Exploring the Cosmos - Class Test 3 - Galaxies and Large Scale Structure
1. Two stars, A and B, have the same intrinsic brightness. The distance to A is two-thirds of the distance to B. Compared to B, A will appear to be
2.25 (or 9/4) times brighter than B.
as bright as B.
1.5 times brighter than B.
two-thirds as bright as B.
2. The Great Wall is
a dense concentration of galaxies in the nearby Virgo cluster.
an unusually dense concentration of stars, gas and dust in a nearby spiral arm of our galaxy.
a dense concentration of galaxies that stretches across much of the visible universe.
a mechanism that explains the formation of the density waves that cause the creation of new stars in a spiral galaxy.
3. What two observable properties of a Cepheid variable are directly related to one another?
Its mass and its distance.
The period between its peaks of brightness and its distance.
The period between its peaks of brightness and its luminosity.
Its luminosity and its mass.
4. Which of the following terms does not refer to one of the major galaxy classes?
Barred Elliptical
Barred Spiral
Elliptical
Spiral
5. Which of the following conditions can be responsible for the creation of an irregular galaxy?
Collision of two galaxies
Continuous inflow of atomic Hydrogen from outside the galaxy
A super-massive black hole in the centre of the galaxy
A quasar in the centre of the galaxy
6. Which of the following characteristics is true for elliptical Galaxies?
Lots of interstellar medium is present in elliptical galaxies.
Elliptical galaxies often rotate fast.
In elliptical galaxies there is very little active star formation.
Elliptical galaxies mainly feature Population I stars.
7. An S0 galaxy can evolve into which of the following galaxy types?
Galaxies cannot evolve from one type into another
Sa
SBb
Sc
8. What two observable properties of a Cepheid variable are directly related to one another?
Its luminosity and its mass.
The period between its peaks of brightness and its distance.
Its mass and its distance.
The period between its peaks of brightness and its luminosity.
9. What can cause a galactic fountain?
A supernova occurring in the halo.
Multiple supernovae occurring together.
The combined effect of spiral density waves.
Winds and jets from newly-formed protostars.
10. Quasars are seen to be unusual because they are very
small stars with an extremely low luminosity because their mass is so small the almost failed to become stars.
bright stars near the centre of our galaxy whose light is very red-shifted by the intense gravitational field from the super-massive black hole at the centre.
small bright objects whose large red shift indicates that they are very distant.
compact distant galaxies with a large red shift that have many bright O type stars that makes them very luminous.
11. A Seyfert galaxy is a
large elliptical galaxy with jets of matter that are ejected at high speed from its centre.
spiral galaxy whose nucleus is a very strong emitter of radio waves and sometimes X-rays.
disc shaped galaxy with a central bulge, little gas and dust and a low rate of generation of new stars.
spiral galaxy with a high rate of creation of new stars.
12. Elliptical galaxies are believed to have been formed by
the very rapid collapse of a super-massive cloud of dust and gas.
the merger of two or more elliptical or other types of galaxies.
the collapse of a very large spiral galaxy.
matter that collected round a very massive black hole.
13. The "Local Group" of galaxies
has our Galaxy as one of the smaller members.
consists of about 200 galaxies.
contains the galaxies of the Virgo cluster.
contains galaxies that are spread in a volume that is nearly 10 million light years in diameter.
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