1.Which early telescopic observation contradicted the ancient Greek philosophers’ contention that the Earth was at the center of all other celestial bodies’ orbits?
A) Jupiter’s moons
2.Although Galileo was not the first to use two lenses in the form of a telescope, he was the first to conduct systematic astronomical studies with a telescope.
A) True
3.Rather than sheer physical size, what is a more accurate measure of a telescope’s light-gathering ability?
A) The diameter of its mirror
4.A ground-based telescope to observe x-rays with x-ray detectors would
A) be worthless because x-rays cannot get through the Earth’s atmosphere
5.Adaptive optics reduces the blurring of images by using smoother (better polished) mirrors.
A) True
6.The first documented use of a telescope for serious astronomical purposes is generally credited to:
A) Galileo Galilei
7.Which is a limiting factor in the angular resolution when observing celestial objects through optical telescopes of different sizes?
A) The turbulence of the Earth’s atmosphere
8.Which type of telescope that Newton developed is still widely used today?
A) Reflector
9.Which one of the following is NOT an advantage of the Hubble Space Telescope (Hubble) over ground-based telescopes in gathering information about the Universe?
A) Hubble was cheaper to build than ground-based telescopes of comparable diameter.
10.Two in the series of NASA’s “Great Observatories” are:
A) Hubble and Chandra
11.ALMA and SKA are:
A) Two very large arrays of radio telescope dishes located in the southern hemisphere
12.A measure of the finest details the eye (or a telescope) can see is called:
A) Angular resolution
13.The Very Large Array (VLA) and the Arecibo Dish in Puerto Rico are examples of:
A) Radio telescopes
14.All other things being equal, and ignoring atmospheric effects, a reflecting telescope with a large primary mirror will have, compared with a telescope with a smaller primary mirror:
A) better light-gathering power and better angular resolution
15.Space telescopes will still see stars twinkle because the light from the stars does not consist of parallel rays.
A) False
16.All other things being equal, the faintest star one can see through a 10m diameter telescope is 10 times fainter than the faintest star one can see through a 1m diameter telescope.
A) False
17.The first optical telescopes ever made were refractors, but for most of all of the past century the world’s largest optical telescopes have been reflectors.
A) True
18.In some cases, radio telescopes at many different locations have been used together, combining the light, to produce images with much higher resolution than that of the individual telescopes.
A) True
19.Sam’s telescope has a mirror 10m in diameter, while Lily’s telescope has a mirror 2m in diameter. The tube of Sam’s telescope is twice the length of the tube of Lily’s telescope. When both telescopes are being used from the same location and in the same manner, the faintest stars Sam can see are _____ times fainter than the faintest stars Lily can see.
A) 25
20.What was the initial situation with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) mission?
A) Astronomers discovered that its mirror had spherical aberration, causing blurry images; a repair mission was required to correct the defect