1. Which of the following statements is wrong?

(a) A white dwarf with no companion star or another other sources to provide
extra mass to it cannot undergo a nova.
(b) A white dwarf with no companion star or another other sources to provide
extra mass to it cannot undergo a type I supernova.
(c) A white dwarf can undergo nova at most once only.
(d) A white dwarf can undergo type I supernova at most once only.
(e) A typical neutron star is about the same size of a small city.

2. How were most of the carbon (C) and gold (AU) found on Earth formed?
A. C: Big-Bang nucleosynthesis
AU: Big-Bang nucleosynthesis
B. C: Nuclear fusion in the solar core
AU: Nuclear fusion in the solar core
C. C: Nuclear fusion in the solar core
AU: Nuclear fusion in the cores of earlier generation stars
D. C: Nuclear fusion in the cores of earlier generation stars
AU: Nuclear fusion in the cores of earlier generation stars
E. C: Nuclear fusion in the cores of earlier generation stars
AU: Supernovae of earlier generation stars

3. A white dwarf with a mass of about one solar mass and a radius of 0.76 Earth’s
radius. If we assume that its density is uniform, what is the weight of 1cc of its
matter on its surface, in units of newtons.
(a) 4×103
(b) 4×104
(c) 2×1010
(d) 4×1010
(e) 2×1016
4. The sun is a G2V main sequence star with an absolute magnitude of 4.83. Another
G2V main sequence star is observed to have an apparent magnitude of 9. What
is the distance of this star from the Earth?
(a) 3 pc
(b) 12 pc
(c) 68 pc
(d) 540 pc
(e) 4700 pc

5. Fig. (a) below is the variation in apparent magnitude of a Cepheid variable star
over a period of 40 days. Fig. (b) is the period-luminosity curve of this type of
Cepheid variables. What is the luminosity of the star, in units of solar luminosity?
(a) 1000
(b) 3000
(c) 10000
(d) 30000
(e) 50000

Fig. (a)
 Fig. (b)

6. The measured value of the Hubble’s constant by the Spitzer space telescope is 74
km/s/Mpc. Assuming that the Hubble’s constant is constant in time, what is the
age of the Universe estimated by the above measured value of the constant?
(a) 13.2 billion years
(b) 13.5 billion years
(c) 13.8 billion years
(d) 14.2 billion years
(e) 14.6 billion years

7. Which of the following statements is not implied by the cosmological principle?

(a) On a cosmological scale, the space curvature should be the same
everywhere in the Universe.
(b) On a cosmological scale, the mass density should be the same everywhere
in the Universe.
(c) On a cosmological scale, the radiation energy density should be the same
everywhere in the Universe.
 (d) At any time, the Hubble’s constant measured anywhere in the Universe
should be the same.
(e) The Hubble’s constant must be a constant in time.

8. Which of the following statements is wrong?

(a) A protogalactic cloud with high density and small angular momentum is
more likely to form an elliptical galaxy.
(b) When two elliptical galaxies collide and merge, the result will most likely
be a spiral galaxy.
(c) Galaxies tend to be less active as they age.
(d) The radiation of a quasar is non-thermal.
(e) The power source of most active galactic nuclei is most likely due to
supermassive blackholes at their centers.

9. The figure below is the HR diagram of stars in a cluster.

What is the age of this cluster?

 (a) 50 million years
(b) 500 million years
(c) 3 billion years
(d) 5 billion years
(e) 10 billion years

10. A typical type I supernova has an absolute magnitude of 19.3. What is the most
distant type I supernova we can see by naked eyes?
(a) 0.01 Mpc
(b) 0.1 Mpc
(c) 1 Mpc
(d) 10 Mpc
(e) 100 Mpc

11. Your latitude on Earth is also the altitude of

(a) the zenith

(b) the nadir
(c) the celestial equator
(d) the ecliptic
(e) the celestial pole

12. The following figures show light rays near a black hole. Which of the figures are
NOT consistent with gravitational effect on light caused by the black hole? The dashed
circle is the event horizon.
I II III

IV V

(a) I, IV, V only

(b) I, II, III only
(c) II, IV, V only
(d) II, III, IV only
(e) I, II, V only

13. During inflation, the universe may have expanded at about 1025 times the speed of
light within 10-36 seconds. Why does this not violate Einstein’s theory of relativity,
which states that neither matter nor information can travel faster than the speed of
light?

