Which of the following is a UNIT of distance commonly used by astronomers within the solar system?
 a. parallax   b. light-years  c. red shift d. astronomical units (AU)  e. they really guess

Which of the following is a UNIT of distance commonly used by astronomers within the universe?
 a. parallax   b. light-years (LY)  c. red shift d. astronomical units (AU)  e. they really guess

Which of the following is a TECHNIQUE  commonly used by astronomers to figure out distances within the near-by part of the galaxy?
 a. parallax   b. light-years  c. red shift d.  Cepheid variables  e. they really guess

Which of the following is a TECHNIQUE  commonly used by astronomers to figure out distances between  near-by galaxies?
 a. parallax   b. light-years  c. red shift d.  Cepheid variables  e. they really guess

Which of the following is a TECHNIQUE  commonly used by astronomers to figure out distances to distant galaxies in the universe?
 a. parallax   b. light-years  c. red shift d.  Cepheid variables  e. they really guess

The largest known shield volcano in the solar system is:
a. the Hawaiian Islands  b. Krakatoa  c. on Mars  d. in Washington state  e. in Iceland.

Most of the mass in our solar system lies in:
 a. the planets combined     b. the outer planets    c. the inner planets     d. inter-planetary matter   e. the sun.

Which of the following are commonly associated with inner planets?
 a. craters   b. volcanos   c. uplands   d. lowlands     e. they all are

Name those planets.
It has/is a lovely name, is about the same size as the Earth, but it's hot enough to melt lead on its rocky surface, even though it's cloudy all the time:
 a. Mercury   b. Venus   c. Saturn   d. Mars  e. Neptune

It has/is:  water oceans, volcanos, and craters
 a. Mercury   b. Neptune   c. Saturn   d. Uranus  e. Earth

It has/is small, hot, cratered, no atmosphere, looks like the moon
 a. Mercury   b. Venus   c. Saturn   d. Pluto  e. Jupiter

It has/ is the largest, gaseous, a big hurricane called the red spot first seen by Galileo
 a. Mercury   b. Venus   c. Saturn   d. Uranus  e. Jupiter

The planet most similar to Venus in size, which has at least one known active volcano and has life on it is:
 a. Mercury  b. Earth  c. Mars  d. Jupiter  e. Neptune

The rocky red planet with exactly two moons and the largest volcano ever found in the Solar System is:
 a. Venus  b. Earth  c. Mars  d. Jupiter  e. Saturn

The approximate ratio of the Earth's diameter to that of Saturn is roughly the same as the ratio   between the diameter of Jupiter and that of the sun. What is that ratio?
  a. x1   b. x5   c. x10   d. x50   e. x100

 The large gaseous planet that has the most spectacular set of rings is:
 a. Venus    b.Saturn     c. Uranus    d. Neptune     e. Jupiter

The hot, rocky, sister planet to the Earth that spins clockwise when viewed  from the North Celestial pole, has  a  poisonous atmosphere,  has no moon and is about the same size as the earth is:
 a. Venus      b. Saturn      c. Uranus      d. Neptune        e. Jupiter

The cratered airless surface of Mercury most nearly resembles that of:
 a. the earth   b. the sun    c. the moon   d. Jupiter     e. Venus

It's the largest of the nine planets, has rings, a large red spot and four moons first seen by Galileo. It is:
 a. Pluto    b. Neptune      c. Uranus       d. Saturn      e. Jupiter

The nucleus of a comet is mostly composed of:
 a. rocks    b. metals   c. stony  ice   d. ammonia     e. methane

This planet is third to last, has rings and spins nearly lying on its side:
 a. Jupiter     b. Neptune      c. Uranus       d. Saturn      e. Pluto

The most massive object in our solar system, that contains over 99% of the system's total mass is:
 a. an asteroid, such as Ceres       b. Jupiter          c. the sun d. the Earth         e. a comet.

Distances across the entire universe are measured in _____ of light years
 a. units (up to 9)  b. hundreds  c. thousands   d. millions    e. billions

The hot inner planet with a poisonous atmosphere, that has no moon and is about the same size as the earth is:
 a. Saturn    b. Mercury    c. Earth    d. Venus     e. Mars.

Our solar system is a planetary system because it was (had):
 a. a rapidly rotating nebula  b. a slowly revolving nebula
 c.  heavy elements    d. a warm sun      e. none of these

The largest planet in the solar system is:
 a. Jupiter    b. Neptune    c. Mars     d. Earth     e.Saturn

The following numbers in billions of years apply to the question(s) below
  a. 3BY   b. 5BY   c. 15BY   d. 30BY   e. 50BY
What is the approximate age of the moon?
How long ago (approximately) did the earth form?

Which of the objects below would be nearest to our sun?
a. Polaris b. the Andromeda galaxy c. the Virgo Cluster
d. a quasar e. they are all in our own galaxy

A reasonable estimate for the age of the universe would  place it at ___ billion years:
 a. 5        b. 15        c. 1       d. 40        e. none of the above, it's really 6000 yrs old
 
A reasonable number of STARS in an average galaxy is:
 a. 100,000   b. 1,000,000   c. 1 billion   d. 100 billion e. there are so many we have no real notion.

A galaxy like ours contains some____________stars:
 a. 1000      b. 1 million      c. 100 million      d. 1 billion     e. 100 billion

There are about as many stars in a galaxy as there are galaxies in the universe, about:
 a. 100 million   b. 1 billion   c. 10 billion   d. 100 billion   e. there are so many we can't even begin to  guess

 A reasonable number of GALAXIES in the universe is:
 a. 100,000   b. 1,000,000   c. 1 billion   d. 100 billion e. there are so many we have no real notion.
 
Which of the following is the largest object?
 a. asteroid   b. moon  c. star  d. galaxy  e. planet

True (=a) or false( = b). We know for a fact that the universe has been cooling off since its formation  billions of years ago.  We can conclude from this that the universe has less energy today than it had  when it began.
 
What is the size of  our galaxy, in light years?
 a. 100   b. 1000    c. 10,000     d. 100,000   e. 1,000,000.

Our own galaxy, the Milky way is a(n) ________galaxy
 a. spiral   b. elliptical    c. irregular   d. edible   e. none of these

The most abundant element of the universe is:
  a. iron         b. helium        c. elements beyond iron        d. hydrogen    e. carbon

The shape of the Milky Way galaxy most closely resembles :
  a. a sphere      b. a circle       c. a pinwheel       d. a football          e. a cube

What type of galaxy is the Milky Way?
 a. spiral    b. elliptical   c. irregular   d. edible    e. none of these
 
The most common star system in our galaxy is of which type?
 a. single     b. planetary   c. multiple   d. variable    e. we don't know

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