Telescopes and space missions

Grade 9 Science Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. 1.

   Four plan cards, labeled A to D. Esme plans to study faint, cool dust clouds that glow in far infrared. Which plan fits?

   • A radio dish, since infrared is radio
   • A cooled infrared telescope in space
   • A small telescope flown closer to the clouds
   • A visible-light telescope on a mountain
2. 2.

   NASA: Voyager 1 is near one light-day from Earth, more than 16 billion miles. If the team sends a command, when will they see the reply, by Jun's math?

   • At once
   • About 1 day
   • About 16 billion seconds
   • About 2 days
3. 3.

   Luz's friend says space telescopes are better because they are closer to the stars. Which response is best (NASA)?

   • Disagree: ground telescopes see each kind of light just as clearly
   • Agree: each kilometer up helps a lot
   • Agree: Hubble flies near the stars
   • Disagree: they gain by being above the air, not by being closer
4. 4.

   Noah's friend says Mission Control can steer a Mars rover live, like a video game. Which response is best?

   • Disagree: signals take minutes each way, so commands are planned
   • Agree: the delay is under a second
   • Agree: radio reaches Mars at once
   • Disagree: rovers get no commands
5. 5.

   Hubble, 2.4 m, orbiting Earth, about 560 km up; Webb, 6.5 m, orbiting the Sun, 1.5 million km from Earth. Compare Webb's distance from Earth (1.5 million km) with Hubble's height (about 560 km). About how many times farther is Webb, by Pia's math?

   • About 27 times
   • About 270,000 times
   • About the same distance
   • About 2,700 times
6. 6.

   Light gathered grows with diameter squared. A team wants images 4 times as bright from faint galaxies. By how much must the mirror's diameter grow, by Ren's math?

   • It cannot be done
   • 16 times the diameter
   • Twice the diameter
   • 4 times the diameter
7. 7.

   17 km/s; one year 3.16 × 10⁷ s. NASA gives Voyager 1's speed as about 17 km/s (61,000 km/h) relative to the Sun. About how far does it go in one year (3.16 × 10⁷ s), by Tala's math?

   • About 1 AU
   • About 5.4 × 10¹⁵ km, a light-year
   • About 540 million km, about 3.6 AU
   • About 17 km
8. 8.

   Four mission cards, labeled A to D. Which pairing of mission and type is right, by Zee's reading?

   • New Horizons at Pluto: a flyby
   • Perseverance on Mars: an orbiter
   • Voyager 1: a lander
   • Hubble: a Mars rover
9. 9.

   The spectrum with the air's open and blocked bands, plus ground and space telescopes. Why do astronomers use both ground and space telescopes, by Ari's reading?

   • Ground ones can be huge; space ones see the blocked light
   • Ground telescopes see each kind of light, so space adds little
   • Space ones are closer to the stars
   • Bigger mirrors matter just in space
10. 10.

    Voyager 1 launched in 1977 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and is still sending data (NASA). Why does a one-light-day distance make every command a careful plan, by Bo's reading?

    • Each command takes a day to arrive, and the reply a day to return
    • Voyager is a rover on Mars
    • Voyager is just a few hundred km away
    • Commands arrive at once