(a) The laws of physics as we know them now were not valid at the very, very high
temperature of the early universe.
(b) The speed of light is changing as the universe is expanding.
(c) There was no matter in the universe at the time.
(d) Space itself was expanding and therefore nothing was travelling through space faster
than the speed of light.
(e) None of the other 4 choices.

14. Evidence of dark matter in the halo of a spiral galaxy is provided by measurements of
the orbital velocity of hydrogen about the center of the galaxy. The velocity is
determined from the red-shift or blue-shift of light emitted by hydrogen at the opposite
edges of the galaxy. The red-shift produced by the Doppler effect is defined as  =  -
rest, where  is the measured wavelength and rest is the wavelength of hydrogen at
rest. If the red-shift is determined to be  =1.75×10-4 m, then what is the orbital
velocity of the hydrogen?

(a) 200 km/s

(b) 250 km/s
(c) 300 km/s
(d) 4.6×103 km/s
(e) 4.6×106 km/s

15. Dust clouds in the interstellar medium can be observed in the long infrared
wavelength range (60-100m) because (choose one)
(a) they emit thermal radiation due to heating from nearby stars.
(b) they emit light in this wavelength range that is characteristic of transitions between
atomic energy levels.
(c) light from nearby stars is preferentially scattered by the dust in this wavelength range.
(d) because their microwave emission is red-shifted.
(e) dust does not emit or scatter light in the long infrared wavelength range.

16. What is the location of the most active star formation in our galaxy

(a) in the halo

(b) in the bulge
(c) in the spiral arms
(d) stars form everywhere with equal likelihood
(e) wherever clusters of red stars are found

17. Which statement best describes galactic recycling?

(a) 100% of interstellar matter is recycled during star birth, stellar lifetime and stellar
death to form new stars.
(b) After a star leaves the main sequence, it will gather more interstellar matter and return
to the main sequence.
(c) A white dwarf in a binary star system will return to the main sequence by accreting
mass from its companion Red Giant star.
(d) Heavy elements produced by supernovae are incorporated into new stars and planets.
(e) Mass that is ejected from a star by solar wind, planetary nebula or supernova
eventually cools off and gathers into star forming clouds again.

18. Which aspect of the cosmic background radiation (CBR) is evidence that the
geometry of the universe is flat?

(a) The CBR exhibits a perfect blackbody (thermal radiation) spectrum corresponding to
a temperature of 2.735K.
(b) The CBR reveals that temperature variations in the universe are uniform to within 1
part in 100,000.
(c) The variations of the CBR are about 1 degree in angular size.
(d) It reveals that the mass density of normal and dark matter are equal to the critical
value for a flat universe.
(e) None of the other 4 choices.

19. What is the origin of the relative 3:1 cosmic abundances of H and He we observe in
the universe today?

(a) It was determined by the amount of He formed by fusion in stars that was emitted as
solar winds.
(b) It was determined by the amount of He formed by fusion in stars that was released by
planetary nebula and supernova.
(c) It was determined by the relative abundances of protons and neutrons prior to
nucleosynthesis in the early universe.
(d) It was determined by the short (5 minute) duration of nucleosynthesis, which ended
before all of the protons and neutrons could be fused into alpha particles (He nuclei).
(e) This is still one of the big mysteries of the universe.
20. What is dark energy?

(a) It is the energy equivalent of dark matter through the relationship E = mc2.
(b) It is a force that opposes gravity.
(c) It is responsible for the accelerated expansion of the universe, but its nature is not
understood
(d) It is energy that cannot be seen in any wavelength range.
(e) It is the gravitational potential energy of a black hole.