Term
Aproximately how far from the Sun are the following objects/areas (in terms of Astronomical Units)
Mercury
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Definition
| About 1/3 of an Astronomical Unit |
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Term
Aproximately how far from the Sun are the following objects/areas (in terms of Astronomical Units)
Mars |
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Definition
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Term
Aproximately how far from the Sun are the following objects/areas (in terms of Astronomical Units)
Jupiter |
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Definition
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Term
Aproximately how far from the Sun are the following objects/areas (in terms of Astronomical Units)
Neptune |
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Definition
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Term
Aproximately how far from the Sun are the following objects/areas (in terms of Astronomical Units)
the Kuiper Belt |
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Definition
| between roughly 50-100 AU |
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Term
| List three difference between terrestrial and Jovian planets |
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Definition
Rocky vs. gaseous surface
Close to Sun vs. Far from Sun
Least Massive type of planet vs. Most massive
Very dense vs. very light material
Short year length vs. Long year length |
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Term
| Is an emission Spectrun the spectrum of a hot body, a hot body shining through cool gas, or a hot gas? |
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Definition
| A hot gas that is being excited by hot blackbody somewhere to the side of the gas being observed. |
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Term
| Can an astronomer get information about temp., chemical composition, or both from an emission spectrum? |
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Definition
| Chemical composition of a gas, by studying patterns of emission lines in the spectrum. |
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Term
| Can an astronomer get information about temp., chemical composition, or both from a continuous spec?trum |
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Definition
| temperature of the object it is coming from |
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Term
| Can an astronomer get information about temp., chemical composition, or both from an Aborption Spectrum? |
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Definition
| both chemical composition and temp, since it features both continuous and line spectra. |
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Term
For the following regions of the Solar System, tell:
a. what shape the region has
b. where the region appears in the Solar System
c. What type of objects are found in the region
The Kuiper Belt |
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Definition
a. Doughnut shape
b. Between 50-100 AU from Sun
c. Contains many icy bodies including short-period comets and dwarf planets. |
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Term
For the following regions of the Solar System, tell:
a. what shape the region has
b. where the region appears in the Solar System
c. What type of objects are found in the region
Oort Cloud |
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Definition
a. spherical halo around the Solar System
b. Extends outside Kuiper belt to thousands of AU from the Sun
c. Contains icy bodies which con become long period comets. |
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Term
For the following regions of the Solar System, tell:
a. what shape the region has
b. where the region appears in the Solar System
c. What type of objects are found in the region
Asteriod belt |
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Definition
a. Disk Shape
b. between 2.1-3.3 AU from Sun (between Mars and Jupiter)
c. Contains chucks of rock of variety of sizes up to the size of planetesimals or medium sized moons |
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Term
What is the connection between asteroids in the Solar System today and the way the planets were formed?
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Definition
| Asteroids are very similar to the planetesimals which collided to create the core of all planets. |
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Term
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Definition
| large chucks of ice with dust and rocky fragments embedded in it. |
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Term
| Where does a comet come from? |
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Definition
| Comets come from the outer Solar System regions of the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud. |
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Term
| Why and when does a comet form a tail? |
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Definition
| As a comet nears the Sun vapor and dust are throuwn off of the comet as the Sun hears and melts the material of the comet. |
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Term
| Describe what a picture of an emission spectrum looks like. |
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Definition
| Completely black execpt for very thing colored lines, at the emission frequencies were hot, excited atoms are sending out specific colors of light. |
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Term
| Describe what a picture of an absorption spectrum looks like. |
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Definition
| Looks like a continous spectrum, except dark absorption lines, where specific colors of light are beign absorbed by a cool gas. |
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Term
| Describe what a picture of a continous spectrum looks like. |
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Definition
| Looks like a rainbow of colors from deep red, to yellow and green, to violet with no breaks or interruptions in the pattern. |
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Term
| The atmosphere affects the ability of a telescope to collect radiation from outer space. Using one or more sentences discuss two effects that the atmoshere has on astronomical observations below. Explain what effect the atmosphere has and why the atmosphere makes this happen. |
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Definition
Motion of the atmosphere and small temperature difference make images jiggle, blurring the final image.
The atmosphere only allows visible, radio, and some infrared frequencies through to the ground.
Dust or water vapor in the atmosphere can absorb visible light reducing the brightness of objects.
During the day, the atmosphere glows blue due to scattered sunlight, making observations of anything but radio waves impossible.
Dust and water vapor in the air near cities and other well-lit areas causes the sky to appear bright (light pollution), making it difficult or impossible to see dim objects.
etcetera. |
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Term
| Describe one change that I see in the night sky as a result of the Earth's rotation about it's axis. |
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Definition
Stars, planets, the moon, and all other celestial objects rise frome the eastern and set on the western horizon.
