Download ASTRONOMY BENCHMARK STUDY GUIDE

ASTRONOMY BENCHMARK STUDY GUIDE
STARS
1. What is apparent magnitude?
2. What is absolute magnitude?
3. What is a constellation?
4. What is a light-year?
5. Explain how distance affects absolute magnitude and apparent magnitude.
EVOLUTION OF STARS
1. What are the life stages in a low mass star?
2. What are the life stages in a massive star?
3. What are the life stages in a very massive star?
Of the three types of stars above, which is the sun most like and in what stage is it in?
4. Briefly describe each of the stages below.
Nebula:
Protostar: Nebula is collapsing under the weight of gravity and heating up.
Main Sequence:
Red Giant:
Planetary Nebula:
Supernova:
White Dwarf:
Neutron Star:
Black Hole:
5. How does the sun produce energy during its main sequence stage?
6. What is an H-R Diagram?
7. On what region of the H-R diagram do most stars occur and why?
8. What do the colors of stars tell you about them?
9. Using four colors, put them in order from coolest to hottest.
GALAXIES AND THE UNIVERSE
1. What is a galaxy?
2. What is the Big Bang theory?
3. What are three different kinds of galaxies and how are they different?
4. Describe your personal location in the universe using the terms: Milky Way, Universe, Local Group, Spiral
Galaxy and Solar System.
5. What evidence supports the Big Bang theory?
6. Describe the Milky Way and our approximate location within it.
ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES AND WAVE PROPERTIES/BEHAVIOR
1. Draw a wave and label wave length, amplitude, crest and trough
2. If amplitude changes, how does your wave picture change?
3. If wave length changes, how does your wave picture change?
4. What is reflection?
5. What is refraction?
6. What is diffraction?
7. Draw 2 pictures: one of refraction and one of reflection
8. What are the different waves on the electromagnetic spectrum called and how are they ordered?
9. Why are the waves organized in this order?
10. Give one use in your daily life that each kind of electromagnetic wave is used.
11. What is the Doppler effect?
12. Explain why an objects color may be red-shifted by its motion.
13. Explain what can affect the speed of light and when does it travel the fastest.