UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

Faculty of Arts and Science

APRIL 2013 EXAMINATIONS
AST201H1S
Duration – 3 hours
No Aids Allowed

NAME: _____________________________ UTORID: (e.g.smitha4) ____________________

STUDENT NUMBER: _____________________

Instructions:

1. Fill in your identifying information above.

2. ON THE SCANTRON CARD: Fill in your last name, first initial, and student number in the
spaces given and, using pencil, darkly shade in the corresponding bubbles. Then sign the card.
3. For each multiple choice question, mark your answer in pencil on the Scantron card by darkly
shading the appropriate bubble. ONLY ANSWERS BUBBLED IN ON YOUR SCANTRON
CARD WILL BE ACCEPTED FOR MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS.
4. Answer short answer questions in the spaces provided. Short-answer responses written in
pencil will not be re-marked.
5. Mark values are indicated with each question.
6. Make sure that your exam paper has 15 pages.
Question Marks
A1-A50 /50
B1 /7
B2 /2
B3 /6
B4 /6
B5 /4
B6 /6
Total 81

AST201H1S FINAL EXAM, APRIL 2013 PAGE 1 OF 15

PART A: Multiple choice questions. Choose the MOST CORRECT answer and TRANSFER
YOUR ANSWERS TO THE SCANTRON CARD WHEN YOU ARE DONE (1 mark each)

1. Compared to a neutron star, a white dwarf:

(a) is denser
(b) had a more explosive beginning
(c) is smaller
(d) came from a less massive star
(e) is younger

2. If a small star cluster contains only red stars, we know for certain that it contains:

(a) no young stars

(b) no stars with short lifetimes
(c) no stars which will live longer than 1 million years
(d) no main-sequence stars
(e) no stars with surface temperatures above 10,000 degrees

3. Which of the following is a real piece of evidence for the existence of dark matter?

(a) the farther we look into the universe, the fewer galaxies we see, due to all of the dark matter
blocking their light
(b) spiral galaxies are seen to merge with one another to form giant elliptical galaxies
(c) the orbital speeds of stars do not decrease with distance from the center of the galaxy
(d) stars in the neighbourhood of the sun are moving in straight lines, not in the orbits predicted by
Kepler's Laws
(e) the orbit of Mercury does not follow the pattern predicted by Newton's Law of gravity

4. Which of the following observations supports the conclusion that spiral galaxies are forming stars at a
higher rate than elliptical galaxies?

(a) spiral galaxies are bluer in colour than elliptical galaxies

(b) spiral galaxies are more massive than elliptical galaxies
(c) spiral galaxies are colder than elliptical galaxies
(d) spiral galaxies contain less dust than elliptical galaxies
(e) spiral galaxies have faster rotation rates than elliptical galaxies

5. If Jupiter was compressed until it turned into a black hole, what would happen to the rest of the planets?

(a) their orbits would all bend toward Jupiter

(b) the other planets would be rapidly sucked into the black hole
(c) the other planets would be torn apart by the tidal gravity of the black hole
(d) the other planets would be largely unaffected
(e) their atmospheres would be sucked away into the black hole

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 6. Which pair of objects are really the same type of object, just seen from a different perspective?

(a) a neutron star and a pulsar

(b) a black hole and a neutron star
(c) a protostar and a main sequence star
(d) a gamma ray burst and a quasar
(e) a planetary nebula and a planet

7. What stops a neutron star from turning into a black hole?

(a) time dilation, which keeps neutron stars close to frozen in time, due to their incredible masses
(b) nothing—neutron stars eventually turn into black holes
(c) the extreme heat generated by neutron stars, which helps hold them up against gravity
(d) neutron degeneracy pressure
(e) the strong nuclear force, which pushes neutrons apart from one another

8. All stars on the main sequence are:

(a) burning helium in a shell

(b) burning hydrogen in their cores
(c) burning carbon in their cores
(d) supported against gravity mainly by neutron degeneracy pressure
(e) all the same size

9. Compared to the present-day Sun, stars of luminosity class I are all:

(a) physically larger than the Sun

(b) bluer than the Sun
(c) less luminous than the Sun
(d) less massive than the Sun
(e) redder than the Sun

10. Compared to less massive stars, more massive stars:

(a) are more likely to become red dwarfs

(b) burn their fuel more slowly
(c) are more likely to pass through the white dwarf stage
(d) are physically smaller, due to their stronger gravity
(e) have shorter main-sequence lifetimes

11. If I fly past you and you measure my speed to be 50% of the speed of light (0.5c), which of the
following correctly describes the rate at which we would say each others' clocks are running?

