Nautical Sciences, Unit Four, Chapter Three: The Sun
This is an Closed Book, Multiple-choice exercise.
Use your mouse to click the box next to the most correct answer. If you fail to select the correct answer you must try again until you select the correct answer.
Which of the following is a source of energy on Earth that can be traced back directly to the Sun.
Chemical energy in plants
Nuclear energy
Lunar tidal energy
Heat released by volcanoes
Hot springs
What is the name of the light-giving surface of the Sun?
The photosphere
The lithosphere
The chromosphere
The corona
The prominence
What is the name given to the average distance from the Earth to the Sun?
One astronomical unit
One parsec
One light year
One solar distance
One solar unit
What two gases make up the Sun's chromosphere?
Hydrogen and gaseous calcium
Hydrogen and helium
Helium and gaseous calcium
Hydrogen and gaseous sulphur
Helium and gaseous sulphur
What is the name of the device that allows for viewing of the Sun's chromosphere?
A coronagraph
A ecliptical filter
A penumbra
A coronascope
A polarizing telescope
During a solar eclipse, what is the darkest part of the shadow of the Moon called?
The umbra
The penumbra
The corona
The photosphere
The aurora
What part of the Sun visibly extends out to a distance of 7 million miles?
The corona
The chromosphere
The photosphere
Solar prominences
Sunspots
Whirling fountains of hot gas that have come out of the interior of the Sun are known as what?
Sunspots
Coronas
Magnetospheres
Photospheres
Auroras
Scientists have observed that there appears to be a sunspot cycle, with large sunspot activity occurring on the Sun every ______ years.
Eleven
Seven
Fifteen
Thirteen
Forty
Sunspots are believed to be responsible for what phenomena here on Earth?
The Aurora Borealis and the Aurora Australis
Crop circles
The Van Allen radiation belts
The Earth's magnetosphere
Solar eclipses
X-rays and atomic particles from the Sun racing thousands of miles beyond the planets in our solar system is known as what?
The Solar Wind
The Aurora Borealis
The Aurora Australis
Solar Prominences
The Corona
What is the cause of the visible "tails" on comets?
Solar Wind
The Magnetosphere
The Van Allen Radiation Belts
Sunspots
Nuclear fission
What is the name of the outermost layer of the Earth's atmosphere?
The exosphere
The corona
The chromosphere
The photosphere
The magnetosphere
What is the "magnetopause"?
The boundary of the Earth's magnetosphere.
The boundary of the Sun's magnetosphere.
The limit of the Sun's magnetic field within the solar system.
A band of magnetically neutral space between the Earth and the Sun.
There is no such term as magnetopause.
What is the "Starfish ring"?
A narrow ring of charged particles caused by a U.S. hydrogen bomb exploded at a height of 250 miles in 1962.
A ring of small satellites put in orbit around the Sun to study solar wind.
The part of the aurora borealis that is directly over the north pole.
A magnetically neutral part of the Earth's magnetosphere.
This refers to the shape of charged particles as they rush outward from a sunspot.
What part of the magnetosphere contains lower-energy particles?
The stable trapping region
The Starfish ring
The Van Allen radiation belts
The exosphere
The aurora belt
The Sun's energy passes through space by the process of _____________.
Radiation
Nuclear fusion
Nuclear fission
Dispersion
Emission
What process is occurring at the center of the Sun that causes it to radiate energy?
Nuclear fusion
Nuclear fission
Radiation
Nuclear combustion
Solar prominence
At the center of the Sun, every second millions of tons of _____________ are being transformed into _____________.
Hydrogen, Helium
Helium, Hydrogen
Hydrogen, Argon
Helium, Argon
Helium, Oxygen
What spacecraft was launched in October 1990 to explore the regions over the Sun's north and south poles?