Assignment 4B
Multiple Choice
Identify the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
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1. The first person (to the best of our knowledge) regularly to turn a telescope to astronomical observations was:
a. Isaac Newton
b. Galileo Galilei
c. Adam Refractor
d. Edwin Hubble
e. Karl Jansky
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2. The most important function of an astronomical telescope is to:
a. collect as much light as possible and bring it to a focus
b. magnify (enlarge) celestial objects so we can see them clearly
c. enhance the colors of an object
d. bring distant objects closer by pulling on the light
e. pierce through the clouds so a cloudy night is not wasted
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3. The earliest telescopes used by astronomers were:
a. reflectors
b. refractors
c. radio telescopes
d. about the aperture of the telescope on Mount Palomar
e. used late at night to look into the neighbors' windows
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4. Which of the following has a longer integration time (can collect light for a longer period of time) than the human eye?
a. photographic film
b. photographic plates
c. a CCD (charge coupled device)
d. all of the above
e. none of the above
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5. What type of telescope can be used routinely on the surface of the Earth during the DAY?
a. a visible­light telescope
b. a radio telescope
c. an x­ray telescope
d. a gamma­ray telescope
e. you can't fool me, there is no telescope that can be used during the DAY
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6. A reflecting telescope uses what device to collect as much light as possible before the light is brought to a focus (to act as the light bucket)?
a. a lens
b. a spectroscope
c. a CCD
d. a mirror
e. a valley in Puerto Rico
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7. You are an astronomer who wants to study a faint star in the process of being born, which gives off most of its faint radiation in the infra­red. Which of the following would NOT be a step you would want to take?
a. heat your telescope, so its delicate optics are not cold
b. try to have your telescope as high above the layers of water vapor in the Earth's atmosphere as possible
c. shield your telescope from the radiation given off by your graduate students
d. isolate your telescope in very cold surroundings
e. make sure your telescope optics are kept as free of dust as possible
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8. Which of the following types of telescopes can be used ONLY above the Earth's atmosphere?
a. x­ray telescope
b. visible­light telescope
c. radio telescope
d. reflector
e. none of the above
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9. To break up light into the component colors that it contains, astronomers use a device called:
a. a telescope
b. a CCD
c. a spectrometer
d. Cassegrain splitter
e. interferometer array
____ 10. The largest refracting telescope in the world, financed by a Chicago millionaire in the 1890's, is at the:
a. Lick Observatory
b. Yerkes Observatory
c. Keck Observatory
d. Hale Observatory
e. Fraknoi/Morrison/Wolff Observatory
____ 11. A very wealthy donor decides to give a large sum of money to your college or university to build the world's largest visible­light gathering telescope. From an astronomical perspective, where would be the best location to put such a telescope?
a. in a dark spot right on the campus
b. on the west coast of the U.S. very close to sea level (a location like Seattle, for example)
c. close to a large city where there are many astronomers to use it
d. on a tall, dry mountain peak
e. wherever the donor wants to put it
____ 12. A new technique called adaptive optics allows astronomers to:
a. change the eyepieces of their telescopes much more quickly than ever before
b. compensate for changes in the Earth's atmosphere and achieve better resolution
c. increase the aperture of their telescopes by a very large factor
d. change the region of the electro­magnetic spectrum in which their telescope is able to detect radiation
e. use the observatory shop to make better eye­glasses for their graduate students
____ 13. In a radio telescope, the role that the mirror plays in visible­light telescopes is played by
a. a spectrometer
b. an interferometer
c. computer software
d. a special kind of lens
e. a large metal dish (antenna)
____ 14. In the summer of 1996, the European Space Agency announced that it would be suspending the operations of the International Ultraviolet Explorer. Astronomers who were most unhappy about that announcements were likely to be studying what types of objects?
a. distant galaxies at the limits of the observable universe
b. cool stars just being born from cosmic raw material
c. very hot stars
d. the Moon
e. gamma­ray bursts
____ 15. Radio telescopes of modest size can't make out as much detail (have a lower resolution) than visible light telescopes. How do astronomers overcome this limitation?
a. we have built a radio telescope in the desert that completely covers 1000 square miles
b. this problem can't be solved; radio telescopes will always show poor detail
c. we can connect several radio telescopes some distance apart together electronically to give us the resolution of a larger telescope
d. we have launched a radio telescope satellite into orbit, which (used by itself, but above the atmosphere) can make out much more detail than any visible light telescope
e. the same engineers responsible for the shape of the mirror for the Hubble Space Telescope are working on this problem; stay tuned
____ 16. Which of the following major telescopes is not or was not located in space?
a. the Hubble Space Telescope
b. the Compton Gamma­ray Observatory
c. the International Ultraviolet Explorer
d. the Keck Telescope
e. the Roentgensatellit (ROSAT) x­ray telescope
____ 17. What was the major problem with the Hubble Space Telescope when it was first launched into orbit?
a. its antenna wouldn't open, so the data could not be sent back to Earth
b. it was in the wrong orbit, so it dipped down into the Earth's thicker atmosphere regularly
c. its spectroscope broke during the launch
d. the mirror's shape was slightly wrong, so all the light did not come to a single focus
e. the mirror cover was stuck in the "partly on" position, making part of the mirror not usable
____ 18. When astronomers do radar astronomy, they
a. look for radar beams from civilizations on other planets
b. they bounce a radar beam off the surface of solid objects in our solar system
c. they send out radar waves that can eventually reach and measure other galaxies
d. they send information from one telescope to another on Earth using radar waves
e. they try to avoid getting speeding tickets on their way hope from the observatory
____ 19. When a knowledgeable amateur astronomer tells you that she has a 14­inch telescope, what does the number 14 refer to?
a. the number of times the image is magnified (how much bigger it looks)
b. the length of the main telescope tube
c. the focal length
d. the length of the eyepiece tube
e. the diameter of the primary lens or mirror
Assignment 4B
Answer Section
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. ANS: B
3. ANS: B
5. ANS: B
7. ANS: A
9. ANS: C
11. ANS: D
13. ANS: E
15. ANS: C
17. ANS: D
19. ANS: E