Astronomy 101 Final Exam (150 pts.)
Final exam is Monday, Dec. 13 from 8:00 am - 10:00 am in the physics lecture
hall (1412). Bring a # 2 pencil, a pen, and your student ID.
The final is cumulative, however, the new material from Nov. 23—Dec. 9 will receive greater
emphasis (at least 70% short answer questions). There will be 50 multiple choice questions
worth 2 pts. each (total of 100 pts.) and 5 multipart short answer questions worth 50 pts. The
final exam totals 150 pts.
New Material
Lecture & Book: - Review material starting with ET Life, the Milky Way galaxy, Hubble’s
discoveries, characteristics of galaxies, active galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and the Big Bang
Theory.
Discussion: You will study galaxy types, 21 cm radiation, how black holes produce X-rays, and
cosmology topics.
Lab: Since last exam, Labs 11 & 13, and The Hubble Redshift Distance Relation (14)
Homework #5: solutions on web page after Dec. 7 lecture
Lecture: There will be more lecture activity papers.
STUDY your lecture notes for entire semester, Skywatch, and Lecture summaries with the
terms and questions.
Be sure to check the web page for all review materials, practice final and handouts.
http://www.astro.umd.edu/~astr101/astr101
REVIEW your homework and solutions, all labs, previous exams (at least 2 multiple choice
questions from each exam will appear, and also questions that re-test what was asked in
short answer sections), and lecture & discussion activities. Use the Practice exam (available
on the course webpage) to help you prepare for the final.
New material and things you should be able to explain/describe:
Extraterrestrial Life—what arguments can be made based on Life on Earth, is there life elsewhere
in the Solar system, which stars make the best choices, how are exosolar planets detected,
are there many or few planets with simple life up to ET civilizations—what do you think?
Be able to support your position.
Milky Way galaxy
what we see; what we don't see visually, Dust problems—Herschels’ model
overall structure—Shapley’s model
Radio and infrared observations, esp. How is 21 cm radiation produced?—sketch
What’s at galactic center?
Galaxies beyond Milky Way—how are distances determined to galaxies?
Hubble's investigation of the Andromeda galaxy, using Cepheid variables
(Period/Luminosity relation)
Hubble's classification of galaxy types
What is Hubble's Law/Diagram? How do astronomers use Hubble’s law?
Expansion of the Universe
Where does this idea come from? What does it really mean? What doesn’t it mean?
Dark Matter—where does this theory come from? what might it be?
Large scale structure—How do we “map” the universe? Bubbles and near Voids
Galactic collisions, mergers and cannibals
Quasars & active galaxies—How does the supermassive black hole model explain observations?
Big Bang Theory
Cosmic background radiation—where does it come from? What does it tell us about the
early universe? Future of the Universe—2 possibilities here and implications of the new
accelerating universe model.
General overview questions: Where are we in terms of space and time?
Where? Planet Earth—Solar System, galaxy, universe
Age? How old is the Earth? –Solar System, galaxy, universe
Appreciation/understanding of sizes, masses, ages, distances in astronomy
Putting it all together questions—Life perspectives (here and elsewhere)
Dec. 7-10 is the last week for lab. Makeup Labs for those with excused absences (Labs 11,
13, 14) will be held Saturday Dec. 11 (the Study Day) from 10 am-noon. These will be the
final times to makeup a lab.
You must have your TAs approval to attend the final Makeup Lab and your name must be
on the sign up sheet. Your TA will talk to you in Lab (Dec. 7-10) if you are entitled to a
makeup lab.
If you miss the last lab (Dec. 7-10) and have an excused absence, YOU must contact your
TA promptly to be included in the final makeup lab mentioned above.
REVIEW SESSIONS: Bring your questions!!!
Saturday, Dec. 11 from 1:00 – 3:00 PM in CSS 2400 with Prof. Deming.
Office hrs. (CSS 1247)
Monday Dec. 6
9:30-11:30 am
Thursday Dec. 9 12:30-2:30 pm
Friday Dec. 10
11:00 am - 1:00 pm
Good Luck studying for the final.
I hope that you look back on ASTR 101 fondly.
I had fun teaching your class this semester & hope you have enjoyed learning about astronomy!
Prof. Deming