If you are away from the equator, some objects will circle the pole star and not set. |
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Term
| Describe one change that I see in the night sky that is a tesult of the Earth's motion around the Sun. |
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Definition
| Stars on the eastern horizon appear slightly higher at the beginning of the night from day to day. |
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Term
| Explain why there are seasons on Earth and why seasons in the Southern Hemishpere are opposite to the season in the Northern Hemisphere. |
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Definition
| The Earth has seasons b/c the axis of the Earth is tilted. WHen the north pole is pointed towards the sun, energy from the Sun falls in a concentrated area, heating the ground more intensely and making it warmer. At that time, Solar energy falling in the Southern Hemisphere spreads out over a larger area of ground, heating the ground less intensely and mkaing the air relatively cooler. |
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Term
| The phrase "the dark side of the moon" Is usaually used to talk about a place that is very far away and unreachable. Explain why this phrase is misleading the way that it is used. Can you suggest a better term to use in this way? |
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Definition
| The phrase is misleading b/c the moon otates once every 27.3 days and every place on the moon will go throught a "day" period and a "night" period in this time. No part of the moon is permanently dark, the "dark side" is the side away from the Sun. The phrase "far side of the moon" might be a better choice. |
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Term
On a trip to England, I decide to visit Stonehenge. I arrive near sunset and decide to watch the sun go down and the stars come out. I stand beside a plaque explaining the history of Stonehenge, facing EAST as the stars come out. Just after the sun goes down, I notice that the constellation of Orion is located near the horizon, and that one of the stars in Orion is shining right through a gap in two of the rocks making up Stonehenge.. The moon is almost fully lit up and is in the sky above Orion.
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If I come back for a second time on the next night and stand in the same position as the sun goes down, what will be different about what I see? Clearly explain three things that will be different on the second night.
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Definition
Moon has moved "down" to the East
Stars have shifted up and to the right
moon is fuller |
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Term
| If I were to lie down at the North Star and look straight upwards what would I see, and how would things change during the course of a night? |
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Definition
| The pole star would be straight overhead. During the night the other stars would make circular paths around it, but would not rise or set. |
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Term
| Lakeland is at a latitude of about 29 degrees N. Describe one change I would notice in the way the stars move during the night if I traveled to Oslo, Norway, which is at a latitude of 60 degrees N. |
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Definition
| Pole star is higher, more cirumpolar stars, fewer Southern hemisphere stars visible. |
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Term
| I live in a place where the Sun sets at 6 pm and rises at 6 am. If I wanted to see a full moon, at what time of day should I look to the East? |
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Definition
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Term
One day, I ovserve that the moon is visible in the sky from early afternoon until a couple of hours after sunset.
a. is the moon in a phase that is more than half full or less than half full?
b. If I wait a few days, would I expect the moon to be full soon, or new soon? |
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Definition
a. less than half full
b. full moon |
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Term
The Earth has a molten mantle that is able to flow. The Earth also has an atmosphere which is able to hold heat, making temperatures between day and night more even, and retaining more of the sun's heat energy.
What is the link between the atmosphere and the mantle - why is it necessary for the mantle to be molten in order to have a warm atmosphere? |
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Definition
| A molten mantle is necessary for tectonic motion. Volcanoes occur primarily at the boundary between tectonic plates b/c of the motion that makes them separate. If there were no volcanoes, there would be no main source for CO2 in the atmosphere. |
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Term
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Suppose that scientists found that a rocky planet or moon did not have a magnetic field. What information would this give scientists about the object's core? Describe one possible explanation for the lack of a magnetic field and briefly describe why scientists could make this conclusion.
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Definition
| A body's interior must have two properties to create a magnetic field. The interior must conduct electricity, and it must be spinning. If a body does not have a magnetic field, one of these must be true. |
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Term
| Briefly describe the currently accepted theory for the process which formed the Earth's Moon. |
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Definition
| A large object collided with the Earth, melting and ejecting material from the Earth's crust and destroying the object. A mix of material from the Earth and the object collected together in orbit around the Earth and solidfied to become the moon. |
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Term
| The nebular model for the formation of the solar system is currently widely accepted because it explains many characteristics of the solar system that we can observe. Name two features of the solar system that are well explained by the theory of the formation of the solar system, and tell why they agree with the model. |
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Definition
| The orbits of the major bodies should therefore be approximately in the same plane and should have the same direction of motion, as is observed. The rotation of the Sun and planets should also be in the same direction. Only two planets have exceptional rotations; otherwise, the observations match the theory’s predictions. The theory also predicts the difference in density in the terrestrial and the jovian planets. |
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Term
| Explain the position of the Earth, Moon and Sun cause solar and Lunar eclipses. Discuss what an observre in outer space would see during each kind of eclipse. |
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Definition
Solar eclipses occur when Moon is between Sun and Earth.
Solar eclipses occur at NEW MOON
An observer in space would normally see the moon lit on one complete half and not on the other
Lunar eclipses occur when Earth is between Sun and Moon
Lunar eclipses occur at FULL MOON
The observer would see the shadow of the earth slowly pass over and cover the lit portion of the moon. |
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