Astronomy

Question 1

What causes the seasons?

Answer 1

Earth’s tilted axis.
The Earth’s tilt is 23.5 degrees. When the Northern Hemisphere is angled toward the sun, it is summer, hence the Southern hemisphere is angled away from the sun causing winter. Similarly, when the Northern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun, it is winter. Thus, the Southern hempishere has winter.

Question 2

What does Earth’s rotation cause?

Answer 2

Day and night cycle.

Question 3

How long is a day on Earth?

Answer 3

24 hours

Question 4

How long is the Earth’s rotation around the Sun?

Answer 4

365.25 days

Question 5

What causes tides?

Answer 5

The moon’s gravitational pull.
The moon’s gravitational pull generates tidal force which causes the Earth’s ocean water to rise on the side closest to the moon and the side farthest from the moon.

Question 6

What is a solar eclipse?

Answer 6

An eclipse where the Sun is blocked by the moon, causing complete darkness.
Partial: Moon passes between Sun and Earth, but not in a exactly straight line. Only a part of the Sun will appear covered.
Total: Sun, Earth, and moon in an exactly straight line, covering the entire Sun.
Annular: The moon does not appear large enough to cover the entire Sun, leaving a thin rim around the moon.

Question 7

What phase is the moon during a solar eclipse?

Answer 7

New moon

Question 8

What is a lunar eclipse?

Answer 8

An eclipse where the moon is blocked by the Earth, causing a darkened moon.
Partial:
Total: When the moon moves completely behind Earth.
Prenumbral:

Question 9

What phase is the moon during a lunar eclipse?

Answer 9

Full moon

Question 10

What keeps moons and planets in orbit?

Answer 10

The Sun’s gravity pulls the planets in orbit around it.

Question 11

What do the inner planets have in common?

Answer 11

All of the inner planets are solid, dense and rocky planets (terrestrial). None of the inner planets have rings.

Question 12

Why are Venus and Earth alike?

Answer 12

Earth and Venus are similar in size, mass, density, and volume. Both planets formed around the same time.

Question 13

What keeps the atmosphere around planets?

Answer 13

Gravitational force generated by the planet itself. Gravity pulls gas molecules in the atmosphere toward the planet’s surface.

Question 14

What is unique about Uranus?

Answer 14

Uranus is the only planet whose equator is almost at a right angle to its orbit. It has a tilt of 97.77 degrees, which causes the most extreme seasons in the solar system.

Question 15

How are dwarf planets different from classical planets?

Answer 15

Dwarf planets don’t have enough gravitational force needed to pull in all of the material found in their orbits.

Question 16

What will our Sun become at the end of its life? What type of star is the Sun? How does it produce energy?

Answer 16

The Sun will turn will turn into a white dwarf at the end of its life. The Sun is a yellow dwarf star. It produces energy by nuclear fusion.

Question 17

What is nuclear fusion?

Answer 17

A process where two atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus while releasing a large amount of energy.

Question 18

What is a solar prominence?

Answer 18

Solar prominences are large, circular structures on the edge of the solar disk. Prominences are huge, stretching out for thousands of kilometers.

Question 19

What is a solar flare?

Answer 19

A solar flare is a massive explosion on the sun. A solar flare happens when energy stored in the Sun’s magnetic field is quickly released. When a solar flare happens, a burst of radiation is produced, causing a sudden intense brightening of a region on the Sun.

Question 20

What is the Milky Way?

Answer 20

The Milky Way galaxy is a collection of gas, dust, planets, and stars. This galaxy includes our solar system.

Question 21

What is the difference between the 3 different types of galaxies?

Answer 21

Spiral galaxies have both young and old stars. Spiral in shape.
Elliptical galaxies have old stars. Egg-shaped.
Irregular galaxies generally have young stars. Not a specific shape.

Question 22

What color are the hottest stars?

Answer 22

Blue stars.

Question 23

What color are the coolest stars?

Answer 23

Red stars

Question 24

Describe the lifecycle of stars.

Answer 24

After the fuel inside a star is finished, all stars become red giants. Next, depending on how massive the star is, the star will either stop glowing and turn into a white dwarf, or will explode into a sueprnova

Question 25

What determines a star’s lifetime?

Answer 25

The star’s mass determines it’s lifetime. The larger the mass, the shorter the lifetime.

Question 26

What is the order of our solar system?

Answer 26

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.

Question 27

What is a meteoroid called when it is on the Earth’s surface?

Answer 27

Meteorite

Question 28

What is a black hole?

Answer 28

A region in space where an enormous amount of mass is packed. No light is emitted, nothing can escape. Created when giant stars collapse.

Question 29

What is unique about the space shuttle?

Answer 29

It was the first reusable spacecraft.

Question 30

What is the main source of power for the ISS?

Answer 30

Solar arrays.

Question 31

What was the reason behind the challenger disaster? Columbia disaster?

Answer 31

Challenger: The o-ring that sealed joints on the right solid rocket booster failed under cold conditions. This caused pressurized combustion gases to escape and damaged the external tank. It crashed just 73 seconds into flight, killed 7.
Columbia: A piece of foam insulation hit the spacecraft’s left wing. The crew was told that there would be no negative impact, however, the spacecraft bursted and killed all 7 crew members.

Question 32

What are the different phases of the Moon?

Answer 32

Full moon, waning gibbous, 3rd quarter, waning crescent, new moon, waxing crescent, 1st quarter, waxing gibbous. (DOC).

Question 33

Pluto- Why is it classified as a dwarf planet?

Answer 33

All planets must follow IAU’s 3 requirements.
WIWAP 1 - Orbits around Sun - Yes
WIWAP 2 - Sufficient Mass - No, pluto is too small
WIWAP 3 - Clear Orbit Area - No
Therefore, it is not a planet and is classified as a dwarf planet.

Question 34

What is gravity? Why is gravity important in the universe?

Answer 34

Gravity is the force by which a planet draws objects toward its center. Gravity keeps planets in orbit.

Question 35

What was the Apollo program? Name major achievements of the Apollo program.

Answer 35

The third US Spaceflight program carried out by NASA which prepared and landed the first humans on the moon. Apollo 8 was the first spacecraft to hover over the moon. Apollo 11 was the first spacecraft to land humans on the moon.

Question 36

What is a probe? Name major probes of NASA.

Answer 36

A probe is a spacecraft built to travel through space to collect info. They are autonomous devices.
Lunar probe: Surveyor, Apollo
Solar Probe: Parker Solar Probe,
Solar System Probe: Voyager 2, Juno, Magellan