Phys 010 – Astronomy Final Exam Review Prof. Finn
To prepare for the final exam, you should review your notes, reading quizzes, in-class activities and labs, and exams. The following list of terms and concepts can serve as a guide.
• Distance measurements o Astronomical unit o Light year
• Relative sizes and scales of o Planet o Star o Galaxy o Universe
• Celestial sphere o North celestial pole o South celestial pole o Celestial equator o Significance of the North star o Precession o Ecliptic
• Celestial motion o Rising and setting locations of Sun for different times of year and at different latitudes o Motion of constellations throughout the year
• Zodiac constellations o Don’t need to know individual constellations, but know the significance of the zodiac band and how your zodiac sign is determined
• Cause of the seasons o Vernal equinox, Summer solstice, Autumnal equinox, Winter solstice o Path of Sun through the sky at the equinoxes and solstices o Seasons in southern hemisphere o Earth’s orbit around the sun
• Telescopes o Describe the two main purposes of a telescope. o How does light-gathering ability depend on mirror size? o How does resolution depend on mirror size? o What other issues affect telescope resolution on earth’s surface? o Apply telescope scale to calculate object sizes at a certain distance.
• Electromagnetic Radiation o Describe common properties of all electromagnetic radiation. o Describe how wavelength of radiation varies from Gamma rays to radio waves. o Describe how energy of radiation changes from Gamma rays to radio waves. o Which types of radiation penetrate through the Earth’s atmosphere? Which types require observations from space? o Describe why astronomers observe all types of electromagnetic radiation.
• Space Telescopes o If visible light reaches earth’s surface, why was the Hubble Space Telescope placed in space? o What other space telescopes are currently orbiting earth? o What types of radiation do they detect?
• Formation of the Solar System o Describe the formation of the solar system. o Describe how planets form. Include condensation, accretion, planetessimals in your explanation. o What two main processes formed the Earth’s atmosphere? o Describe how temperature at the time of planet formation determines where terrestrial and jovian planets form.
• Scale of the Solar System o Order the planets in terms of mass.

Phys 010 – Astronomy Final Exam Review Prof. Finn o Order the planets in terms of size.
• The Planets o What are the notable features of each planet? o Describe three separate pieces of evidence that support the theory that collisions were common in the early solar system. o Do collisions still occur in the solar system? Explain. o Describe the greenhouse effect. Why is Venus an example for why we want to limit carbon dioxide production on Earth? o Understand how escape velocity of a planet and a planet’s temperature determine what gases a planet can retain in its atmosphere. o How did the moon form? o Which planets have been visited by space probes? o Describe how rings formed around Saturn and the other Jovian planets. o What are the two main elements that make up Jupiter and Saturn? o What is the definition of a planet? o Describe reasons for why Pluto should be considered a planet. Describe why Pluto should NOT be considered a planet. o What is the Kuiper belt? o What is a comet? o What is an asteroid?
• The moon o Phases
• Waxing, waning
• New, crescent, quarter, gibbous and full phases
• Rising and setting times for each phase o Rotation versus revolution
• Eclipses o Apparent size of moon and sun o Lunar eclipse o Solar eclipse o Umbra & penumbra o Partial versus total eclipse o Annular eclipse – what causes this o Frequency of lunar and solar eclipses
• Inclination of moon’s orbit
• History of astronomy o Geocentric versus heliocentric o Aristotle
• Earth-centered universe o Ptolemy
• epicycles o Copernicus
• Sun-centered model o Tycho Brahe
• Excellent observations o Kepler
• Used Tycho’s data to solve planetary motions
• Kepler’s 3 laws of planetary motion o Galileo
• The Sun
• First to use telescope for systematic observations of sky
• Know at least 3 observations and their significance o Newton
• Used physics and calculus to describe motion
• Gravity
• Orbital motion

Phys 010 – Astronomy Final Exam Review Prof. Finn o How can you measure the sun’s luminosity and diameter o Describe the sun’s atmosphere
• Photosphere o Granules o Sun spots o Sun spot cycle
• chromosphere
• corona o Describe the sun’s interior o where does fusion take place? o how does the sun produce its energy? o understand balance between gravity and radiation pressure
• Spectra o Blackbody radiation o How do you measure temperature from a blackbody curve? o How do temperature and size affect a star’s luminosity?
• Stars o Describe parallax o How are stars classified? o OBAFGKM o What are the physical differences between an O and M star in terms of mass and temperature? o Understand difference between how bright a star appears and its luminosity
• The Hertzsprung-Russel Diagram o Reproduce an H-R diagram with axes labeled o Identify the main sequence, red giants, super giants, white dwarfs o Understand connection between a star’s mass and its lifetime on the main sequence o What is true for all stars on the main sequence? o What type of stars evolve off the main sequence first? o How does mass vary along the main sequence?
• Stellar Evolution o Describe evolution of the sun and trace its evolution on the H-R diagram o Describe evolution of a more massive star (one that would become a neutron star or black hole) and trace its evolution on the H-R diagram o What is a white dwarf? Neutron star? Black hole? Planetary nebula? o What are the two ways that a supernova can happen? o Why are we considered to be star dust?
• Astrobiology o What is required for life to develop? o Where else might life exist in the solar system? What kind of life would this be? o What are the difficulties involved in searching for life outside our solar system?
• Galaxies o Be able to distinguish spiral and elliptical galaxies based on appearance o What are the general characteristics of spiral galaxies? o What are the general characteristics of elliptical galaxies? o Can all galaxies be classified as either spiral or elliptical?
• Milky Way o What kind of galaxy is the Milky Way? o How was it formed? o Draw an edge-on and face-on diagram of the Milky Way, labeling the disk, the halo, globular clusters, open clusters. o How large is the diameter of the Milky Way? o Where is the sun located
• Cosmology o What is the extragalactic distance ladder?
• Radar, parallax, Cepheid variables, Type Ia Supernova o Who is Henrietta Swan Leavitt? Why is she important?

Phys 010 – Astronomy Final Exam Review Prof. Finn o What is the Hubble diagram? Be able to reproduce it, labeling axes o What is the Hubble constant? How does it relate to the age of the Universe? o Why was the Hubble space telescope named after Edwin Hubble? o What is the eventual fate of the Universe? Will expand at a constant rate forever? Will it expand faster and faster with time? Will it collapse in on itself?