Download Space Unit - Questions and Answers

Space Unit - Questions and Answers
Nelson Science 9: Chapters 13-16
You will be able tested on the following questions:
Chapter 13: Sky Watching and the Solar System
1. How can you describe the term constellation?
A group of stars that seem to form shapes or patterns. Ex. Big Dipper
2. Which planet has rings?
Saturn and Jupiter and Uranus (has faint rings)
3. Draw and label a diagram of our solar system. (page 401)
4. Arrange the planets in our solar system from smallest to largest.
Pluto, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Earth, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter
5. Can constellations be seen year round?
Yes, groups of stars that seem to form shapes or patterns have been used for thousand of
years as calendars, timekeepers and direction finders both on land and at sea.
6. Is the moon considered luminous?
No, Planets and Moons are non-luminous: they do not emit their own light. We can only
see them in the sky when light from the Sun reflects off them towards Earth.
7. How can you describe the term meteoroid?
A meteoroid is a lump of rock or metal floating around in space.
Largest – asteroids in orbits that cross Earth’s orbit
Smallest – the millions of tiny meteoroids that produce spectacular displays called meteor
showers probably come from the debris left behind by comets.
8. Our day is based on _________________________.
One rotation of the Earth takes 24 hours (East). This motion causes most stars (as well as
the Sun, Moon and Planets) appear to rise in the east and set in the west. Earth spins
counter-clockwise.
9. What planet(s) in our solar system are terrestrial?
Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are the four planets closest to the Sun. They are also
known as the inner planets and are composed mainly of rocky material and metals.
The outer planets are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune and are also known as the Gas
Giants. Their atmosphere consists mainly of hydrogen and helium. They have soupy
surfaces and gets denser as you sink to the middle therefore not possible to land on.
Pluto is also an outer planet but it is not a gas giant and it does not seem to be terrestrial.
The motion of Pluto’s orbit suggests that Pluto may have been one of Neptune’s moons at
one time. Pluto also has a moon called Charon which is about the same size as Pluto.
10. What is a minor body of the solar system?
Minor bodies – Comets (a ball of ice/gas, ‘dirty snowball’), meteoroids, asteroids (big
meteoroids) and moons
Major bodies – the Sun and the Planets
11. The Earth revolves around the Sun once every ________________.
One Year – 365.24 days, this is called an Orbital Period. One revolution.
12. The moon revolves around the Earth as a naturally occurring ______________.
Satellite
13. A piece of matter that hits Earth is called a _______________.
meteorite
14. The ring of rocks between Mars and Jupiter is the ____________________.
Asteroid belt
15. Explain how the Earth rotates. Use the terms axis and equator.
Earth rotates on its axis. The axis is tilted at a 23.5° angle from the vertical
(perpendicular to the equator).
Figure 1 Page 404
16. What is the difference between a meteorite and a meteor?
A meteorite is a meteor that is large enough to hit the ground before totally vaporizing. If
the object is large enough to hit the Earth’s surface, it can produce a crater.
A meteor is a meteoroid that is trapped by Earth’s gravity and pulled down by Earth’s
atmosphere. As it falls through Earth’s atmosphere, it rubs against the molecules of the air
(this rubbing is called friction), it becomes hot and vaporizes and the air glows. This
produces a bright streak of light across the sky (shooting star) that you can see at night. It
does not hit the earth.
17. What is the difference between a rotation and a revolution?
Rotation – the spinning of an object around it’s axis.
One rotation of the Earth takes 24 hours (East)
Revolution – the movement of one object around another.
It takes the Earth one year (365 days) to orbit the Sun (counter-clockwise)
18. Why is Pluto considered a dwarf planet?
It is no longer considered a planet anymore. It has the smallest diameter of all the
planets and it is not a gas giant and it does not seem to be terrestrial.
19. What is the difference between meteors and comets?
A meteor is a meteoroid that is trapped by Earth’s gravity and pulled down by Earth’s
atmosphere. As it falls through Earth’s atmosphere, it rubs against the molecules of the air
(this rubbing is called friction), it becomes hot and vaporizes and the air glows. This
produces a bright streak of light across the sky (shooting star) that you can see at night.
A comet is a chunk of frozen matter that travels in a very long orbit around the sun. The
glowing tail of a comet is the melting of the comet’s core which produces gases. The gases
always point away from the Sun and the gaseous tail only happens near the Sun. The
bright, glowing tail may be over millions of kilometers long.
20. List four differences and /or similarities between a star and a planet.
Star
Planet
Luminous
Non-luminous
Very hot
Usually cooler
Gaseous
Solid core
Very large
Very small
Most stars are beyond our solar
system
Most in our solar system
21. All matter and energy that exists is called the __________________.
Universe
22. The term used to describe how tightly packed a planet is: ___________________.
Density (g/cm3)
23. Does an asteroid belt rotate around the Sun?
Yes
24. Are comets made of ice?
No, they are made of frozen chunks of matter.
25. An object that revolves around the Sun once every 76 years is _________________.
Haley’s comet
Chapter 14: The Nature of the Universe
1. How is a galaxy described?
Galaxy - A huge collection of gas, dust and hundreds of billions of stars and planets; also
include nebulae (clouds of gas). These stars are attracted to each other by the force of
gravity and are constantly in motion.
We are in the Milky Way Galaxy
2. What shapes can galaxies commonly form?
Galaxies come in various shapes: spiral, (like the Milky Way), barred spiral, elliptical,
irregular, lenticular (shaped like a lens)
3. What are the characteristics of stars?
The Sun is an average star:

it’s not hot or cool

it’s not large or small.
We can compare stars by colour, temperature, size, brightness and spectrum
(wavelengths of energy).
P.458
4. What types of stars exist?
There are 3 types of stars:

Dwarf – same or less mass than the sun – 95%

Giant – 10 times the mass of the sun – 4%

Supergiant – 30 times the mass of the sun – 1%
Dwarf Star
Sun
Giant Star
Super Giant Star
Note: The Sun is larger than 95% of the stars.
Figure 1 on p. 458 reinforces this idea.
5. What determines the colour of a star?
Temperature
6. What colour star is the hottest? What colour star is the coolest?
Blue – is the colour of the hottest stars
Red – is the colour of the coolest stars
Colour
Temp. Range (oC)
Examples
Blue
25 000 – 50 000
Zeta Orionis
Bluish-white
11 000 – 25 000
Rigel, Spica
White
7 500 - 11 000
Vega, Sirius
Yellowish-white
6 000 - 7 500
Polaris, Procyon
Yellow
5 000 - 6 000
Sun, Alpha Centauri
Orange
3 500 - 5 000
Arcturus, Aldebaran
Red
2 000 - 3 500
Betelgeuse, Antares
7. What are solar prominences?
A solar flare is an eruption of hot gases from the inner atmosphere of the Sun’s surface. It
travels very quickly and last for only minutes.
A solar prominence is a burst of a huge sheet of gases, also from the inner atmosphere. It
is much larger than a flare and may last for days or even weeks.
The charged particles from a solar flare affect us in two main ways: They produce the
beautiful auroras, and they cause problems in communication systems.
8. What does a light year describe?
A light-year is the distance that light rays travel in one year. (9.46 x 10 12 km)
9. What is a quasar?
Quasar – Objects that look like faint stars but emit up to 100x more energy than our entire
galaxy.
10. Arrange the following terms from smallest to largest: star, galaxy, universe, solar system,
planet, ISS, star cluster.
ISS, Planet, star, solar system, star cluster, galaxy, universe
11. Draw and label the structure of the Sun (5 parts) - see Fig.3 page 453 in your text.
12. Does the Sun use hydrogen to produce energy from nuclear fusion?
Yes, the Sun produces energy through a process called nuclear fusion where Hydrogen
nuclei fuse to form Helium nuclei. The Sun is about 75% Hydrogen and 25% Helium.
13. A very dense object in space that even sucks in light is a _______________________.
A Black Hole
14. The galaxy we live in is called the ________________________.
Milky Way Galaxy
Chapter 15: The History of the Universe
1. What is the birth phase of a star?
All stars begin their lives as nebulas, which are huge clouds of dust and gases, mainly
hydrogen and helium.
As they swirl around, the dust bumps into each other and forms larger and larger clumps.
2. What are the phases of the star life cycle?
We say that stars have a “life” because they form from clouds of gas and dust and follow a
predictable series of stages:

they begin (“birth”)

they develop

they end (“die”).
Each life might take billions of years or more.
3. The study of the origin and changes of the Universe is known as
_________________________.
Cosmology
Theories:
•
Red Shift/ Big Bang
•
Origin of the Planets
•
Intelligent Design
•
Steady State
•
Oscillation Theory
4. The force of attraction between objects with mass is called __________________.
Gravity – the force that pulls objects towards each other.
Chapter 16: Space Research and Exploration
1. Why does the Hubble telescope work effectively?
The Hubble telescope was put into Earth’s orbit in 1990. It was an expensive but
successful way of overcoming the problem of Earth’s atmosphere. It’s reflecting
telescope can obtain a much more detailed view of distant objects and see much father
away than ground based telescopes.
2. Explain why space probes don’t usually carry humans aboard.
Space probes are useful for exploring the outer planets and moons.
They are generally pilot-less because they are too expensive and humans cannot
presently survive that long in space. (They can survive, but the long term effects are not
known.)
It took almost a year for a probe to get to our closest planet, Mars.