Plasmas/Plasma objects/Auroras/Quiz

Auroras is a lecture and an article from the radiation astronomy department.

This is a quiz based on the lecture that you are free to take at any time or knowledge level.

Once you’ve read and studied the lecture itself, the links contained within the article and lecture and listed under See also and External links, you should have adequate background to take the quiz and score highly. The template may also be helpful.

As a "learning by doing" resource, this quiz helps you to assess your knowledge and understanding of the information, and it is a quiz you may take over and over as a learning resource to improve your knowledge, understanding, test-taking skills, and your score.

This quiz may need up to an hour to take and is equivalent to an hourly.

Suggestion: Have the lecture available in a separate window.

Enjoy learning by doing!

Quiz
{True or False, Extraterrestrial radiation sources only irradiate the surface of the Earth at night. - TRUE + FALSE
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{Which of the following is not a characteristic of radiation? - throwing a beam - a stream of charged or neutral particles + calculating the energy of a beam - sending out a traveling ray - a secondary-object hazard
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{True or False, A yellow aurora seen above the Earth's surface could be due to oxygen, nitrogen or a composition of colors. + TRUE - FALSE
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{Which of the following are radiation astronomy phenomena associated with the Sun? + the color of the upper rim as seen from Earth + an excess brightness at or near the edge of the Sun + the iron XIV green line + neutron emission + polar coronal holes + meteor emission + changes in the line-blanketing
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{True or False, Atmospheric oxygen is a likely source of red auroras above the Earth. + TRUE - FALSE
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{A cosmic ray may originate from what astronomical source? - Jupiter - the solar wind - the diffuse X-ray background - Mount Redoubt in Alaska - the asteroid belt + an active galactic nucleus
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{True or False, Atmospheric nitrogen is a likely source of blue auroras above the Earth. + TRUE - FALSE
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{Which of the following are radiation astronomy phenomena associated with the rocky-object Io? + surface regions reflecting or emitting violet or purple - an excess brightness at or near the edge + red regions that may be phosphorus - neutron emission - polar coronal holes + meteor emission - rotation + auroras
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{True or False, A celestial display such as an aurora can be generated by a coronal mass ejection, or CME, from the Sun. + TRUE - FALSE
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{Azurite is a natural pigment composed of what likely source of blue? { copper|copper oxide|copper carbonate|copper hydroxide (i) }
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{True or False, An orange aurora seen above the Earth's surface could be due to oxygen, nitrogen or a composition of colors. + TRUE - FALSE
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{Complete the text: Vega has a surface temperature of approximately { 10,000 K (i) }, is spectral type { A0V|A0 V (i) }, has { no|no known (i) } stellar companions in a binary or multiple star system, and is a suspected { variable (i) } star.
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{True or False, An aurora seen above the Earth's surface could be due to cosmic rays. + TRUE - FALSE
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{The Larmor radius limits proton astronomy because of what characteristic of a proton? - the proton has a half-life of about one year - at the Larmor radius from the Sun the quarks inside a proton become unstable - at relativistic speeds the charge on a proton approaches zero - for very high speeds (almost relativistic) local or large scale magnetic fields produce little deflection - solar proton events may have a significant impact on the Earth's atmosphere + the proton has the same charge as the positron
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{Which of the following are radiation astronomy phenomena associated with the apparent liquid-object Earth? + rain + snow + hail + neutron emission - polar coronal holes + meteor emission - rotation
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{Complete the text: { X|X-ray (i) } and { gamma|gamma-ray (i) } radiation are best absorbed by atoms with heavy nuclei.
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{True or False, When an electron is accelerated to near relativistic speeds it is called a delta ray. - TRUE + FALSE
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{Which of the following is not characteristic of a neutrino? - neutrinos are affected by the weak nuclear force + produced by a positron annihilating an electron - a decay product of a neutron - produced by the near surface fusion on the Sun - may have a mass - comes in mutable varieties
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{Which of the following are radiation astronomy phenomena associated with the plasma-object the Sun? + coronal clouds + H1- ions + X-rays + neutron emission + polar coronal holes + meteor emission - rotation + ion wind
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{Any natural object radiating through a portion or all of a natural object's atmosphere may be called a what? { meteor (i) }
