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21 questions
"Nebula" is Latin for ___
glow
emmission
gas
cloud
What are nebulae?
groups of exploding stars
clouds of gas and dust in space
a collection of stars
groups of stars forming a pattern
Stars, like our Sun, form from nebulae. How long ago did our Sun form?
4.6 million years ago
46 million years ago
4.6 billion years ago
46 billion years ago
A cloud of gas that has been excited by light from a nearby star is called ___
a reflection nebula
an emission nebula
a lit nebula
a glowing nebula
In an emission nebula, what is the predominant color of the glow from hydrogen?
red
yellow
blue
green
In an emission nebula, what is the predominant color of the glow from oxygen?
red
yellow
blue
green
Compared to a typical nebula, how much more dense is the air we breathe?
ten times more dense
a thousand times denser
a trillion times denser
a thousand trillion times denser
Dust clouds that reflect the light of nearby bright massive stars are called ___
mirror nebulae
emission nebulae
reflection nebulae
excited nebulae
Reflection nebulae are composed mainly of ___
dust
metallic gases
hydrogen and helium
ice crystals
When astronomers talk about dust, they mean tiny grains with a width of about ___
an angstrom
a micrometer
a millimeter
a centimeter
"Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons" are better known as ___
water crystals
fog
soot
light gases
When visible light hits interstellar dust, what happens to blue and red light?
blue light is scattered, red light is transmitted
blue light is absorbed, red light is transmitted
blue light is transmitted, red light is scattered
blue light is scattered, red light is absorbed
The dust surrounding the Pleiades star cluster is a ___
emmision nebula
absorption nebula
transmission nebula
reflection nebula
Small dust clouds that look like "fuzzy red-edged holes in space" are sometimes called ___
atomic fog
elemental attenuators
molecular clouds
red holes
The Orion Nebula is lit by four stars located in its heart, collectively called ___
the Trifid Nebula
the Wild Duck Cluster
the Triangulum
the Trapezium
A flattened disk of dense gas and dust surrounding a young newly forming star is called ___
a protoplanetary disk
a nursery nebula
a glowing stratum
a laminar slice
When viewed in the infrared, what is revealed at the center of protoplanetary disks?
supernova
white dwarfs
protostars
black holes
Newly formed stars emit UV light that erodes the surrounding nebula in a process called ___
fluorescent erosion
photoevaporation
lustrous corrosion
photon decay
Three giant towers of gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula have been called ___
the Elephant Salute
the Pillars of Creation
the Fingers of Cronus
the Eagle's Wing
The dark nebula in the constellation Orion that is shaped like a gigantic chess piece is called ___
the Rook's Reprise
the Queen's Gambit
the Horsehead Nebula
the Bishop Nebula
Clouds of dust that look dark to the human eye are actually glowing if you observe them in ___
x-ray wavelengths
the extreme ultraviolet
the near ultraviolet
the far infrared
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