(a) I would say your clock is running slower than mine; you would say mine is running faster than
yours
(b) I would say your clock is running faster than mine; you would say mine is running slower than
yours
(c) I would say your clock is running slower than mine; you would say mine is running slower
than yours
(d) I would say your clock is running faster than mine; you would say mine is running faster than yours

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 12. At the center of the Milky Way, there is a black hole with a mass of 4 million solar masses. What does
this tell us about the fate of the Sun?

(a) The Sun must be moving slowly inward toward the black hole.
(b) The Sun is safe now, but if the black hole eats any more stars, the Sun will no longer have the
necessary speed to continue orbiting.
(c) If not for the expansion of space, the Sun would be dragged into the black hole.
(d) The Sun can continue to orbit the black hole safely forever, as long as nothing slows the Sun
down or changes the direction of its motion.
(e) Some other force must be acting on the Sun to prevent it from spiralling in toward the black hole.

13. Right now, because of the expansion of space:

(a) the amount of dark energy in the universe is decreasing

(b) the paper you are reading is technically getting larger
(c) the Moon's is being slowly carried away from the Earth, at a rate of a few millimeters per year
(d) the Milky Way galaxy is on a collision course with Andromeda
(e) the distance between any two widely-separated galaxies is getting larger

14. Which of the following statements about the expansion of the universe is FALSE?

(a) We can see objects which are receding from us faster than the speed of light
(b) The Milky Way appears to be at the center of the expansion because we see all distant galaxies
moving away from us
(c) In a universe with much more dark energy than matter (normal + dark), the expansion of space
should be accelerating
(d) An expanding universe cannot be infinite in size because such a universe would have nothing
left to expand into
(e) Every intelligent species in any very distant galaxy should see the Milky Way receding from them

15. What do the singularities at the centers of black holes and the one from which the universe began have
in common?

(a) Both are thought to be points of infinite density

(b) Both contain infinite amounts of mass
(c) Both are known to be about the size of a helium nucleus
(d) Both contain some of every element in the periodic table, in highly compressed form
(e) Both are well-described by our current laws of physics

16. We believe that elliptical galaxies form when:

(a) Massive stars explode as supernovae.

(b) Black holes collide.
(c) Spiral galaxies merge.
(d) Black holes evaporate, releasing huge quantities of matter.
(e) Radio galaxies go “radio-quiet”.

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 17. How do the properties of long-lived stars compare with those of short-lived stars?

(a) Long-lived stars begin their lives with larger masses and have higher luminosities.
(b) Long-lived stars begin their lives with larger masses and have lower luminosities.
(c) Long-lived stars begin their lives with lower masses and have higher luminosities.
(d) Long-lived stars begin their lives with lower masses and have lower luminosities.

18. Roughly how many stars are there in a galaxy like the Milky Way?

(a) hundreds of thousands

(b) hundreds of millions
(c) hundreds of billions
(d) hundreds of trillions
(e) hundreds of quadrillions

19. Why do the predicted consequences of the special theory of relativity seem so strange to most of us?

(a) Because they are self-contradictory, making it impossible to make sense of them.
(b) Because they only apply to objects moving at speeds we never experience in our daily lives.
(c) Because they contradict the well-tested ideas of Newton's laws of motion.
(d) Because they only affect subatomic particles, not big things like people.
(e) Because they are only obvious at speeds that we never experience in our daily lives.

20. How many universes can astronomers see, if they use the largest telescopes on Earth?

(a) one
(b) millions
(c) billions
(d) trillions
(e) an infinite number

21. Reasoning from Hubble's Law, we can conclude that:

(a) the ages of the oldest stars are greater than the age of the universe itself
(b) smaller galaxies merge to produce larger ones
(c) the universe began in a hot, dense state
(d) distant galaxies are brighter than closer ones
(e) elliptical galaxies have higher recessional speeds than spiral ones

22. Consider two distant galaxies, X and Y. Galaxy Y is twice as far from us as X. If the redshift of X is
0.4, what will be the redshift of Y?

(a) 0.1
(b) 0.2
(c) 0.4
(d) 0.8
(e) 0.16

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 23. In a galaxy like the Milky Way, approximately how much dark matter is there relative to normal matter?

