Shared Flashcard Set

Details

Exam 1
Chapter 1, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, and Chapter 6 tests
60
Astronomy
Undergraduate 1
02/25/2013

Additional Astronomy Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Which systems are bound together by gravity?
Definition
The Earth, the Sun, the Galaxy and the local group of Galaxies
Term
Approximately how many times the distance to the Galaxy's center is greater than the distance between the Earth and the Sun?
Definition
1 billion times
Term
How is a light year defined?
Definition
the distance light travels in a year
Term
1 AU is
Definition
An average distance between the Earth and the Sun
Term
Nanometer is a unit of
Definition
10^-9m
Term
Approximately how many times the period of the Sun'd rotation about the galaxy's center is greater than 1 year?
Definition
220 times
Term
Smallest to largest particles
Definition
quark, proton, atom, molecule
Term
Smallest to largest systems
Definition
Planet, star, galaxy, local group, galaxy cluster
Term
How many times the mass of the Universe at a critical density is greater than the mass of the galaxy?
Definition
100 billion times
Term
About how much larger is the Sun than Earth?
Definition
100
Term
The Second Newton's law specifies the relationship
Definition
Between a force excerted on a body and acquired acceleration as a result
Term
Kinetic energy of a moving body is
Definition
proportional to the body's mass, proportional to the square of the body's velocity and is always non-negative
Term
A planet's motion is completely characterized by
Definition
It's distance from the central star (or coordinates) and an orbital velocity along its orbit
Term
As distance between two stars becoems twice smaller, the force of gravity exerted on them
Definition
becomes 4 times greater
Term
When a spinning skater pulls in her arms to turn faster
Definition
her angular momentum remains the same
Term
The gravitational tidal force created by the moon
Definition
slows down Earth's rotation rate and stretches Earth along the Earth-Moon line, causing tidal bulges
Term
Conservation of angular momentum suggestes that
Definition
as a body contracts, it starts to spin faster and as a body expands, it starts to spin slower
Term
Gravitational potential energy of a planet orbiting its central star is
Definition
always negative
Term
The First Newton law specifies that
Definition
A body will move with constant speed along a straight line if there is no net force applied to it
Term
Law of Universal Gravitation can be applied to
Definition
planetary motions around their central star, stellar motions around the center of our Galaxy, motion of the Milky Way Galazt in a cluster of galaxies, motions of spacecraft around the Earth and motion of the Moon around the Earth
Term
Newton's Third Law is obseved when
Definition
two bodies interact with each other
Term
To "break free: from the Earth's gravitational field, a body needs
Definition
to circle around the planet
Term
A body's weignt on a planet depends on
Definition
the planet's mass, radius, and gravitational acceleration
Term
An astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS) experiences weightlessness
Definition
because the astronaut and the ISS both experience free fall due to the Earth's gravity force
Term
If observations show that a celestial body moves along a curved line then we conclude that
Definition
its motion is affected by an external force such as gravity, another massive body exerting gravitational force on it, it is experiencing centripetal acceleration and its velocity changes along the body's trajectory
Term
Conservation of linear momentum suggests that
Definition
the total linear momentum before collision of two pool balls equals to their total momentum after the collision
Term
The law of conservation of energy suggests that the total amount of energy in the Universe
Definition
cannot change
Term
When the Earth, Moon, and Sun are aligned with respect to each other, then we should always observe
Definition
the highest tides called Spring Tides
Term
Escape velocity from a planet depends on
Definition
the planet's mass to radius ratio
Term
The Moon spirals away from us at a rate of about 2 inches per year because of
Definition
the gravitational tidal force exerted by Earth to the Moon
Term
As light from an opaque object (star) passes through a prisim it produces
Definition
a continuous spectrum
Term
Refraction of light waves occurs
Definition
when a wave changes direction of propagation as it passes from one medium to another at any angle other than 90 or 0 degrees
Term
As light from a star passes through a rarefield cold gas and then passes through a prism, it produces
Definition
an absorbtion line spectrum
Term
The wavelength of a light wave is
Definition
the distance between two successive crests or two successive valleys
Term
The frequency of a light source at 100 MGh (Megahertz) corresponds to the wavelength of
Definition
3m
Term
Which spectral bands are blocked by the Earth's atmosphere?
Definition
X-ray, Gamma Ray, Most of the IR band and long wavelength radio emission
Term
Absolute zero temperature corresponds to
Definition
the minimum possible kinetic energy of thermal motions of atoms and molecules in a body
Term
A photon's energy is proportional to its
Definition
Frequency
Term
Light can be descibed as
Definition
an electromagnetic wave and an oscillation of electric and magnetic fields in two mutually perpendicular planes to the direction of light propagation
Term
The wavelength of a light wave gets shorter
Definition
when its frequency get higher
Term
What type of waves exhibit the Doppler effect?
Definition
Sound waves, gamma rays, x rays and water waves
Term
As a light source moves away from an obseved, the wavelength of the observed emission lines
Definition
becomes loner (or red-shifted)
Term
As a star becomes twice hotter, its emitting power
Definition
becomes 16 times greater
Term
As a body gets hotter, it emits most of its energy in
Definition
a shorter wavelength and in a radio band
Term
An atom will be excited from its ground state to a higher state if
Definition
it absorbs a photon with the fixed energy corresponding to the energy difference between states
Term
Waves manifest themselves as
Definition
longtitudinal or transverse, as periodic disturbances propagating energy in space and time and distrubances with a characteristic wavelength and frequency
Term
As light from a rarefied hot gas passes through a prisim it produces
Definition
an emission line spectrum
Term
As a star moves toward an observer, the wavelength of the observed absorption lines
Definition
becomes shorter (or blue-shifted)
Term
Which spectral band has the longest wavelength?
Definition
Radio
Term
The highest energy photons belong to the
Definition
Gamma-ray spectral band
Term
The resolving power of a telescope with a large mirror is
Definition
greater
Term
To construct an image gamma-ray telescope, use
Definition
particle properties of light
Term
An amateur telescope with the focal lenth of an objective, F=1000 mm and the focal length of an eyepiece, f=10 mm, will produce a magnification of
Definition
100 times
Term
Radio telescopes need to have larger apertures to
Definition
increase their light gathering power to collect weak radio signals and to increase their resolving power to observe fine structures of radio sources
Term
Refractors have disadvantages over reflectors because
Definition
their primary objective (lens) suffer from chromatic aberration, ther primary objective (lens) under their own weight, their greater manufacturing cost and two sides of the refractorr telescope's objective need to be perfect rather than one side in reflectors
Term
X-ray telescopes cannot be used for observations from the Earth's surface because
Definition
X-ray emission is blocked by the Earth's atmosphere
Term
Adaptive optics can increase the angular resolution of an image by
Definition
correcting for the effects of atmospheric turbulence in real time
Term
The Keck's telescope mirror is about 4 times larger in diameter than the Hubble Space Telescope's (HST) mirror. How much greater is Keck's light gathering power with respect to the HST's?
Definition
16 times
Term
A telescope's resolving power measures its ability to view
Definition
finer structures
Term
A ground-based IR telescope would
Definition
be worthless because most of IR emission can not pass through the Earth's atmosphere
Supporting users have an ad free experience!