Astronomy Exam Review Part 3 June 2023

What mechanisms do astronomers believe is responsible for making the Sun's outer atmosphere so much hotter than its photosphere?

• stirring by comets, meteors, and other pieces of solid material being pulled in by the Sun's strong gravity

• light reflected back from the terrestrial planets

• the Sun's magnetic field interacting with the charged particles that make up the atmosphere

• the ionization of a new element called coronium

• astronomers really don't have even a guess about what heats the Sun's outermost layers

The ten million tons of particles that escape the Sun each year in the form of the solar wind get out mainly through regions called _____________.

• sunspots

• spicules

• aurorae

• coronal holes

• transition regions

Solar wind particles can be captured by the Earth's magnetosphere.  When these particles spiral down along the magnetic field into the atmosphere, they are responsible for:

• aurorae (northern and southern lights)

• tropical storms (regions of rapidly rotating air)

• the greenhouse effect

• the reddish color we see during sunsets

• the poor quality of television programming in the world's northern hemisphere

Sunspots are darker than the regions of the Sun around them because

• they consist of different elements than the rest of the Sun

• they are located in the corona and not on the photosphere

• they move much faster around the Sun than other material and thus heat up

• they are the shadows of the planets and asteroids seen on the bright surface of the Sun

• they are cooler than the material around them (although still very hot compared to Earth temperatures)

Which statement about the Sun’s rotation is TRUE?

• The Sun does not rotate; only planets rotate

• The Sun rotates once a day

• The Sun rotates at different rates at different latitudes on the Sun

• The Sun rotates only at the equator, where the sunspots are found; the rest of the Sun does not rotate

• Only the atmosphere of the Sun rotates, not the main body of the Sun

Which of the following is NOT one of the fundamental particles that we find inside atoms?

 

• protons

• neutrons

• positrons

• electrons

• all four of the above particles are found in most atoms

The antimatter version of an electron is called a

• proton

• neutrino

• antitron

• positron

• gammatron

In the Sun, when a positron and an electron collide, they will produce:

• a deuteron

• a neutron

• hydrogen

• a neutron

• energy in the form of a gamma ray

The strongest force we know is

• gravity, which holds the Earth and the Sun together

• electricity, which pulls unlike charges together

• the strong nuclear force which holds nuclei together

• the attraction of Bayonne, New Jersey, for tourists

• none of the above

Which of the following particles has the lowest mass?

 

• a neutrino

• a proton

• a neutron

• an electron

• the nucleus of a hydrogen atom