. What type of storage facilities were initially used on the Hubble Space Telescope when it was launched?
A) Solid state data storage
B) Optical discs
C) Reel-to-reel tape drives
D) Flash memory
  • 42. What was one of the unexpected findings regarding optical surfaces in LEO from Hubble's mission?
A) They require frequent replacement.
B) They can have surprisingly long lifetimes.
C) They degrade rapidly due to radiation.
D) They are unaffected by vacuum conditions.
  • 43. What color is typically rendered for infrared channels in false-color images from Hubble?
A) Dark blue
B) Deep red
C) Bright green
D) Vivid yellow
  • 44. What was the name of the dwarf planet discovered by Hubble in 2015 as a target for New Horizons' extended mission?
A) Eris
B) Sedna
C) Pluto
D) 486958 Arrokoth
  • 45. What was replaced with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) during Servicing Mission 1?
A) Solar arrays
B) WF/PC
C) Gyroscopes
D) High Speed Photometer
  • 46. Which instrument was kept in hibernation since 2008 but could be revived if WFC3 failed?
A) STIS
B) COSTAR
C) ACS
D) NICMOS
  • 47. What technique does the Frontier Fields program use to study distant galaxies?
A) X-ray observation
B) Ultraviolet imaging
C) Radio wave detection
D) Gravitational lensing
  • 48. What term describes the unknown cause of the universe's accelerated expansion?
A) Dunkle Materie
B) Dark energy
C) Quantum flux
D) Cosmic radiation
  • 49. Who can apply to extend or reduce the proprietary period of Hubble data?
A) Any astronomer
B) The director of STScI
C) The principal investigator (PI)
D) NASA administrators
  • 50. What is the term for the automatic calibration process used on Hubble data?
A) Manual calibration
B) Image enhancement
C) Pipeline reduction
D) Data compression
  • 51. How many mission simulations occurred before Servicing Mission 1?
A) Ten
B) Seven
C) Three
D) Five
  • 52. What technique did astronomers use to partially compensate for Hubble's defective mirror?
A) The telescope was recalibrated using ground-based observations.
B) They used additional lenses to correct the images.
C) Astronomers manually adjusted each image.
D) Sophisticated image processing techniques such as deconvolution.
  • 53. How many countries are involved in the COSMOS collaboration?
A) Twenty
B) Five
C) Two
D) A dozen
  • 54. When did NASA declare the first servicing mission a complete success?
A) January 13, 1994
B) December 31, 1993
C) March 1, 1994
D) February 14, 1994
  • 55. How many papers based on Hubble data had been published in peer-reviewed journals by 2025?
A) Over 22,000
B) Nearly 30,000
C) About 10,000
D) Approximately 15,000
  • 56. What was installed during Servicing Mission 3A to prevent battery overcharging?
A) Solid State Recorder.
B) New thermal insulation blankets.
C) Voltage/temperature Improvement Kit (VIK).
D) Heat sink of solid nitrogen.
  • 57. Which instrument was built by the University of Wisconsin–Madison?
A) Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS)
B) Faint Object Camera (FOC)
C) High Speed Photometer (HSP)
D) Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WF/PC)
  • 58. Where is the Faint Object Camera (FOC) displayed?
A) Space Place at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
B) Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
C) NASA's Johnson Space Center
D) Dornier museum, Germany
  • 59. What is the approximate altitude of Hubble's orbit?
A) 700 kilometers (435 mi)
B) 350 kilometers (217 mi)
C) 1000 kilometers (621 mi)
D) 540 kilometers (340 mi)
  • 60. How many spectral lines could the WF/PC isolate using its set of filters?
A) 24
B) 96
C) 48
D) 12
  • 61. What was considered more accurate but led to the error in Hubble's mirror?
A) Conventional refractive null correctors.
B) Manual measurements.
C) Computer simulations.
D) The custom-built reflective null corrector.
  • 62. Which observatory is coordinated with Hubble for some research projects?
A) James Webb Space Telescope
B) Spitzer Space Telescope
C) Chandra X-ray Observatory
D) Kepler Space Telescope
  • 63. Which astronaut was assigned to Servicing Mission 1 due to their experience in satellite repair procedures since 1976?
A) Story Musgrave
B) Yuri Gagarin
C) Buzz Aldrin
D) Neil Armstrong
  • 64. What event caused the postponement of the Hubble Space Telescope's launch originally planned for October 1986?
A) Delays in manufacturing parts
B) Technical issues with the telescope
C) Budget cuts in NASA funding
D) The Challenger disaster
  • 65. What was one study conducted by amateur astronomers using the Hubble Telescope?
A) Analysis of Earth's climate
B) Observation of exoplanets
C) Study of black holes
D) "Transition Comets – UV Search for OH"
  • 66. What significant discovery was made with Hubble's help in 2016?
A) An Earth-like planet in the habitable zone
B) A new type of black hole
C) A new solar system within our galaxy
D) The farthest confirmed galaxy, GN-z11
  • 67. What type of detectors did the FOC, FOS, and GHRS use?
A) Charge-coupled devices (CCDs)
B) Photomultiplier tubes
C) Infrared sensors
D) Photon-counting digicons
  • 68. How many orbits were used to map the southern half of Andromeda in the PHAST program?
A) 1000 orbits.
B) 500 orbits.
C) 828 orbits.
D) 195 orbits.
  • 69. What technique had obtained higher-resolution optical and infrared images than Hubble before its launch?
A) Radio astronomy
B) X-ray imaging
C) Aperture masking interferometry
D) Spectroscopy
  • 70. What was the resolution accuracy achieved by Hubble's Fine Guidance Sensors (FGS) for astrometry?
