The answers
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• Pseudoscience is a study that tries to explain scientific phenomenon. It does not follow the scientific method. An example would be astrology.
• Astronomy is the study of objects in space; astrology is the study of myths attached to stars’ locations in relation to Earth, and how this affects your personality.
• Kepler-3 laws of planetary motion
• Copernicus-Heliocentric theory of the universe
• Newton-3 laws of motion
• Galileo- perfected the telescope
• Brahe- greatest naked-eye astronomer of all time
• Doppler-Doppler effect named for him; used by Hubble to prove the expansion of the universe
• Stonehenge-astronomic calendar in England
• Objective- main lens-forms a small image
• Eye piece- used to magnify image; make it convenient
• Finder scope-larger field of view to find object before magnifying it with the full telescope
• Focus- brings the image into clear view
• The primary or main purpose of a telescope is to enlarge objects that are far away.
• The most powerful land telescopes are at the tops of mountains in order to decrease the effects of the atmosphere.
• Radio telescopes pick up the invisible portion of the spectrum, whereas optical telescopes pick up the visible portion.
• In the future, telescopes will be multimirrored, and computer-aided.
• A prism is used to break white light into its rainbow of colors. This is used to determine the speed and distance of galaxies.
• Spectroscopes are used to break white light into colors, allowing astronomers to determine what elements are in a star, how far away objects are, and how fast they are moving.
• Violet has the shortest wavelength, red has the longest.
• Red shift- the object is moving away; blue shift, the object is moving toward
• Altitude- height above the horizon
• Azimuth- degrees around the sphere, away from north (0)
• Zenith-highest point; directly overhead
• Nadir- directly beneath you
• Horizon- where the sky appears to meet the land
• A 75---170
• B 45---90
• C 20---345
• D 5---270
• E 45---250
• F 20---45
• The big band theory states that the universe began in an explosion of matter and energy and has been expanding ever since.
• Universe- 13 BY The sun- 4.6 BY
• The nebular theory states that the solar system formed from a rotating cloud of gas and dust, which condensed to form the sun and all other solar system objects
• Star- celestial object composed of gas, held together by its own gravity, and supported by nuclear fusion in its core
• Galaxy- very large collection of gas, dust, and stars orbiting a common center of mass
• Nebula- star nursery
• Planetary nebula-remnants of a supernova explosion
• Supernova- how massive and supermassive stars begin the end of their lives (after red giant or supergiant phase)
• Quasar- rare, starlike object that gives off radio waves as material is sucked toward a black hole
• Light year- the distance light travels in a year
• AU-(astronomical unit)- 1AU= distance from Earth to the sun
• Polaris- aka The North Star
• Sirius- brightest
• Alpha (Proxima) Centauri- closest
• Betelgeuse- In Orion, largest
• A star’s color reveals its surface temperature
• Stars are 75% Hydrogen and 25% Helium
• Apparent magnitude- brightness as seen by human eyes on earth; Absolute magnitude- intrinisic brightness; how bright it would be at 10pc
• White dwarfs=A
• Main sequence=D
• Red giants= C
• Supergiants=B
• Sun will never be=B
• Bluish main sequence= E
• Red main sequence= F
• Mercury-no atmosphere
• Venus-hottest, spins backward
• Earth-only one with life
• Mars-red; polar ice caps
• Jupiter-largest; 63 moons
• Saturn-brightest ring system
• Uranus-Green; tilted 90 toward the sun
• Neptune-blue; great dark spot
• Pluto-no longer a planet
• We are able to see planets because they are reflecting sunlight.
• As you increase the distance from the sun, you increase the orbit time
• New moon-dawn-sunset-none
• 1 st quarter-noon-midnight-half (right side)
• Full moon-sunset-dawn-full
• 3 rd quarter-midnight-noon-half (left side)
• Maria-lunar lowland filled by successive flows of dark lava
• Highlands-mountains
• Craters-circular remnants of impact
• Copernicus and Tycho are the names of craters (all craters are named after famous scientists)
• Gravity on the moon is 1/6 that of Earth.
• 1. core
• 2. radiative zone
• 3. convective zone
• 4. photosphere
• 5. chromosphere
• 6. corona
• Sunspots-magnetic storms on the sun’s surface. They appear dark because they are cooler than the surrounding surface.
• Sunspot cycle is an 11-year cycle of sunspot activity that corresponds with an increase in aurora activity.
• Lunar eclipse red moon
S-E-M
1 hour with every full moon, somewhere on Earth
Solar eclipse moon blocking the sun
S-M-E
2-11 minutes (totality) with every new moon (not total) somewhere on Earth
• The orbits of the planets are ellipses with the sun at one focus.
• No Need for Bode’s law
• Satellite-any object that orbits another
(manmade vs natural)
• Meteor-an object in space that gives off light as it burns in Earth’s atmosphere
• Meteorite-the object strikes Earth’s surface
• Comets-objects beyond the orbit of Pluto; give off a streak of dust and ice when they get near the sun (tail)
• A meteor shower happens when Earth passes through the path of a comet, and the pieces of comet burn in Earth’s atmosphere.
• Gravity is the attraction between two objects that have mass.
• Inertia-an object in motion remains in motion…
• Rotation-spin on an axis
• Revolution-orbit around another object
• Perihelion-closest to the sun in orbit
• Aphelion-farthest from the sun in orbit
• Asterism-a named group of stars not identified as a constellation (ie. The Big
Dipper and Little Dipper)