Download Unit 4: Astronomy

Unit 10: Stars and Galaxies
Assignment Guide
Assignment #1:
Topics:
Telescopes
Pages:
558-563
1. What is a telescope and why is it so important to the study of space?
2. Describe the two basic telescope designs and what is used to collect and focus
light for each.
3. Describe a couple of ways that our atmosphere interferes with the observation of
objects in space and a couple of ways that astronomers can reduce or eliminate
this interference.
4. What is a “non-optical telescope”? Describe a couple of advantages to using one
of these in addition to an optical telescope.
Assignment #2:
Pages 568, 587-588
Topics: Distances to and motion of stars
Objectives:
1) Describe how astronomers were first able to measure the distances to stars.
2) Describe the unit of the length developed by astronomers to measure and describe
distances to stars other than our own sun.
3) Explain the statement “looking deep into space is essentially looking back in time”.
4) Describe why some of the stars in the sky at night are only visible at certain times of
the year and change position in the sky from one night to the next.
5) Describe why a star’s position in the night sky changes from hour-to-hour on a given
night of the year.
Assignment #3
Pages: 582-587
Topics: Color and composition of stars / stellar magnitude
Objectives:
1) Describe the relationship between a star’s color and its temperature.
2) Describe how scientists analyze starlight to determine a star’s composition.
3) Describe the magnitude scale used to classify stars by their brightness.
4) Describe the difference between “apparent magnitude” and “absolute magnitude”.
5) Describe two factors that affect how bright a star appears when seen from Earth.
ASSIGNMENTS #4&5 on back
Assignment #4
Pages: 590-595
Topic: Life cycle of stars
Objectives:
1) Describe the formation of stars and the first stage of their life cycle.
2) Explain what happens to some of a star’s matter when it “dies”.
3) Describe the “main-sequence” stage of a star’s life cycle in terms of how it
generates energy.
4) Describe the evolution of a “low-mass” star (a star that has the same mass as our
sun or smaller) once it leaves the main-sequence. {your answer should include
descriptions of giants and white dwarfs}
5) Describe the evolution of a “massive” star once it leaves the main-sequence.
{your answer should include descriptions of supernovas and neutron stars}
6) Define the term “black hole” and describe how astronomers believe they form.
Assignment #5
Pages: 596-599
Topics: Star clusters and galaxies
Objectives:
1) Define “galaxy”. What is the name of our home galaxy?
2) Describe the three types of galaxies (as classified by Hubble).
3) Describe a “nebula”.
4) Describe the two types of star clusters.
5) What is a quasar? What is significant about them and how are they related to
galaxies?