THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
207-780-4249 www.usm.maine.edu/planet
207-780-4249 www.usm.maine.edu/planet
70 Falmouth Street Portland, Maine 04103
43.6667° N 70.2667° W
Altitude: 10 feet below sea level
Founded January 1970
Julian Date: 2459023.16
2019-2020: CLXVI
THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Monday, June 29, 2020
Remote Planetarium 54: Week 11 Quiz
Well, look at it this way: you had an extra week to study for the next quiz! For those who might have forgotten, this test pertains to galactic clusters, globular clusters and nucleosynthesis. Now, while we never encourage cheating (especially for tests in which no grade is assigned) we might mention that one can access an archive of Remote Planetarium articles at
1. Which one of the following statements about galactic clusters is not true?
a. the stars within a galactic star cluster formed around the same time
b. they generally contain hundreds or thousands of stars
c. they are located within the galaxy's spiral arms
d. most of them are more than 10 billion years old.
2. Approximately ____________ galactic star clusters have been catalogued within the Milky Way Galaxy.
a. 100
b. 1,100
c. 11,100
d. 111,100
3. Did the Sun form within a galactic star cluster?
a. no
a. no
b. yes
c. astronomers don't know
d. both a and b
4. On average, a galactic star cluster's half life is between ___________ years.
a. 30 -50 million
b. 100 - 300 million
c. 150 - 800 million
d. 2 billion
5. ______________ , located at a distance of ____________ light years from the Sun, is the closest galactic star cluster.
a. The Pleaides; 400
b. The Hyades; 150
c. The Coma Star Cluster; 250
d. The Wild Duck Cluster; 1300
6. M4, the nearest globular cluster, is about _________ light years away.
a. 2000
b. 4000
c. 5500
d. 11,000
7. Which one of the following statements about globular clusters is not true?
a. they are only found well outside of the galaxy
b. they can be billions of years ago
c. their stars formed around the same time
d. their stars are metal poor
8. The image above shows a message beamed to M13, a Globular Cluster in the constellation ____________.
a. Hercules
b. Centaurus
c. Andromeda
d. Orion
9. This globular cluster is approximately ________________ light years away from the solar system.
a. 500
b. 1500
c. 15,000
d. 25,000
10. The Milky Way Galaxy contains approximately _________ globular clusters
a. 50
b. 100
c. 200
d. 1100
11. ___________ was the heaviest element generated during Big Bang Nucleosynthesis.
a. Helium
b. Carbon
c. Lithium
d. Oxygen
12. How long did the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis phase last?
a. 10 seconds
b. 10 minutes
c. 10 years
d. 10 centuries
13. _________ is the heaviest element created within stellar cores.
a. strontium
b. neon
c. iron
d. gold
14. What elements are fused within white dwarfs?
a. oxygen, magnesium, titanium
b. sulfur, silicon, strontium
c. chromium, calcium, carbon
d. none of the above
15. The number of __________ within an atom determines its elemental identity.
a. protons
b. neutrons
c. positrons
d. electrons
16. __________is the heaviest element created by exploding white dwarfs.
a. arsenic
b. zinc
c. barium
d. krypton
17. The r process occurs when atoms rapidly capture _____________.
a. helium nuclei
b. neutrons
c. protons
d. neutrinos
18. According to currently accepted models, Uranium is only produced by _____________.
a. Type II supernovae
b. merging neutron stars
c. black hole accretion disk nucleosynthesis
d. cosmic ray spallation
19. Cosmic Ray Spallation is responsible for the relatively high abundances of lithium, beryllium and ____________
a. boron
b. flourine
c. kyypton
d. silver
20. ________________ produce the element Einsteinium?
a. Merging neutron stars
b. Type II supernovae
c. Cosmic Ray Spallation
d. None of the above
ANSWERS
1. Which one of the following statements about galactic clusters is not true?
d. most of them are more than 10 billion years old.
If one traveled around the galaxy one would encounter a few galactic clusters more than one billion years old.
However, none of them persist for more than 10 billion years.
2. Approximately ____________ galactic star clusters have been catalogued within the Milky Way Galaxy.
b. 1,100
While astronomers have catalogued slightly more than 1,000 galactic star clusters, they estimate that the galaxy might contain more than ten times that number.
3. Did the Sun form within a galactic star cluster?
b. yes
So far astronomers have found at least one of its "sibling stars," those that formed within the same cluster.
4. On average, a galactic star cluster's half life is between ___________ years.
c. 150 - 800 million
The "half life" of a galactic star cluster is the amount of time required for half of its stars to leave it.
5. ______________ , located at a distance of ____________ light years from the Sun, is the closest galactic star cluster.
b. The Hyades; 150
Most of Taurus the Bull's face consists of stars within the Hyades Star Cluster.
6. M4, the nearest globular cluster, is about _________ light years away.
c. 5500
The closest globular cluster is much farther away than the closest galactic star clusters. Many globular clusters are more than 10,000 light years from Earth.
7. Which one of the following statements about globular clusters is not true?
a. they are only found well outside of the galaxy
Globular clusters congregate within the galactic halo, the spherical region surrounding the nucleus.
8. The image above shows a message beamed to M13, a Globular Cluster in the constellation ____________.
a. Hercules
Called the "Hercules Cluster," M13 is located within the keystone, a quadrilateral of stars forming Hercules' torso.
9. This globular cluster is approximately ________________ light years away from the solar system.
d. 25,000
As the radio signals move at light speed, they will require 25,000 years to travel 25,000 light years
10. The Milky Way Galaxy contains approximately _________ globular clusters
c. 200
Galactic star clusters greatly outnumber globular clusters. Of course, the total number of stars within all the galaxy's globular clusters vastly outnumber the total number of stars within all the galactic star clusters.
11. ___________ was the heaviest element generated during Big Bang Nucleosynthesis.
c. Lithium
12. How long did the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis phase last?
a. 10 seconds
Big Bang Nucleosynthesis occurred when the Universe was between 10 - 20 seconds old.
13. _________ is the heaviest element created within stellar cores.
c. iron
Iron fusion is an endothermic process, meaning that the amount of energy required to fuse iron is greater than the energy the fusion reactions impart back into the star.
14. What elements are fused within white dwarfs?
d. none of the above
Some elements are created by white dwarf explosions. However, no nuclear fusion occurs within white dwarfs, themselves.
15. The number of __________ within an atom determines its elemental identity.
a. protons
Any atom with six protons is carbon. There are many types of carbon isotopes: carbon atoms containing six protons, but differing numbers of neutrons.
16. __________is the heaviest element created by exploding white dwarfs.
b. zinc
Both exploding massive stars (Type II supernovae) and exploding white dwarfs can produce zinc.
17. The r process occurs when atoms rapidly capture _____________.
b. neutrons
18. According to currently accepted models, Uranium is only produced by _____________.
b. merging neutron stars
19. Cosmic Ray Spallation is responsible for the relatively high abundances of lithium, beryllium and ____________
a. boron
20. ________________ produce the element Einsteinium?
d. None of the above
Einsteinium is a synthetic element with the atomic number of 99. It is not produced by any natural process.
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