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{Which of the following is not a phenomenon associated with optical astronomy? - actuators may be a part of active optics + the Vela satellites were the first devices in space ever to detect optical bursts - the Moon - an emission with a wavelength of 320 nm - adaptive optics - the color index
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{Which of the following are radiation astronomy phenomena associated with the gaseous-object Neptune? - Voyager 2 + blue rays + clouds - neutron emission - polar coronal holes + meteor emission - rotation
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{True or False, A violet aurora seen above the Earth's surface could be due to oxygen, nitrogen, argon, hydrogen or a composition of colors such as red and blue producing purple. + TRUE - FALSE
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{Beta particles may be the key to? { fusion|nuclear fusion (i) }
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{Which of the following is not a phenomenon associated with violet astronomy? - photographs of the planet Venus taken in 1927 - the purple haze within a few arcseconds of the central star of the Homunculus - the faintness of carbon stars - the stellar abundance of aluminum - adaptive optics + the helium beta line
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{True or False, A cyan aurora seen above the Earth's surface could be due to oxygen, nitrogen, argon, hydrogen or a composition of colors such as green and blue. + TRUE - FALSE
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{What negatively charged particles may be used as tracers of cosmic magnetic fields? { electrons (i) }
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{Complete the text: Although { electron astronomy (i) } is usually not recognized as a formal branch of { astronomy (i) }, the measurement of { electron (i) } fluxes help to understand a variety of natural phenomena.
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{Which of the following is a phenomenon associated with yellow astronomy? + Saturn + sodium line emission - sunspots on the Sun - an emission with a wavelength of 420 nm - phosphorus - TiO + yellow auroras
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{Why are antiprotons unlikely to be directly used as their own radiation astronomy? + the observable universe is apparently composed almost entirely of matter - there exist other places that are almost entirely composed of antimatter + apparent asymmetry of matter and antimatter in the visible universe + baryogenesis - positron astronomy - a complete periodic table of antimatter + antiparticles are created everywhere in the universe where high-energy particle collisions take place
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{Complete the text: Methane possesses prominant { absorption bands|absorption (i) } in the visible and near-infrared (IR) making { Uranus (i) } aquamarine or { cyan (i) } in color.
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{Which of the following is not a phenomenon associated with red astronomy? - a stellar class M dwarf - the hydrogen Balmer alpha line - the photosphere of the Sun + an emission with a wavelength of 618 nm - lithium - "cometary knots" - red auroras
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{Complete the text: Io is the innermost of the four { Galilean (i) } moons of the planet { Jupiter (i) }.
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{True or False, The Earth's atmosphere does not transmit infrared radiation between 6 and 7 microns in wavelength because of water vapor. + TRUE - FALSE
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{Various radiation observatories occur at different altitudes and geographic locations due to what effect? - the presence of oceans on the Earth - locally available carving tools + light pollution - most astronomical objects are observed at night - currently dormant volcanoes seldom erupt - human habitation increases near an astronomical observatory
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{True or False, A metallic or stony object that is the remains of a meteor is called a meteoroid. - TRUE + FALSE
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{Which of the following is not a radiation phenomenon associated with a planet? - airglow - elongated dust particles - high albedo - olivine - Rayleighs + coronal mass ejection
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{Complete the text: Astronomers place the submillimetre waveband between the { far-infrared (i) } and { microwave (i) } wavebands, typically taken to be between a few hundred micrometres and a millimetre.
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{True or False, The V 2 rocket was first used as a sounding rocket for auroral astronomy before being converted to a weapon. - TRUE + FALSE
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{True or False, Jupiter shows intense X-ray emission associated with auroras in its polar regions. + TRUE - FALSE
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{True or False, Hydrogen has an emission line in the yellow. - TRUE + FALSE
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{True or False, The planet Saturn exhibits a pale yellow hue due to ammonia crystals in its upper atmosphere. + TRUE - FALSE
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Hypotheses

 * 1) Quiz questions about auroras may be made too difficult.