Download Study Guide for 1ST Astronomy Exam

Study Guide for Final Astronomy Exam
The successful will be able to…
Unit 5: The Night Sky
 Draw and label the celestial sphere for an observer at any latitude,
 Draw the apparent motion of stars as seen by any observer looking North, East, South or West,
 Use the simplified celestial sphere diagram to determine the visibility of an object and its maximum
altitude, given its declination at any latitude on the Earth,
 Use the fact that the Earth rotates 15 degrees per hour to calculate time periods between celestial events.
Unit 6: The Year
 Describe in words and using the Whole Sky Map, developed in class, the annual motion of the Sun
eastward through the stars along the ecliptic defining and identifying the special points on the ecliptic
(solstices and equinoxes),
 Describe quantitatively the apparent daily motion of the Sun on an equinox or solstice from any
latitude (where sun rise occurs, maximum altitude of the Sun, where sun set occurs, and the length of
daylight) using the simplified celestial sphere diagram,
Unit 7: The Day
 Describe the location of sunrise and sunset along the horizon for any given day of the year. (Figure 7.1)
 Describe how the maximum altitude of the Sun depends on day of the year. Fig 7.1)
 Explain why the solar day is different from the sidereal day. (Fig 7.2)
 Describe how day length varies depending on whether the Sun is above, on, or below the celestial
equator.
Unit 8: The Lunar Cycles
 Describe the daily and monthly apparent motion of the Moon and its relationship to the Zodiac.
 Name the phase of the Moon from a photograph of the Moon.
 Estimate the number of days between lunar phases.
 Rank images of the Moon in different phases in order of occurrence first to last.
 Explain why the lunar sidereal period is different than the time for a cycle of lunar phases.
Unit 11: Planets the Wandering Stars
 Describe the characteristics of the inferior and superior planets as regards their apparent motion in the
sky. (Motion, elongation, configuration while retrograde…)
 Work with and identify planetary configurations of opposition, conjunction and maximum elongation.
o Practice with the Planetary Configuration Simulator
 Describe the basic ideas of the Copernican model of the Universe.
o Location and Motion of the Earth
 Describe the cause of retrograde motion in our modern Copernican Model.
 Describe why inferior planets demonstrate a maximum elongation in their motion.
Unit 12: The beginnings of modern astronomy
 Discuss Galileo’s observations of the Sun. Moon, Jupiter and Venus and state how they contradicted the
previously held Aristotelian model of the Universe
Unit 32: The Structure of the Solar System
 Write an essay contrasting the properties of the Terrestrial and Jovian Planets
Unit 33: The Origin of the Solar System
 Describe the three basic ingredients of the “cosmic cupboard” and how these three ingredients and the
thermal structure of the solar nebula create the distribution of planets that we see in our solar system.
 Describe the steps in the formation of solar system (33.2 to 33.5
1. Interstellar cloud collapses to a disk
2. Solid grains of rock and ice coalesce to form planetesimals
o Within the “ice line” only rocky planetesimals form
o Beyond the “ice line” planetesimals are composed mostly of ices.
3. Planet growth continues by the gravitational attraction of planetesimals to each other.
4. Final stage of planet growth is a late-stage heavy bombardment.
o When the Sun “turned on” t-Tauri winds cleaned out the solar system of loose gas
and dust terminating the planet formation process.
Unit 49: The Sun, Our Star
 Describe the Sun in terms of a 2-layer model (49.2 and Hot Tips presentation on the Solar Interior)
o List or identify the core properties and function
o List or identify the envelope properties and function
o Describe the eventual fate of all stars
Unit 50: The Sun’s Source of Power (50.2)
 Describe, in an essay, how the Sun produces energy by
o describing the Net proton-proton chain reaction,
o defining the symbols in the reaction,
o stating the origin of the symbols in the reaction,
o describe the process of thermalization of gamma rays in the Sun and state its significance.
Unit 52: Surveying the Stars (50.2 & 50.3)
 List or identify the definition of the stellar motion terms
o Proper motion,
o Radial velocity, and
Unit 54: Light and Distance (54.2, 54.3 & 54.4)
 Interpret stellar apparent magnitudes and their relationship to brightness
 Interpret stellar absolute magnitudes and their relationship to luminosity
 Solve problems relating to the relative brightness or luminosity of two stars given their m or M values.
Unit 55: The Temperatures and Compositions of Stars (55.2 & 55.5)
 Determine the hottest and coolest stars from a list of stars with their spectral types.