(a) one tenth as much

(b) half as much
(c) the same amount
(d) ten times as much
(e) thousands of times as much

24. Newton's law of gravity describes gravity as a force, much like any other force. How does Einstein's
general relativity describe gravity?

(a) also as a force, but a stronger one

(b) as a consequence of the fact that the speed of light is finite
(c) as the curvature of spacetime
(d) as an interaction between our dimension and a higher one
(e) as a consequence of the spherical shapes of astronomical bodies

25. What happens if matter is added to a black hole?

(a) the matter is converted to energy

(b) the black hole's event horizon grows larger
(c) the matter begins moving backward in time
(d) the black hole begins to fill up
(e) the black hole spaghettifies the matter and spits it back out

26. In a universe that had existed forever, without a beginning and without a Big Bang, there could be no:

(a) planets
(b) cosmic microwave background radiation
(c) supernovae
(d) dark energy
(e) galaxies larger than the Milky Way

27. In total, what fraction of the contents of the universe are made of dark energy and dark matter?

(a) 10%
(b) 23%
(c) 70%
(d) 81%
(e) 95%

28. Stars on the horizontal branch are fusing _______ in their cores.

(a) hydrogen
(b) helium
(c) nothing
(d) carbon
(e) iron

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 29. All white dwarfs are:

(a) supported against their own gravity by electron degeneracy pressure

(b) located near the centers of the galaxies in which they form
(c) made almost entirely of helium
(d) the leftover remnants of massive stars
(e) eventually going to explode as Type I supernova

30. The three main components of a spiral galaxy are:

(a) halo, ellipsoid, and bulge

(b) globular clusters, disk, dark energy
(c) arms, bulge, and clusters
(d) disk, halo, and bulge
(e) disk, arms, and bulge

31. How would you expect a star that formed recently in the disk of our galaxy to differ from one that
formed early in our galaxy's history?

(a) it should orbit the center of the galaxy at a higher speed

(b) it should be much brighter
(c) it should be more massive
(d) it should contain a higher fraction of elements heavier than H and He
(e) all of the above should be true

32. In spiral galaxies, stars are mostly forming:

(a) in the galactic bulge

(b) in globular clusters
(c) in the disk of the galaxy
(d) in the halo
(e) within a few light years of the galactic center

33. If you want to see deeply into a star-forming region, right into the parts where cool young stars are
forming, you should take pictures using:

(a) red light

(b) infrared light
(c) X-rays
(d) ultraviolet light
(e) blue light

34. What distinguishes the “inside” of a black hole from the “outside”?

(a) the escape speed inside is greater than light speed

(b) the force of gravity inside is large enough to tear a human being apart, but not outside
(c) spacetime is curved inside the hole, but not outside
(d) the inside is filled with stuff that has fallen into the hole but outside there is only empty space
(e) time stops inside the black hole but not outside

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 35. The best evidence we have to date suggests that most of the universe's dark matter consists of:

(a) black holes

(b) very dim stars
(c) extremely cold hydrogen gas
(d) neutrinos
(e) weakly-interacting massive particles

36. Which of the following best describes the reason the universe is expanding?

(a) The universe has been “coasting” or “floating apart” ever since it began expanding 14 billion
years ago.
(b) The universe is filled with dark energy, without which it would not expand.
(c) The explosive forces of objects within the universe, such as supernovae, causes it to grow ever
larger.
(d) Over very large distances, gravity becomes repulsive, pushing galaxies apart from one another on
very large scales.
(e) Dark matter exerts a kind of “anti-gravity” on objects within the universe, pushing them apart.

37. According to our current understanding, the ultimate fate of the universe will be:

(a) to expand forever at a constant rate

(b) to grow to a maximum size and then remain at that size
(c) to eventually begin contracting
(d) to expand forever at an increasing rate
(e) the ultimate fate of the universe is not yet known

38. When an electron in an atom moves to a lower energy level, it also:

(a) absorbs light

(b) changes size
(c) releases a neutrino
(d) emits light
(e) gains energy

39. The diameter of a neutron star is closest to that of:

(a) the Moon

(b) the Earth
(c) Toronto
(d) Jupiter
(e) the Sun

40. Consider the life cycle of a 1 solar mass star. In the protostar and red giant phases of its life, this star is:

(a) bigger and more luminous than when it is on the main sequence.
(b) smaller and more luminous than when it is on the main sequence.
(c) bigger and less luminous than when it is on the main sequence.
(d) smaller and less luminous than when it is on the main sequence.
(e) the same size and luminosity as when it is on the main sequence.

