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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Part 2, Chapter 5.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. About how many stars are visible to the naked eye from Earth?
(a) 6,000.
(b) 500.
(c) 9,600.
(d) 1,200.

2. In addition to being a seventeenth-century astronomer, Christopher Wren designed:
(a) Cathedrals.
(b) Clothes.
(c) Eyeglasses.
(d) Swords.

3. Halley believed that once scientists figured out the distance from the sun to the Earth, they could then calculate what?
(a) Weight of the sun.
(b) Distances to distant stars.
(c) Weight of Earth.
(d) Distances to other planets.

4. Astronomer Edmond Halley believed that the distance from the Earth to the sun could be deduced from the:
(a) Transits of Venus.
(b) Size of solar flares.
(c) Position of Mars.
(d) Distance to the moon.

5. Which of the following is not a major geological era?
(a) Paleozoic.
(b) Precolumbian.
(c) Precambrian.
(d) Mesozoic.

Short Answer Questions

1. The fact that Pluto has a moon was not discovered until:

2. How far away is Proxima Centauri from Earth?

3. According to the Reverend William Buckland, the biblical reference to "in the beginning" with regards to the formation of Earth could refer to:

4. How do today's professional astronomers search for supernovae?

5. What components were central to the apparatus that Henry Cavendish used to determine the density of Earth?

(see the answer key)

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