Latihan Olimpiade Sains Nasional Astronomi 2008

by : Hans Gunawan
Waktu : 30 menit

1. Using a pair of binocular, you observe a section of the sky where there are stars of
many different apparent brightnesses. You find one star that appears especially
dim. This star looks dim because it is …
a. radiating most of its energy in the infrared region of the spectrum
b. very far away
c. very low in luminosity
d. partly obscured by an interstellar cloud
e. it could be more than one of the above; there is no way to tell which answer is
right by just looking at the star

2. Many of the first batch of planets found outside our solar system were in systems
very different from ours, with gas giants the mass of Jupiter in orbits smaller than
the Earth’s orbit about the Sun. Why is this?
a. large planets close to their stars are easier to find both because the
gravitational pull of a closer planet on the star is greater, and because the
shorter period means you don’t have to observe the star as long
b. large planets close to their stars are easier to find because they block out more
of the star’s light when they pass in front of the star.
c. planets close to the star are easier to find because the planet is moving a lot
faster than one farther out would
d. our solar system, with gas giants far from the Sun and small rocky planets
close to the Sun, is extremely unusual, and it’s unlikely there are many others
like it.

3. The Moon suddenly and unexpectedly collapses and becomes black hole (while
keeping the same mass). Which of the following happens?
a. the Moon would develop an event horizon which is 3 km in radius
b. tides on the Earth would become much more extreme, because tidal forces
from the Moon-mass black hole would be greater than those from the Moon
c. the Earth would be sucked into the black hole where the Moon used to be
d. we would thereafter have no way of knowing where the Moon was
e. none of the above

4. Which of the following statements about the life of a star with a mass like the Sun
is correct?
a. after the main sequence stage, there is no further fusion of hydrogen anywhere
in the star
b. as the star is dying, a considerable part of its mass will be lost into space
 c. the core of this star will be too massive to form a white dwarf
d. before the star dies, it will fuse dozens of different elements in its core
e. at the end of its life, the star will explode as a supernova

5. A friend of yours tells you about a report he has read in a tabloid newspaper. They
claim that on the dark side of the Moon, which is never in sunlight, there is a
secret base of aliens who send UFOs to Earth to perform abductions. Ignoring the
UFO claim for the moment, what is the scientific error in this story?
a. all sides of the Moon are illuminated to sunlight in the course of a month;
there is no permanent dark side
b. the space programs of the world’s countries have landed thousands of
spacecraft on the dark side of the Moon, and would have encountered such a
base
c. the dark side is the one that faces the Earth and our telescopes would have
spotted such a base
d. since the Moon is turning, we see all sides of it from the Earth in the course of
a month and our telescopes would have spotted the base
e. there are no scientific problems with that story

6. Which of the following statements is correct about planetary orbits in the solar
system?
a. each planet’s orbit is an ellipse with the Sun at the center of the ellipse
b. planets move faster when they cross the semi-minor axis of an ellipse than
when they cross the semi-major axis of an ellipse
c. by Kepler’s third law (P2 α A3), planets which are further from the Sun have
shorter years.
d. the gravitational attraction of the Sun is causing the planets to spiral in slowly
towards the center of the solar system
e. a planet in a near-circular orbit with a smaller orbital radius moves faster
relative to the Sun than does a planet in a near-circular orbit with a larger
orbital radius.

7. You wake up at night no idea where on Earth you are. As you watch, you notice
that all the stars appear to be rotating counter-clockwise about a point at your
zenith. Where are you?
a. at the North Pole
b. somewhere in the Northern Hemisphere, but not necessarily at the North Pole
c. at the equator
d. at the south pole
e. it is impossible to tell from the information given
8. Unlike the Earth, the orbit of Mars is eccentric enough that how close it is to the
Sun does somewhat affect its seasons (marking the southern summer more than
the northern summer). Consider a hypothetical planet with no axial tilt, but an
elliptical orbit, so that the seasons were entirely governed by how far the planet is
from the Sun. Which statement would be true about the seasons on this
hypothetical planet?
a. the summer would be longer than the winter
b. the winter would be longer than the summer
c. the winter and summer would be about the same length
d. the Northern hemisphere summer would be more intense than the Southern
hemisphere summer
e. the Southern hemisphere summer would be more intense than the Northern
hemisphere summer

9. Galaxies and clusters are observed to be clumped together with big voids between
them, while the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) is observed to be smooth
all the way across the sky to about one part in ten thousand. What can we
conclude about our Universe from this statement?
a. galaxies did not form out the same material that was in the Universe at the
time when CMB was emitted; they represent two completely different
components of the matter in the Universe
b. dark energy is causing the Universe to become more smooth and homogenous
on small scales over time
c. structure has grown with time, i.e. condensations of matter have become more
condensed
d. dust in galaxies is responsible for absorbing CMB photons and making the
CMB appear smoother than it was originally
e. none of the above

10. The Moon shows phases because …

a. as the Moon goes around the Earth, different parts of it fall into Earth’s
shadow
b. the same side of the Moon is always facing at the Earth, but as the Earth
rotates during the day we see the Moon lit differently
c. as the Earth goes around the Sun, the tilt of its axis changes
d. as the Moon goes around the Earth, the side we’re looking is at differing
angles to the side lit by the Sun
e. of an atmospheric effect on Earth