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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which of the following is a major point opponents of space exploration raise?
(a) Space exploration exists for national prestige only.
(b) No good has ever come of space exploration.
(c) There is nothing of value anywhere else in the solar system.
(d) The problems on Earth should be solved first.

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

3. What did Galileo demonstrate?
(a) The moon does not orbit the Earth.
(b) The stars are fixed.
(c) The Earth is not the only planet.
(d) The Sun is just a star.

4. At the time of the writing of this book, what is the farthest planet that humans had reached through the use of exploratory probes?
(a) Saturn.
(b) Pluto.
(c) Uranus.
(d) Neptune.

5. In Chapter 5 Sagan asks the reader to imagine that they are which of the following?
(a) An ant.
(b) An alien.
(c) A time traveler.
(d) An ancient person.

6. What form do the materials that planets emerge from take before they coalesce into proto-planets?
(a) A star.
(b) A disc.
(c) A sphere.
(d) A cloud.

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

8. At the time this book was written, how many planets were known to exist around other stars?
(a) About twenty.
(b) Ten.
(c) About fifty.
(d) None.

9. What is Neptune's largest moon?
(a) Eurydice.
(b) Europa.
(c) Ariadne.
(d) Triton.

10. What are the records on the Voyager craft engraved in?
(a) Platinum.
(b) Gold.
(c) Lead.
(d) Iron.

11. What does Sagan claim is the key element of humanity's future?
(a) Terraforming.
(b) Distant worlds.
(c) Deep space travel.
(d) Faster than light travel.

12. What does Sagan say is an easy way to visually identify planets?
(a) Their size.
(b) Their brightness.
(c) The color of their atmospheres.
(d) Their movements.

13. What innovation was crucial in discovering Titan?
(a) The theory of general relativity.
(b) Newton's laws of motion.
(c) The chemical rocket engine.
(d) The telescope.

14. What fault does Sagan admit that science has?
(a) It fails to uplift human spirits.
(b) It can only develop theories, not laws.
(c) It is always inaccurate.
(d) It is marred by human perception and arrogance.

15. What did ancient people notice about planets that set them apart from the stars?
(a) They grew closer from time to time.
(b) They had complex motions and were not fixed.
(c) They had unique colors.
(d) They were much larger.

Short Answer Questions

1. Conditions of what type were extremely important in the creation of early life on Earth?

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

3. Titan has what distinction among the moons of the planet it orbits?

4. What was Neptune's position in the solar system as of the writing of this book?

5. The "great demotions" are changes in thinking about the status of what?

(see the answer keys)

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