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 41. A certain star contains layers which are fusing hydrogen, helium, carbon, oxygen, and silicon. How
massive is this star?

(a) less than 0.08 solar masses

(b) 0.08-1.44 solar masses
(c) 1.44-2.1 solar masses
(d) 2.1-8 solar masses
(e) greater than 8 solar masses

42. Stars produce energy mainly by:

(a) fusing light elements to produce heavier ones

(b) fusing heavy elements to produce lighter ones
(c) fissioning light elements to produce heavier ones
(d) fissioning heavy elements to produce lighter ones
(e) fusing heavy elements to produce even heavier ones

43. Which of the following pairs of atoms would release energy if they fused? In each case, the number
preceding the element's symbol is the total number of nucleons in the atom's nucleus:

(a) 56Fe (iron) + 1H (hydrogen)

(b) 2He (helium) + 6C (carbon)
(c) 28Si (silicon) + 40Ca (calcium)
(d) 2He (helium) + 56Fe (iron)
(e) 28Si (silicon) + 31P (phosphorus)

44. Which spectral class of star should be most common in the spiral arms of the Milky Way?

(a) A
(b) O
(c) G
(d) F
(e) M

45. Which of the following is NOT a type of galaxy?

(a) spiral
(b) irregular
(c) toroid
(d) elliptical

46. Why do white dwarf supernovae (Type Ia) make good tools for measuring distances in space?

(a) They produce a lot of neutrinos, which can pass through almost anything in the universe to reach us.
(b) They all have approximately the same luminosity.
(c) They make extremely loud noises which our telescopes can pick up from very far away.
(d) They are extremely common, occurring almost daily in most galaxies.
(e) Their remnants have very large diameters, so we can see them easily from billions of light years
away.

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 47. In a binary star system, the two stars orbit:

(a) the center of the more massive star

(b) the center of the less massive star
(c) the point halfway between the centers of the two stars
(d) the center of mass of the two stars
(e) a point between the two stars, closer to the lower-mass one

48. Which of the following is NOT a form of light.

(a) radio waves

(b) microwaves
(c) sound waves
(d) electromagnetic waves
(e) ultraviolet waves

49. Which of the following elements should be most common in the universe?

(a) iron
(b) helium
(c) oxygen
(d) hydrogen
(e) uranium

50. According to Kepler's second law, stars on highly eccentric orbits around the centre of the Milky Way
should:

(a) move fastest when they are closest to the centre of the galaxy
(b) not exist
(c) have orbital periods longer than that of the Sun
(d) have orbital semimajor axes larger than that of the Sun
(e) belong to the galactic halo

MULTIPLE CHOICE ANSWERS ON THIS PAPER WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

TRANSFER ALL ANSWERS TO YOUR SCANTRON CARD NOW!

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PART B: Short answer questions. Answer ALL of the following questions in the spaces provided.

1. [7 marks] Consider these four stars (none of which is in a binary system):

Star Name Spectral Class Luminosity Class

Klum O9 I
Tatooine G5 V
Benzar K6 II
Beta Veldonna A2 V

(a) [1 mark] Which ONE of these stars has (or had) the shortest main-sequence lifetime?
Explain your reasoning.

Klum—O stars are the most massive MS stars and massive stars have the shortest
lifetimes

(b) [1 mark] Which ONE of these stars would appear visibly yellow? Explain your reasoning.

Tatooine—it's a G star, like the Sun, which is yellow-white

(c) [1 mark] Which ONE of these stars is most likely to die as a supernova? Explain your
reasoning.

Klum—it's a blue supergiant, all of which should die as supernovae

(d) [1 mark] Which ONE of these stars would have the highest luminosity? Explain your
reasoning.

Klum—it's a blue supergiant, while the others are either dimmer main sequence stars
or dimmer giants

(e) [1 mark] Which ONE of these stars would have the weakest spectral absorption lines from
hydrogen? Explain your reasoning.

Klum—its hydrogen would be almost totally ionized because it is so hot, so it wouldn't

be able to produce strong absorption lines

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 (f) [1 mark] Which ONE of these stars has the hottest surface? Explain your reasoning.

Klum—it's an O star and O stars have the hottest surface temperatures (recall
OBAFGKM—the order of the spectral classes by decreasing surface temperature)

(g) [1 mark] Which ONE of these stars is most like the Sun? Explain your reasoning.

