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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 21, To The Sky!, Chapter 22, Tiptoeing Through the Milky Way.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When did NASA's SETI program go online?
(a) 1996.
(b) 1984.
(c) 1978.
(d) 1992.

2. What was the name of the second mission that sent probes into the atmosphere of Venus?
(a) Mariner.
(b) Brahe.
(c) Kepler.
(d) Hubble.

3. Which of the following is NOT one of the ways that early planets may have been made incapable of bearing life?
(a) Falling into the sun.
(b) Being heavily bombarded by meteors.
(c) Being pushed into a distant orbit.
(d) Being thrown into outer space.

4. At the time this book was written, about how many asteroids were known to have paths that take them close to the Earth?
(a) 1000.
(b) 2000.
(c) 200.
(d) 500.

5. How does Sagan characterize NASA?
(a) As a ship without a tiller or rudder.
(b) As a faceless and dispassionate monolith.
(c) As an aging bureaucracy.
(d) As part of the military-industrial complex.

Short Answer Questions

1. What astronomical discovery did Galileo make that significantly damaged the geocentric theory?

2. What is an astronomical unit?

3. What scientist is credited with making the first discoveries that caused problems for the geocentric theory?

4. Sagan describes the "myth" that he believes should be created as centering around what?

5. What major component of the Voyager craft was threatened in Sagan's plan to take a distant picture of Earth?

(see the answer key)

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