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Astro. 2-1
User's Guide to the Sky: Patterns and Cycles: The Stars
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| In ancient cultures, constellations were named after what sorts of things? (Hint: three) | Ancient cultures named constellations after gods, heroes, and mythical beasts. |
| In general, do constellations generally look like the creatures after which they were named? | No, constellations generally do not resemble the creatures they were named after. |
| The constellations named within western culture originated in which ancient civilizations? (Hint: four) | The constellations named within western culture originated in the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Babylon, Egypt, and Greece. |
| Of the constellations named by ancient civilizations, how many are still in use? | 48 of the constellations named by these ancient civilizations are still in use. |
| How many constellations have been added in recent centuries? | In recent centuries, astronomers have added 40 modern constellations to fill gaps making a total of 88 official constellations. |
| Do constellations cover the entire sky? | Yes, constellations now cover the entire sky and serve as viewing directions. |
| What are "asterisms"? | Asterisms are less formally defined groupings of stars. |
| What are two examples of asterisms? | The Big Dipper and the Great Square of Pegasus are both asterisms. |
| Are the stars in constellations necessarily related to each other in any way? | No, stars in constellations may be farther away than others and moving through space in different directions. |
| The names of constellations are in which languages? | The names of constellations are in Latin or Greek, the languages of science in Medieval and Renaissance Europe. |
| Most individual star names derive from what ancient language? | Most individual star names derive from ancient Arabic, however they have been much altered over the centuries. |
| How do you identify exact stars in a constellation? | A way to identify exact stars in a constellations is to assign Greek letters to the stars in approximate order of brightness. |
| By using the method of assigning Greek letters to stars in order of brightness, how would you refer to the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major? | "Alpha Canis Majoris" is what you would call the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major. Followed by "Beta Canis Majoris". |
| The magnitude scale is used to define what aspect of a star? | The magnitude scale is used to define the brightness (^mv) of a star. |
| Do brighter stars go up or down on the magnitude scale? | The brighter a star is, the farther it will go DOWN on the magnitude scale. (Ex: An alpha star could be -6 on the magnitudes scale and the beta star in the same constellation could be a -5) |
| What is apparent visual magnitude? | Apparent visual magnitude (^mv) describes how bright stars look to human eyes observing from Earth. (Hint: think of the "v" in ^mv as standing for "v"isible) |
| What is flux? | Flux is a measure of the light energy from a star that hits one square meter in one second. Modern instruments can measure this precisely so that we can be more specific when referring to the magnitude of a star (Ex: -1.47) |
| What is the brightest star in the sky? | The brightest star in our sky is Sirius. |
| What star is known as the "North Star"? | Polaris is the North Star. |
| What magnitude stars are the faintest stars visible to human eyes? | Magnitude 6 stars are the faintest stars visible to human eyes. |
Created by:
rebecca_forcier
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