Tatooine—it's a G5 star and the Sun is a G2 star, which means they have extremely
similar spectral types

2. [2 marks] List TWO important differences between the physical properties of spiral and
elliptical galaxies, other than their overall shapes.

There are lots: spiral galaxies hae much more gas and dust; spiral galaxies spin
faster; spiral galaxies have many more young and short-lived stars; spiral galaxies
are bluer in colour; large elliptical galaxies are more likely to be found in galaxy
clusters, etc.

3. Stellar nuclear fusion.

(a) [2 marks] Even the most massive stars cannot fuse iron or elements heavier than iron to
produce energy. Why not? Be specific.

Iron has the lowest mass per nucleon. Fusing it with another nucleus would raise the
mass per nucleon. Energy would have to be supplied, as per E=mc^2, to produce this
effect. If this were to happen in any significant way in a star, it would suck up a lot of
energy, which would reduce thermal pressure and allow gravity to crush the core of
the star.

(b) [1 mark] Where did most of the universe's supply of hydrogen and helium come from?

The Big Bang.

(c) [1 mark] Earth contains large quantities of heavy elements, such as nickel, iron, and
uranium. Where did these elements come from? Be specific.

Supernovae of massive stars.

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 (d) [2 marks] How did the heavy elements mentioned in part (c) become part of the Earth?

They were blasted out into space during supernovae. There, they joined the
interstellar medium, cooled, and were incorporated into molecular clouds. Portions of
these molecular clouds went on to collapse under their own gravity, forming stars.
Planets formed in the disks around those stars. Thus, the elements from the massive
stars make their way into planets.

4. Hydrostatic balance.
(a) [3 marks] What would happen inside a low-mass main sequence star if the temperature in its
core were to increase slightly? Be specific, listing the exact sequence of steps.

The core fusion rate would go up. This would produce more energy. This would
inflate the core a little. The expansion of the core would cause the core to cool. The
cooling of the core would bring the fusion rate back down, which would restore the
star to its original configuration.

(b) [3 marks] What happens to the core of a low-mass star after it runs out of hydrogen to fuse?
Describe the sequence of steps from the moment the star runs out of core hydrogen until its
ultimate end state. Point form is acceptable.

-core begins to collapse under its own gravity

-core collapse pre-heats a hydrogen-burning shell (HBS)
-HBS burns very hot, pumping energy into the star's outer layers, making the star's
puff up, cool, and turn red
-eventually, the cooling core becomes hot and dense enough to fuse helium
-star returns to something more like MS state, falls onto horizontal branch
-He fuses to carbon in the core; H to He in a shell
-when the star runs out of He to fuse, the core collapses a final time until it becomes
supported by electron degeneracy pressure; He burning moves into a shell
-the outer layers of the star are ejected, leaving the exposed core as a white dwarf
and the outer layers as a planetary nebula

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 5. [4 marks] For each of the following descriptions, fill in the single letter from the H-R diagram
below which matches the description. You can use each letter in one box, no boxes, or more
than one box, but there should be ONLY ONE LETTER PER BOX.

Matching
Description Letter
carbon core supported by electron degeneracy pressure A
stars fusing helium in their cores F
core helium fusion begins suddenly B
red dwarfs E
25 solar mass blue star burning hydrogen in its core C
double shell burning red giant D
most common type of star in the galaxy E
the Sun burns hydrogen in its core for 10 billion years here H

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 6. The Dark Cosmos:
(a) [2 marks] Describe ONE piece of evidence for the existence of dark matter in galaxies.

Galaxy rotation curves show that galaxies are rotating much faster than would be
predicted by Kepler's law if most of the mass of the galaxy is in the luminous matter.
Thus, we deduce that either our theory of gravity is wrong or that there is much more
matter in galaxies than is visible. The former option is contradicted by the
preponderance of evidence, so we opt for the latter.

(b) [1 mark] What effect does dark matter have on the universe as a whole?

Dark matter has mass, so it produces gravity. It therefore, along with luminous
matter, resists the expansion of spacetime.

(c) [2 marks] Describe one piece of evidence for the existence of dark energy.

Measurements of the distances and redshifts of very distant supernovae show that
more distant supernovae have lower redshifts than we would expect if the universe had
been expanding at a constant rate for all time. Thus, we conclude that the expansion
of the universe is accelerating. We ascribe this acceleration of the expansion to a
somewhat mysterious energy called “dark energy”.

(d) [1 mark] What effect does dark energy have on the universe as a whole?

Dark energy accelerates the expansion of the universe.

THE END

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