Unit 56: The Masses of Stars (56.1, 56.2)
 State what information about stars can be determined from binary stars,
 Describe or identify the following types of binary stars
o Apparent double stars
o True binary star
o Spectroscopic binaries
o Eclipsing binaries
Unit 58: The H-R Diagram (58.1. 58.2, 58.3)
 Properly label the axes of an HR diagram and identify the regions of
o The main sequence
o Red Giants
o White Dwarf stellar remnant
 Utilize the HR to identify a star’s luminosity, temperature, radius and mass.
 Interpret the luminosity class of a star by naming the luminosity class (Table 58.1) and identifying if
the star is in the “adult” phase or the “nursing home” phase of its evolution.
Unit 60: Star Formation (60.4, 60.8)
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Describe the physical characteristics of a giant molecular cloud
Identify the source of heating (energy production) in protostars
Explain why more low-mass K & M main sequence stars form rather than the high-mass O & B stars.
List the mass limits of stars and explain why these limits apply.
Describe the processes and stages of star formation from a giant molecular cloud to an open cluster.
Interpret the physical changes of a forming star on an HR diagram.
Identify and define the ZAMS line on an HR diagram.
Describe the relationship between OB associations and HII regions.
Unit 61: Main-Sequence Stars (61.5)
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State the impact of convection in the envelope of very low mass stars on the stars main sequence lifetime.
Describe or identify changes in a star during its main sequence lifetime.
Unit 62: Giant Stars (62.1, 62.2)
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Describe how shell fusion in a star causes the star to become giants.
Unit 64: Mass Loss and Death of Low-Mass Stars (64.2, 64.3)
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Match the stage of the Sun’s future evolution with the mechanism of energy production in that stage.
Identify on an HR diagram the stage of the Sun’s evolution and its mechanism of energy production.
List in chronological order the mechanisms of energy production in Sun-like stars.
List in chronological order the stages of evolution in Sun-like stars.
Unit 66: Old Age and Death of Massive Stars (66.2, 66.7)
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List the differences in energy production between low-mass stars and high-mass stars.
Describe the interior structure of a high-mass star near the end of its lifetime.
Identify the composition of the core of a star about to experience a core-collapse (Type II) supernova.
Describe two reasons why type II supernova a very useful standard candles.
Describe the impact of supernovas on the chemical evolution of the universe.
Unit 70: Discovering the Milky Way (70.3, 70.6, 70.8)
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Interpret the distribution of K&M main-sequences stars, open clusters, and globular clusters on a whole sky map
as they relate to the shape of the Milky Way and the location of the Sun,
Describe how globular clusters have contributed to our understanding of the structure of the Milky Way,
List the basic (3) components of the Milky Way and their dimensions.
Unit 71: Stars in the Milky Way (71.1, 71.3)
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Discuss differences between Pop I and Pop II stars (composition, age, location , orbits),
Describe the steps in the formation of the Milky Way and how this process is supported by the segregated
distributions of Pop I and Pop II stars,
 State the elements in the future of the Milky Way.
Unit 73: Mass and Motions in the Milky Way (73.5, 73.6)
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Describe the characteristics of the galactic center and the significance of the object SO-2,
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Describe the Winding dilemma and its implication regarding the character of spiral arms,
Describe how density waves create spiral arms by tracing the evolution of a interstellar cloud as it evolves
through a density wave.
Unit 75: Types of Galaxies (75.1, 75.2, 75.3, 75.4, 75.5, 75.6, 75.9, 75.12)
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Describe the types of galaxies and their properties in the Hubble Galaxy classification system,
Identify the basic Hubble type galaxies in photographs,
Describe the Hubble Deep Field and its significance regarding galaxy evolution,
Describe the evolution of galaxy types that occurs in rich galaxy clusters,
List the indicators of a recent galaxy collision,
Unit 76: Galaxy Clustering (76.2, 76.4)
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Describe or identify the properties of the Local Group of Galaxies,
Characterize the structure of a poor galaxy cluster
Characterize the structure of a rich galaxy cluster
Mathematical Problems (See HW solutions for sample problems)
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Ratios
Proportions
t=d/v
Angular Size
Density
Brightness
Stellar Parallax
Stefan-Boltzmann
Wien’s Law
Main-Sequence Lifetime
Expect five problems chosen from
the ten types listed to the left to be on
the exam.
Guaranteed two of the five from
Angular size, Density, Brightness or
Stefan-Boltzmann.