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20 questions
How old is the Universe?
13.82 million years
82.13 million years
13.82 billion years
82.13 billion years
In the past, the entire Universe was a single, infinitely dense point that astronomers call ___
iota
the singularity
the cosmic dot
the inflection point
On large scales, all the galaxies we see are moving away from each other as space ___
curves around them
remains static
contracts between them
expands between them
On small scales, the expansion of the Universe is small enough that gravity ___
is influenced by it
is negligable
can overcome it
cannot overcome it
Type 1A supernovae occur when the mass of the white dwarf gets to about ___
0.14 times the mass of the Sun
1.4 times the mass of the Sun
14 times the mass of the Sun
140 times the mass of the Sun
Astrophysical objects whose intrinsic brightness (luminosity) is known are called ___
defined torches
accepted emitters
standard candles
regulation lamps
In the 1990s, astronomers studying distant supernovae found that the expansion of the universe was ___
indeterminable
constant
decelerating
accelerating
Measurements have shown that the expansion of the universe is like tossing a rock in the air and having it ___
fall back down into your hand
slow down only slightly
hover in mid-air
shoot upwards faster and faster
The Universe is expanding, and that expansion is ___
getting faster every day
getting slower every day
randomly changing
constant
The unknown force or energy which tends to accelerate the expansion of the universe is called ___
the faint force
dark energy
the shadow force
black energy
When we make a "budget of stuff" in the cosmos, what percentage is made of stuff we can't directly see?
5%
27%
68%
95%
The mathematical description of the overall curvature of space, due to mass, is called ___
the "calculus of the cosmos"
the "geometry of the universe"
the "algebra of everything"
the "statistics of space"
We think there's enough dark energy in space to ensure the expansion will ___
slow, stop, and then re-collapse
slow then stop
slow, but never quite reaches zero
continue forever
When light loses energy its wavelength gets ___
faster
blueshifted
shorter
longer
Extremely distant galaxies are moving away from us at ___
half the speed of light
almost the speed of light
the speed of light
speeds faster than light
The distance a galaxy would have to be from us to be moving away at the speed of light is about ___
13.8 million light years
138 million light years
13.8 billion light years
138 billion light years
The most distant galaxies we see are now about 45 billion light years from us. We call this the ___
radius of the observable Universe
cosmic event horizon
maximum isotropic distance
cosmological constant
The observable Universe is ___
getting smaller
fixed in size
getting bigger
oscillating in size
Eventually the sky beyond our own galaxy will be ___
black
visibly filled with galaxies
a cloudy gray
white
The Universe itself is expanding, but we see ___
it rotating
it oscillating
less of it every day
more of it every day
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