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Astronomy 101
the Solar System Review
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Why do the constellations that are visible in the sky at night change with the seasons? | Because the Earth revolves around the Sun |
| Star X shows parallax of 0.1 arcseconds. Star Y shows parallax of 0.05 arcseconds. Compare the distances of these stars from us. | Star X is 2 times closer than star Y. |
| What is different about radio waves from visible light? | radio waves have less energy |
| Which of the following DID NOT occur several hundred thousand years after the universe began? | The Earth cooled to a temperature low enough to have a solid surface |
| One consequence of Copernicus's heliocentric model of the Solar System was that we should see stars ________ , however, this was not detected until the 1800s | show a parallax shift |
| What causes our summers to be hot? | Sunlight strikes the ground from a higher angle, so the Sun's energy is more concentrated |
| As you are sailing in the open ocean, you observe that the North Star appears closer to the horizon every night. In which of the following directions might you be traveling? | Due South |
| Which of the following could you expect to observe in December if you lived in Australia? | The Sun rising highest in the sky |
| Suppose that the Earth's axial tilt suddenly decreased from 23.5 to zero degrees (all else remaining the same). Which of the following changes could you expect to observe? | It would be slightly warmer in January than July. |
| When the universe was just about a second old, which of the following was/were NOT present? | stars |
| What is the Astronomical Unit? | The average distance between the Earth and the Sun |
| Halley's comet completes one orbit around the Sun approximately every 76 years, and according to Kepler's 3rd law, you would expect that the average radius (semi-major axis) of the comet's orbit is 18 AU, which is much larger than the Earth's orbit. Yet, | The comet's orbit is highly elliptical |
| During the month of June the Sun rises ________ and sets ________ | in the northeast; in the northwest |
| Which Moon phase sets at noon? | Third Quarter |
| What makes the North Star, Polaris, special? | It is near the north celestial pole |
| Suppose an astronaut standing on the Moon sees the Earth in the "full" phase. At the same time, from Earth we would see the Moon in the ________ phase. | New |
| Suppose you see the Moon in the 1st quarter phase one night. For someone living in Europe (90 degrees to your east) the Moon's phase that night would be | 1st Quarter |
| A prediction of Ptolemy's geocentric model was that Venus should | always be in a crescent or new phase |
| In the first ten minutes of the universe, protons and neutrons first combined to make ________ , then they collided to make ________ | deuterium; helium |
| Kepler's 2nd Law of equal areas tells us that | planets travel faster in their orbits when they are closer to the Sun |
| According to modern understanding, when Mars undergoes retrograde motion, it | is being passed by the Earth, which moves in a faster orbit |
| Which of the following parts of the Sun has the lowest temperature? | photosphere |
| Why does the Islamic New Year occur on different dates in the Western calendar each year? | It starts when the Moon is New |
| In Amherst, on what day(s) does the Sun pass straight overhead? | Never |
| Which of the following was not observed by Galileo? | stellar parallax |
| Which of the following lists the photons in increasing order of energy? | Radio, Infrared, Visible light, Ultraviolet, X-rays |
| The Sun appears yellow, Star X appears red. Which of the following is a likely explanation for Star X's color? | Its surface temperature is lower than the Sun's |
| Iron is element #26 in the periodic table and has an atomic mass of 56. From this, we can conclude that an atom of iron contains | 26 protons |
| Suppose sunlight is reflected off the surface of a planet that has an atmosphere containing oxygen. If you examined this light through a spectroscope, what would you see? | The spectrum of sunlight with absorption lines at wavelengths corresponding to oxygen's energy transitions |
| In the outer part of the Sun, just below the photosphere, the energy is transported mainly by | Convection |
| Sun spots | are cooler regions of the photosphere |
| Saturn is about 10 times farther from the Sun than the Earth. The number of Watts of sunlight hitting each square meter of Saturn's surface is therefore about ________ the number hitting the Earth | 100 times smaller than |
| Why does the fusion of protons require high temperatures? | Because at high temperatures the protons have enough speed to overcome the electrical repulsion |
| What causes the aurora (or "northern lights")? | Solar flares. |
| From spectroscopic studies, the Sun's composition (by percentage of mass) is 71% ________ , 27%________ and 2% other elements | hydrogen; helium |
| If we measured a star's parallax shift from Mars instead of the Earth, we would find that it was | larger |
| How would you write "three million two hundred sixty thousand" in scientific notation? | 3.26 times 106 |
| According to the standard model, which of the following is not an elementary particle? | Proton |
| What are the meanings of the following metric prefixes: nano means ________ , kilo means ________ , and Mega means ________ | 10-9 ; 103 ; 106 |
| The Earth's spin is gradually slowing down, so days are getting longer and the length of the year will eventually be 365.1 days instead of 365.25 days. In that future time, how often would we need a leap year according to the common Western calendar? Ever | 10 |
| Which of the following is an accurate statement about what astronomers call "inflation"? | It is an unusual energy condition that led to rapid inflation of the universe |
| The circular shape of the Earth's shadow on the Moon led Aristotle to conclude that | the Earth is a sphere |
| If the Moon were twice as far away from the Earth, its angular diameter would be | half as big. |
| Suppose your spaceship crash-landed on an unknown planet. Once you have recovered from the crash, you decide to figure out how big the planet is. You watch the stars during the night and discover one star in the south that appears to remain stationary as | 1/36th |
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Mrzha05
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