A) Within 0.001 arcseconds
B) Within 1 arcsecond
C) Within 0.0003 arcseconds
D) Within 0.01 arcseconds
  • 71. Which Space Shuttle mission successfully launched the Hubble Space Telescope on April 24, 1990?
A) STS-26
B) STS-31
C) STS-28
D) STS-41-C
  • 72. What is the solar avoidance angle for Hubble's observations?
A) 90°
B) 70°
C) 30°
D) About 50°
  • 73. Who headed the commission that investigated the error with the Hubble Space Telescope's mirror?
A) Neil Armstrong
B) Edwin Hubble
C) Carl Sagan
D) Lew Allen
  • 74. What is the estimated mass of comet C/2014 UN271's nucleus compared to other known comets?
A) Ten times the mass
B) Twice the mass
C) Fifty times the mass
D) The same as other known comets
  • 75. How many scientists are involved in the COSMOS collaboration?
A) Less than 50
B) Exactly 100
C) More than 200
D) About 500
  • 76. What was the main issue found by the Allen Commission regarding the Hubble's mirror?
A) The telescope's software was faulty.
B) The mirror was made of incorrect material.
C) A reflective null corrector had been incorrectly assembled.
D) The mirror was not polished enough.
  • 77. What significant discovery was made using Hubble data in the Orion Nebula?
A) Proto-planetary disks (proplyds)
B) Dark matter
C) Black holes
D) Quasars
  • 78. What percentage of the Universe's age do the galaxies in COSMOS span?
A) 75%
B) 100%
C) 90%
D) 50%
  • 79. Which instrument was operational from 1990 to 2002 and replaced by ACS in 2002?
A) Fine Guidance Sensor
B) Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph
C) Faint Object Camera (FOC)
D) Cosmic Origins Spectrograph
  • 80. How many hours per cycle were allocated to amateur astronomers by Riccardo Giacconi?
A) Half of the telescope's time
B) The entire cycle
C) No specific allocation
D) Only a few hours
  • 81. What is the proprietary period for Hubble data before it becomes publicly available?
A) Twelve months
B) Six months
C) Immediately upon collection
D) Twenty-four months
  • 82. What is the nickname of the farthest individual star detected by Hubble in 2022?
A) Rigel
B) Sirius
C) Earendel
D) Betelgeuse
  • 83. What is used to create color images from Hubble's monochromatic data?
A) Using a single wide-spectrum filter
B) Post-processing with artificial intelligence
C) Combining separate monochrome images through different filters
D) Direct color imaging sensors
  • 84. What does the Frontier Fields program aim to provide for galaxies at z > 5?
A) Observations of young stars
B) Ultraviolet imaging
C) Data on outer planets' atmospheres
D) The first statistically meaningful morphological characterization
  • 85. What problem did Servicing Mission 3B resolve for NICMOS?
A) Replaced its main mirror.
B) Upgraded its data-handling unit.
C) Installed a closed-cycle cooler.
D) Installed new solar arrays.
  • 86. What was the intended conic constant for Hubble's mirror?
A) -1.00230
B) -0.90000
C) -1.01390±0.0002
D) -1.50000
  • 87. In which decade did NASA and STScI convene panels to discuss key projects for the Hubble Space Telescope?
A) The early 1980s
B) The mid-1990s
C) The early 2000s
D) The late 1970s
  • 88. How many orbits were used to map the northern half of Andromeda in the PHAT program?
A) 828 orbits.
B) 500 orbits.
C) 1000 orbits.
D) 195 orbits.
  • 89. Which instrument was primarily used for keeping the telescope accurately pointed during observations?
A) Fine Guidance Sensors (FGS)
B) Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS)
C) Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WF/PC)
D) High Speed Photometer (HSP)
  • 90. What was the impact of the Columbia disaster on Hubble's servicing missions?
A) It led to immediate repairs being made to Hubble.
B) Servicing Mission 4 was postponed indefinitely.
C) Future crewed service missions were canceled.
D) NASA decided to launch the James Webb Space Telescope earlier.
  • 91. Which format is used to store all data in the Hubble archive for astronomical analysis?
A) PNG format
B) FITS format
C) JPEG format
D) TIFF format
  • 92. Which galaxy observed by Hubble using gravitational lensing subverted expectations about star formation?
A) Andromeda Galaxy
B) Whirlpool Galaxy
C) Sombrero Galaxy
D) MACS 2129-1
  • 93. Which instrument was operational from 1990 to 1997 and is now displayed in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum?
A) Fine Guidance Sensor
B) Wide Field Camera 3
C) Cosmic Origins Spectrograph
D) Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS)
  • 94. Which Space Shuttle flew the first servicing mission in December 1993?
A) Atlantis
B) Endeavour
C) Discovery
D) Columbia
  • 95. How often are calls for proposals issued for the Hubble Space Telescope?
A) Roughly annually
B) Every two years
C) Biannually
D) Monthly
  • 96. In what year was the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) launched?
A) 1998
B) 2020
C) 2010
D) 2006
  • 97. What was one of the improvements made to Hubble during its delay after the Challenger disaster?
A) Replacing all instruments
B) Eliminating the need for ground software
C) Reducing the telescope's size
D) Swapping out a possibly failure-prone battery
  • 98. Which moon of Jupiter was found to have a subsurface ocean by Hubble in 2015?
A) Ganymede
B) Io
C) Europa
D) Callisto
  • 99. In what year did astronomers use Hubble to determine the size of comet C/2014 UN271's nucleus?
A) 2018
B) 2022
C) 2019
D) 2015
  • 100. Which instrument replaced the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) in 2009?
A) Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3)
B) Fine Guidance Sensors
C) Advanced Camera for Surveys
D) Cosmic Origins Spectrograph
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