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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What planet did Sagan spend a great deal of time studying when an important space probe passed near it in 1976?
(a) Mars.
(b) Saturn.
(c) Mercury.
(d) Venus.

2. Sagan describes humans as which of the following, with respect to their arrival in the universe?
(a) Early adopters.
(b) Slow movers.
(c) Middling achievers.
(d) Extreme latecomers.

3. According to Sagan, how do early Earth and Titan compare?
(a) They are almost exactly the same.
(b) They are similar.
(c) They are totally different.
(d) They are only vaguely related.

4. Where does Neptune fall in the mission plan for the Voyager probes?
(a) They will return to the inner solar system after passing it.
(b) It is their final planetary destination.
(c) They will pass by it only at an immense distance
(d) They will go into decaying orbit around it.

5. The "great demotions" are changes in thinking about the status of what?
(a) The age of the Earth.
(b) The dominance of religion.
(c) The body of human scientific work.
(d) The place of humanity in the universe.

6. Sagan suggest that modern religious thinking treats scientific evidence in what way?
(a) It blatantly disregards the evidence.
(b) It makes no statements about the evidence.
(c) It intrudes on the evidence.
(d) It is cautious about the evidence.

7. What is notable about the Sun's light in Sagan's distant picture of the Earth?
(a) It is extremely dim.
(b) It creates a halo around the Earth.
(c) It appears to bathe the Earth in light.
(d) It appears as many distinct shafts of light.

8. What type of waves could be analyzed to demonstrate that there is intelligent life on Earth?
(a) Cosmic waves.
(b) Radio waves.
(c) Ultraviolet waves.
(d) Microwaves.

9. One feature that Sagan suggests would be easier to detect that human intelligence would be flatulence from what kind of animal?
(a) Plankton.
(b) Sheep.
(c) Cows.
(d) Krill.

10. Which of the following does Sagan NOT cite as evidence for the age of the universe?
(a) Star evolution.
(b) Telemetric spectrometry.
(c) Impact craters.
(d) Radioactive dating.

11. What other medium was used to express the desire to wander, according to Sagan, as human civilization developed?
(a) Technology.
(b) Ethics.
(c) Religion.
(d) Law.

12. What scientist is credited with making the first discoveries that caused problems for the geocentric theory?
(a) Kelper.
(b) Ptolemy.
(c) Galileo.
(d) Copernicus.

13. Einstein's work undermined what concept?
(a) That our frame of motion is stationary.
(b) That humans can travel to distant stars.
(c) That the Sun is unique.
(d) That light is the fastest thing in the universe.

14. Where does Sagan think that life will most likely be eventually found?
(a) A moon in the solar system.
(b) Earth-like planets around other stars.
(c) Deep space.
(d) Mars.

15. Many of organic molecules arrived on Earth from what source?
(a) Space dust.
(b) Comets.
(c) Meteors.
(d) Asteroids.

Short Answer Questions

1. What hazard threatened the Voyager craft in Sagan's plan to take a distant picture of Earth?

2. What is notable about pictures taken of the Earth from the moon?

3. What criticism does Sagan make of NASA in Chapter 6, "The Triumph of Voyager"?

4. Which of the following is NOT one of the major unknowns that Sagan says he will address in this book?

5. In the analogy Sagan makes in Chapter 5 the reader is asked to imagine they are seeing Earth from what perspective?

(see the answer keys)

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