Download Astronomy Objectives

SNC1D - Vipond
UNIT OBJECTIVES: ASTRONOMY
Some things you will be expected to know:
Section 1: The Night Sky
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Ancient astronomers: Mayans, Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Greeks (Ptolemy)
Inferring Earth’s spherical shape
Copernicus, Kepler
Constellations; apparent magnitude
The reasons for seasons; aphelion, perihelion
The moon; motion, phases, structure, eclipses (solar, lunar); tides
Planets: all eight in order from the Sun outward; terrestrial (inner) planets;
gas giants (outer) planets; which ones are visible with the unaided eye; their
characteristics
Retrograde motion and what causes it (diagram)
Kuiper Belt, Oort Cloud
The planets: handout (don't learn any numbers); motion around sun
Asteroids
Comets
Meteoroids, meteors and meteorites
Section 2: Exploring Our Stellar Neighbourhood
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Telescopes
Electromagnetic radiation spectrum
Satellites; uses; geosynchronous satellites; remote sensing
The Sun; structure; sunspots; solar wind, flares, and prominences; fusion
Solar-nebula theory; how the Sun formed
Extra-solar planets
Stars; luminosity, absolute magnitude
Temperature and colours of stars
Absorption spectra of stars and their analysis
Mass of stars
Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and types of stars
Evolution of low mass (red dwarf) stars, medium mass main sequence stars,
massive stars, all from nebulae to their final phases
Section 3: The Mysterious Universe
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Galaxies, spiral, irregular, and elliptical; the Milky Way
Star clusters, open and globular
Galaxy clusters
Doppler effect and measuring motion of stars with their absorption spectra:
Red-shift → going away from us; blue-shift → coming toward us
The Hubble Law; state it and describe the evidence that supports it
Big Bang Theory: be able to explain how the universe was formed according to
this theory; know the particles formed at each step, but not specific times or
temperatures
SNC1D - Vipond
Be able to define these scientific terms (and any others in the notes):
absolute magnitude
aphelion
apparent magnitude
asterism
asteroid
astronomical unit
binary stars
black hole
blue-shift
calendar
celestial
comet
constellation
corona
Doppler effect
ellipse
extra-solar
fusion
galaxy
geocentric
geosynchronous
gravity/gravitational force
heliocentric
latitude
light-year
luminosity
meteoroid
meteorite
meteor
nebula
neutron star
orbital radius
penumbra
perihelion
period
photosphere
planet
red-shift
revolution
rotation
satellite
solar flare
solar mass
solar plane
solar prominence
solar wind
star
sun spot
supernova
umbra