1.
Review the midterm review sheet. Remember, the final exam is cumulative. If you’re missing the midterm review sheet, you can get a copy from the class website ( http://www.astro.umd.edu/~dcr/Courses/ASTR220/ ).
2.
Go over your homework and the in-class quizzes. Be sure you understand any questions you got wrong.
3.
Go over the online class notes. You are responsible for anything covered in class.
1.
The electromagnetic spectrum and the relation between color and temperature.
2.
The Sun: its structure, types of activity, and energy source.
3.
Parallax as a tool for measuring distances to stars.
4.
The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram: main sequence, red giants, supergiants, and white dwarfs.
5.
Evolution of stars: low-mass, solar-mass, and high-mass.
6.
Supernovae and stellar remnants: planetary nebulae, white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes. Hypernovae and gamma-ray bursts.
7.
The discovery of pulsars/neutron stars and black holes.
8.
The components of the Milky Way: disk, bulge, nucleus, and halo.
9.
Spiral structure: how does it relate to star formation?
10.
The “Great Debate” and the discovery of other galaxies.
11.
Cepheid variables and Hubble’s Law as tools for measuring distances to galaxies.
12.
Types of galaxies and galaxy classification. The Hubble sequence.
13.
Galaxy collisions: major and minor, harassment, relation to galaxy evolution.
14.
Galaxy formation: the “bottom-up” scenario.
15.
Dark matter: what is it and how do we know it’s there?
16.
Supermassive black holes at galactic centers: detection methods and correlations.
17.
Active galactic nuclei: discovery and theory. Quasars and radio galaxies.
18.
Superluminal motion.
1.
What methods do astronomers use to measure the mass, distance, luminosity, and temperature of stars?
2.
How does fusion work? (What is the p-p chain and why is E = mc
2
important?)
3.
Why does a low-mass star evolve differently from a high-mass star?
4.
What is meant by the “event horizon” of a black hole?

5.
What methods do astronomers use to search for white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes?
6.
What determines whether a star will become a white dwarf, neutron star, or black hole?
7.
Why are collisions important for the evolution of galaxies but not for stars?
8.
How do we measure distances to the nearest galaxies?
9.
How do we measure distances to the furthest galaxies?
10.
How can we measure the mass of a galaxy?
11.
How do we infer the presence of dark matter?
12.
How does an object’s luminosity variability constrain its size?
C = 2

R
A =

R
2
S = 4

R
2
V = 4/3

R
3

= M / V p = mv
E = 1/2 mv
2
E = mc 2 d (pc) = 1/

(arcsec)
L = 4

R
2 
T
4
(or L

R
2
T
4
)
MP
2
= 4
 2 d
3
/ G (or M
 d
3
/ P
2
)
M = v
2
R/G v = H
0 d
D < ct var
(speed) = (distance) / (time)
(lifetime) = (total energy) / (luminosity)