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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What space probe was an important part of Sagan's career, and passed by a major planet in 1976?
(a) Ion.
(b) Newton.
(c) Tesla.
(d) Viking.

2. What hazard threatened the Voyager craft in Sagan's plan to take a distant picture of Earth?
(a) The Sun's rays.
(b) Micrometeorites.
(c) Space dust.
(d) Cosmic rays.

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What punishment did Galileo suffer as a result of his works?

2. What was the state of the knowledge and belief about life on other planets at the time the book was written?

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

4. What is unusual about Uranus's orientation?

5. What other medium was used to express the desire to wander, according to Sagan, as human civilization developed?

Short Essay Questions

1. Briefly describe the progress made to undermine the geocentric theory.

2. Why did ancient people believe there could not be any other planets beyond the ones they knew about?

3. Why is it difficult to detect intelligent life on Earth?

4. What message do the Voyager craft carry with them from Earth?

5. What dangers did the Voyager I spacecraft face in taking a distant picture of Earth?

6. What aspects of science make it unappealing to some?

7. What planets had been explored by human beings, at the time of the writing of this book?

8. Why does Sagan believe that the image of the "pale blue dot" undermined the "imagined self-importance" of humanity?

9. What questions does Sagan say he intends to address in this book?

10. How was Sagan involved in discoveries about Titan?

(see the answer keys)

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