Flashcard decks

Exam 1 v.4

127 flashcardsby normaldere
Study these flashcardsFree · spaced repetition · iPhone, Android, Mac & web

All cards

1
Science
what nature reveals based on observations, experiments, models, and testing
2
Method
measures patterns to create a model
3
Hypothesis
a statement that can be tested for accuracy
4
What type of science(s) is astronomy labeled as?
observational and historical
5
Science is ______________________. It is used to ________________
self-correcting; create laws about our universe
6
Scientists prefer to express their findings in _____________ rather than words because of the language barrier.
formulas
7
If a star is 100 light years away, when we observe it, we are observing it as it was __________________
100 years ago
8
The moon is a natural ___________
satellite
9
Planet
a body of significant size that orbits a star and doesn't produce its own light
10
Interstellar dust
tiny solid particles of gas and dust that float in our galaxy
11
Dark matter
material that is in our galaxy that we cannot see with our current instruments
12
Although our galaxy appears to be empty, it's not. It is filled with _____________________ and ___________________ as well as planets, stars, star clusters, and satellites.
interstellar dust; dark matter
13
The first models of our universe were geocentric, meaning that.....
they placed the earth at the center
14
Until when was the belief that the earth was the center of the universe believed?
the European Renaissance
15
Why was the belief that the universe was geocentric enforced?
because of the religious and philosophical belief that humans are the center of the cosmos
16
Celestial sphere
the idea that the stars are in a larger sphere around you as you're on earth and they're slowly rotating around you
17
Zenith
the point directly above your head that connects to the top of the dome (if you're standing)
18
Horizon
where the dome meets the earth
19
As the celestial dome "turns", the stars maintain.....
distance in respect to each other
20
The north and south celestial poles
where the earth's axis hits the sphere, if it were extended
21
The celestial equator lies ____________ between our planet's poles
halfway
22
If you are on the earth's north/south pole, then the equator is........
at your horizon
23
Circumpolar zone
the parts of the sky that can be seen from your position on earth
24
The sun moves approximately ___ degree east relative to the stars each day
1
25
Ecliptic
the path the sun takes around the celestial sphere
26
The Earth takes just over _____ rotation to bring up the sun again.
1
27
The Greeks observed 7 planets, and, therefore, gave us......
7 days of the week
28
Speed equals.........
distance/time
29
What does planet mean in Greek?
wandering star
30
The zodiac signs exist when the ______ passes through them.
sun
31
Who brought the heliocentric model of the universe to light and drew the first semi-accurate picture of the universe?
Copernicus
32
Heliocentric
sun as the center of the universe
33
What were Copernicus' occupations?
priest, medical doctor and astronomer
34
Who calculated each planet's orbital period around and the sun and its relative distance from the sun in terms of AU?
Copernicus
35
Which book, written by Copernicus, assumed that planetary orbits were circular?
De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium
36
Why did people reject the idea of the earth moving?
because they assumed that they would feel themselves moving
37
Galileo was the father of _________ ____________
physical science
38
Who said that you could claim anything, but if there was no pattern to your measurements or concrete proof, then your observations/claims don't mean anything?
Galileo
39
Galileo thought that the world was like a book written in.......
geometric figures
40
__________ contructed his own version of a telescope
Galileo
41
What did Galileo prove that also proved heliocentrism?
that Venus went in phases like the moon
42
What did Galileo find regarding Jupiter?
4 moons orbiting around it
43
____________ created the pendulum
Galileo
44
Whose books were put on the Catholic Church's forbidden list?
Galileo
45
Einstein's Theory of Relativity
proved that black holes could exist
46
Who was the last of the great naked-eye astronomers?
Tycho Brahe
47
Brahe made continuous record of the positions of the sun, moon, and planets for almost 20 years without a.....
telescope
48
Who asked the question "how do we get better eyes?" ?
Brahe
49
Who was Brahe's mathematical assistant?
Johannes Kepler
50
Why didn't Kepler get access to Brahe's research until he died?
because Brahe was afraid that Kepler would be smarter than him and would come up with a better idea of planetary motion
51
What did Kepler see regarding Mars?
that, mathematically, it couldn't fit into a circular orbit
52
Who came up with the 3 Laws of Planetary Motion?
Johannes Kepler
53
Law #1 of Kepler's Law
discovered that the shape of a planet's orbit is an ellipse
54
Foci
the two points on an ellipse from which the sun of the distance from there to any point on the ellipse is always the same
55
Major axis
widest diameter of the ellipse
56
Semimajor axis
half the major axis
57
Eccentricity
the ratio of the distance between the foci to the length of the major axis
58
What is the maximum eccentricity?
1.0
59
What planet has the most elliptical orbit?
Mars
60
One full degree equals how many arc minutes?
60
61
How many arc minutes for a full moon? How many degrees?
30 arc minutes; .5 degrees
62
Law #2 of Kepler's Laws
made observations about the speed of planetary orbit; found that the closer to the sun the planet was, the faster it moves
63
Periphelion
point when a planet is closest to the sun; planet is moving quickly here b/c the gravity is stronger
64
Aphelion
point when a planet is farthest from the sun; planet is moving its slowest here b/c is weaker
65
Law #3 of Kepler's Laws
was about planetary orbit; Kepler came up with a formula to estimate how long it took for a planet to orbit around the sun; p^2 = a^3
66
What did Newton invent to see if gravitational forces worked beyond the earth?
calculus
67
Issac Newton said that gravitational attraction between two bodies must be ____________ to their masses.
proportional
68
