Download Astronomy Honors Mid term Study Guide

Honors Astronomy Mid Term Study Guide
Dec, 18, 2009 - Jan, 2010
Directions: Do not re-write each question. Number and write the answer to each
question on lose leaf. Only hand written notes will be permitted for use on the mid
term exam and will collected at the end of the test.
Disclaimer: Below you will find a list of questions and vocabulary terms that
pertain not limited to the January 2010 Honors Astronomy midterm exam.
Topic Major Ideas and Suggested Questions and Key terms.:
The Scientific Method
1. Compare Einstein’ Theory of special Relativity to General Relativity.
2. What type of data is the Foucault pendulum used to collect?
3. How far does light travel in (a) 1 hour; (b) 1 week; (c) 1 month; (d) 1 yr.
4. The distance of the Andromeda Galaxy is 2 x 10 6 light years. If we could
travel at one-tenth the speed of light, how long would a round trip take?
Measurements – metrics
5. Write scientific notation 380,000 km (the distance of the moon)
6. Write scientific notation: Twenty Five Million seven hundred thousand
7. Write scientific notation 0.02
8. Write out 7 x 10 -5 as a decimal number.
9. Write: 6.54 x 10 3 as a decimal number.
Astronomical Measurements
10. The speed of light is 3 x 1010 cm/s. What is the speed of light in?
(a) Km/s; (b) km/H.
11. What is the diameter of the Earth (12, 756 km) in scientific notation?
12. How much is 10 6 + 10 7 ? (Express in Scientific Notation).
13. How much is 10 6 x 10 7 ? (Express in Scientific Notation).
14. What is the definition of a parsec -3.26 light years? State the physical
meaning and not merely its numerical value.
15. Define A.U in words and also as a standard of measurement.
16. Define light Year in words and as a standard value.
Electromagnetic Spectrum
17. What are Bright line Emission Spectrum?
18. Draw a graph showing a continuum with two emission lines.
19. Distinguish between continuous and absorption spectra.
20. What type of spectrum do most stars have – continuous, line, and
absorption?
21. What is the Doppler effect? Give two examples using the visible spectrum
22. Compare Red shift and Blue– Shift.
Cosmology
23. What is the Hubble Law?
24. What are the Hubble Constant and its currently most accepted value ( in
the commonly used units for this constant)?
25. Describe Olber’s Paradox and its resolution (explanation)
26. Describe evidence for the Universe being open, closed , or flat.
27. What is the cosmological Principle?
28. How does the “Perfect Cosmological Principle” differ from “The
Cosmological Principle”?
29. How can we decide between the “Big Bang” and the Steady State Theory?
30. The displacement of a spectral line whose rest wavelength is 6000 A is
found to be 200 A to the red in a distant galaxy. At what speed is the
galaxy moving with respect to us?
31. What are the units of Hubble Constant?
Black Holes
32. What property of a dying star determines whether it becomes
(i) A Protostar
(ii) A white dwarf
(iii) A neutron star
(iv) A Black Hole
33. Describe the Event Horizon in Black Holes.
34. What is the role of the Ergosphere in Black Holes?
The Solar System
35. List the planet in order of increasing distance from the Sun.
36. List the planets in order of decreasing mass.
37. What is a Lunar eclipse?
38. What is a Solar eclipse?
Speed of Receding Galaxies
40. Which of the following are primary distance indicators? Explain.
a) Cepheid variables; b) gamma ray; c) neutron stars.
41. Since the Big Bang is the Universe getting more opaque or
transparent? Explain.
42. What are some of the evidences that suggest that the Universe is
getting cooler? Explain.
43. What is the approximate age of the Universe?
44. Draw diagrams to show how the planets Mars & Earth are in (a) opposition and
differ when they are in conjunction to the Sun.
History of Astronomy &Early Astronomy
45. Explain how Ptolemy and Copernicus differ in their explanation of
retrograde motion in the Universe.
46. Distinguish between Geosynchronous and orbiting satellites.
47. Identify 4 different ways that Satellite technology has helped in the
advancement of our lives.
48. Discuss the essential difference between the Heliocentric and
Geocentric Universe.
Modern Astronomy
49. List the planets in order of decreasing diameter.
50. State Kepler’s Laws I; II & III.
51. In what way can an ellipse approximate as a circle?
52. Describe 4 contributions that Galileo made to Modern Astronomy.
53. In what ways did J. Kepler support both the Geocentric and the Heliocentric
ideologies? Explain.
54. State Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation (a) in words and in (b) Formula.
55. Write the Universal Gravitation Constant.
56. Write 2 different Force Units that are equivalent to each other.
Explain the Key Terms.
57. Constellation
58. Terminal Velocity
59. Parallax.
60. Eccentric
61. Elliptitic
62. Eclipitic
63. Epicycles
64. Archaeoastronomy
65. Meteoroid
66. meteorite
67. Asteroid
68. Comet
69. Inertia
70. Spectroscopy
71. Spectroscope
72. Spectrograph
73. Time Period
74. Refraction/reflection
75. Line Emission spectrum.
76. Absorption spectrum
77. Stationary limit
78. Singularity/naked singularity
79. Perihelion/aphelion
80. Gravitational radius/Schwarzschild radius
81. Companion star and accretion disk