The Universe and Astrophysics

What can we see when we look up at the dark areas between buildings in the city?

• Smudges of galaxies

• Points of light

• Billions of stars

How many galaxies are hidden behind your thumb when you look at a thumbnail-sized patch of sky with the Hubble Space Telescope?

• 10

• 20

• More than 1,000

• Billions

What is the oldest science in human history?

• Navigation

• Agriculture

• Language

• The study of the heavens

What is the main method used in astronomy to learn about other galaxies?

• Observing the light from stars

• Sending probes to the edge of the solar system

• Creating rainbows on demand

• Controlling parameters in lab experiments

What can be determined by observing the dark lines in the rainbow of our Sun's scattered light?

• The distance of stars from Earth

• The age of stars

• The elements present in the Sun's atmosphere

• The concentration of atoms in stars

Which type of light can tell us about the very early history of the universe?

• Visible light

• Infrared light

• Ultraviolet light

• Radio waves

Why do astrophysicists use several different kinds of telescopes?

• To detect light that would be otherwise blocked by the Earth's atmosphere

• To study the gas and dust clouds in space

• To observe the hot stars recently born from gas and dust clouds

• To cover the spectrum from the infrared to the ultraviolet to the X-ray

What is the primary source of information for astrophysicists?

• Light

• Sound

• Feelings

• Senses