Who hypothesized that every body has a gravitational force from its core?
Newton
69
When Newton created a more accurate formula for a planet's period involving each body's mass, he found that: the larger the mass, the larger the.............
gravitational force
70
People feel ______________ when they are accelerating at the same speed as everything around them.
weightless
71
How did Newton revamp Kepler's 3rd law?
by adding into play the mass of the sun
72
The masses of the planets in comparison to the sun are _________.
minimal
73
Perigee
place when a moon or satellite orbiting earth is closest to the earth
74
Apogee
place when a moon or satellite orbiting earth is farthest to the earth
75
All major planets lie within ___ degrees of the common plane of the solar system.
10
76
Asteroids have orbits with ____________ semi-major axes than comets do.
smaller
77
The majority of asteroids lie between ____ and ____ AU in the asteroid belt.
2.2; 3.3
78
Copernicus and Kepler established ___________ distances of planets, but didn't establish ___________ distances in light-seconds or meters.
relative; absolute
79
By timing how long a radar beam takes to reach another planet and then return to earth, we can measure distances in.....
light-seconds
80
Astronomical unit (AU)
an average of the closest and farthest distance from the earth to the sun as it goes around its orbit; used to be the most important measuring standard
81
Triangulation
how our eyes perceive depth; there are two points that allow us to measure depth (our eyes)
82
When do we use triangulation?
we use it to measure the depth of something that is nearby
83
Aristotle and Tycho Brahe didn't realize how far away the stars actually were, and, therefore, believed that...
the earth couldn't revolve around the sun b/c we'd be able to see the parallax of the nearer stars against the background of the more distant objects
84
Baseline
the distance between the two points of sight
85
Parallax
displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight
86
The smaller the parallax, the __________ away the object.
farther
87
Which people were the first to successfully detect stellar parallax when they measured the parallaxes of the stars 61 Cygni, Alpha Centauri, and Vega?
Bessel, Henderson, and Struve
88
In relation to stars, the parallax is defined as ____ the angle that the star shifts.
half
89
Parsec
distance at which we have a parallax of one second
90
1 parsec equals _____ lightyears
3.26
91
1 lightyear equals ____ parsec
.31
92
Alpha Centauri
the nearest star; also a binary star
93
A binary star
two stars orbit one another but look like one star
94
Proxima Centauri
third closest star, may be in orbit with Alpha Centauri, a low-mass red M dwarf star
95
What is the most common type of star?
red dwarf
96
Sirius
nearest visible star without a telescope from the US; also a binary star; brightest star in the sky; it is below and to the left of Orion
97
Hyades Cluster
it is in the Taurus constellation; about 151 LY away
98
C/2016 R2 PanSTARRS
tail of this comet looks blue b/c of ionized carbon monoxide
99
Aldebaran
the alpha tori; the alpha star in Taurus; the brightest star in Taurus; a red giant
100
Orion
constellation in the winter up after supper; 3 stars in his belt; sword that hangs from his belt is a huge nebula; has 3 stars-- Betelgeuse, Bellatrix and Rigel
101
Where is Betelgeuse located in Orion?
his right shoulder
102
Where is Bellatrix located in Orion?
his left shoulder
103
Where is Rigel located in Orion?
his left knee
104
Taurus
this constellation is above Orion, the Pleaides cluster is above it
105
Big Dipper
seen all year round; part of Ursa major; last two stars of its cup point to the North star; has several binary systems even though they look like single stars
106
Cygnus the Swan (Northern Cross)
Albireo is the head of the swan; Deneb is the tail of the swan; swan is flying through the Milky Way towards Sagittarius; has an x-ray emitting black hole, Cyg X-1
107
Vega
a star nearby Cygnus the Swan; it is a bluish white; used as a benchmark for astronomical brightness
108
Constellations are used to divide the sky into ___ sectors, much like the U.S. is divided into states.
88
109
M31 (Andromeda)
a nebula; a galaxy; the closest spiral galaxy to us
110
The Milky Way is in a mutual gravitational attraction to ___________.
M31
111
The "Teapot" aka Sagittarius
at the very center of the Milky Way galaxy
112
Gaia
a space observatory of the European Space Agency designed for astrometry: measuring the positions and distances of stars with unprecedented precision.
113
If you had a standard classroom globe, the moon would be a tennis ball how many feet away?
27
114
The nearest star to the sun, if the sun were a basketball, is about ____________km away.
7000
115
When was the definition of a planet redefined by IAU Resolution B5?
2006
116
The sun is somewhat less than _____________LY from the center of our galaxy
30000
117
What is the name of the galactic black hole that is at the center of our galaxy and several million times the mass of our star?
Sgr A*
118
Pendulum
a weight hung from a fixed point so that it can swing freely backward and forward, especially a rod with a weight at the end that regulates the mechanism of a clock.
119
The shorter the pendulum, the _________ the swing period.
shorter
120
Spectrum of a thermal light source is ________________, meaning that it is emitting light as a result of being heated.
incandescent
121
Continuous spectrum
an emission spectrum that consists of a continuum of wavelengths
122
Theoretically, there are an infinite number of spectrums given off, but we can't see them because....
they are too faint to be seen by the human eye
123
___________ are used to create borders, like states, across the universe.
Constellations
124
The semi-major axis of an ellipse is, in terms of planetary orbit, also the.....
planet's average distance from the sun
125
Kepler's 3rd law applies to all objects orbiting the sun, including earth, and provides a means for...
correlating orbital size a and orbital period P; i.e.: p^2 = a^3
126
What is the eccentricity of a perfect circle?
0; a circle has no eccentricity
127
The sky has the same structure as a _______________ ______.
spherical dome (called a celestial sphere)
Study all 127 cards for free