Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Earth And Space > Astronomy > Flashcards

Astronomy Flashcards

1
Q

Karl Schwarzschild

A

-radius at which a stat would become “dark”

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

John Michell

A
  • a large enough mass in a small enough space would result in a dark star
  • escape velocity > c
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Georges LeMaitre

A
  • father of Big Bang theory
  • backwards thinking
  • universe originated at one point
  • packed in a very small point
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Event horizon

A

How close you can get before light can’t escape

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What’s inside the event horizon?

A

Newton: very dense mass
Relativity: Spacetime collapses to a singularity

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Closest star to earth

A

Proxima Centauri

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Most common stars

A

Red dwarf

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Low atmospheric pressure is what type of star

A

Giant

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Sun spectral class

A

G2

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

False colour image

A

An image in visible light so we can see it

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Brown dwarf

A

Failed star

  • low temp
  • like Jupiter
  • star w/o fusion
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Solar cycle

A
  • 11 years
  • solar max/min
  • driven by magnetic field
  • variation in solar activity
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Pulsar

A
  • fast spin
  • forces charged particles to travel magnetic field
  • neutron star
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

General relativity

A

Gravity = acceleration

-Spacetime + curves/dips

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Special relativity

A

Speed of light is constant

Everything else adjusts (time dilation and length contraction)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Blue straggler

A

Young blue star in old globular cluster

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Binary star

A

Pair of stars orbiting each other

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Globular cluster

A

Blob of stars close together

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

Cepheid variable stars

A
  • change brightness
  • gas pressure builds up = star expands
  • pressure released = star contracts
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

Speed of light in a vacuum

A

300 000km/s

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Type 1a supernova

A
  • white dwarf sucks H (g) from companion
  • gains so much mass its unstable
  • explodes
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

Proof of Big Bang theory

A

CMB
Abundance of H, He, Li
Universe is expanding (hubble’s law)
Structure of universe and galaxies

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

Hubble’s law

A

All galaxies are moving away from us

Farthest galaxies are moving the fastest

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

Big Bang theory

A

Universe originated at a single point

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

Black holes

A

Singularity
Event horizon
Light can’t escape

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

Singularity

A

Point of infinite density

-maybe stopped with quantum mechanics

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

Fusion (main sequence)

A

H-> He

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
28
Q

Medium mass star life

A 
Nebula
Blue giant
Main sequence
~10 billion years~
Red giant
White dwarf + planetary nebula
Black dwarf (theory)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
29
Q

Giant star life

A 
Nebula
Blue giant
~10 million years~
(H, He, C, O, Si, Fe)
BOOM
-neutron star
-black hole
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
30
Q

Dwarf star life

A 
Nebula
Blue giant
Red dwarf
~100 billion years~
White dwarf
Black dwarf (theory)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
31
Q

How do we know how old the universe is?

A
  1. Radioisotopes (half lives)

2. Nuclear fusion (know what should be there, compare to what’s actually there)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
32
Q

Parsec (in LY)

A

3.258LY

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
33
Q

Parallax

A

ApParent shift in position because earth moves

Farther = smaller parallax

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
34
Q

1 LY in km

A
  1. 5x10^12

9. 5 trillion

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
35
Q

1 AU in km

A

1.495x10^8

150 million

36
Q

Triangulation

A

Shorter distance

Use trig

37
Q

Doppler effect

A

Redshift = farther
Blueshift = closer
You know why

38
Q

Hertzsprung-Russell diagram

A 
Y axis: bright - dim (top-bottom)
X axis: O B A F G K M (left-right)
\ is main sequence
Top right is red Giants
Bottom middle are white dwarfs
39
Q

Spectral classification

A

O B A F G K M
O: 50 000K
M: 3000K
+ # from 1-9

40
Q

Star properties: colour

A

Indicates TEMP
Blue = hot
Red = cool
Determined by energy

41
Q

Wien’s law

A
  1. Objects at different temps emit spectra that peak at different wavelengths
  2. Hotter objects radiate more at any wavelength

Hot: emit most at short wavelength (blue)
Cool: emit most at long wavelength (red)

42
Q

Blackbody

A

Kirchoff

  • don’t emit energy
  • don’t reflect light
  • light observed is emitted (glow in the dark ish?)
43
Q

Stars energy is determined by

A

Size
Age
Rate of fusion

44
Q

Absorption spectra

A

When a gas cloud intercepts light and scatters certain colours
Identifies elements
Less light goes straight so these colours are darker lines

45
Q

Emission spectra

A

When a gas is energized
Gas only emits certain colours
Identifies elements

46
Q

Spectroscopy

A

How we study stars

Line spectra

47
Q

Spectrograph

A

Splits energy given off by a star into components

48
Q

Apparent magnitude

A

How bright a star is from earth
Low # = high magnitude
Sun: -25
Faintest: +25

49
Q

Absolute magnitude

A

Depends on:

  1. How much light it emits
  2. How far from earth

Sun: magnitude 5
‘True’ brightness
-luminosity
-how far from 32.6LY (10 parsecs)

50
Q

Luminosity

A

Total amount of energy radiated/s

51
Q

Star properties: categories of size/mass

A

Dwarf (8/100 sun)
Medium mass (sun)
Giant/supergiant (5-150x sun)

52
Q

Radio waves (wavelength and energy)

A

Long wavelength

Least energy

53
Q

Radio waves discoveries

A
  • magnetic fields
  • radio signals
  • inferometry (2 telescopes make a good pic)
  • plasma clouds
  • quasars discovered
54
Q

Infrared (discoveries)

A
  • heat (ex fire)
  • passes through gas and dust
  • reflected sunlight
  • climate change
  • changes in land cover
  • trees and health of them
  • remotes
  • night vision
  • see not visible stuff
  • cooler objects
55
Q

Ultraviolet (discoveries)

A
  • light from ozone satellites
  • young hot stars
  • atmosphere
  • permanent dark craters
  • composition

Cassini: saw composition and aurora’s of Saturn

56
Q

X-Rays (discoveries)

A
  • supernovae
  • X-rays (bones)
  • composition
  • chemical structures
  • hot and enerjetic objects (pulsars)
  • temperature
  • density
  • magnetic fields
  • zinc and nickel on Mars
  • sun’s corona
57
Q

What uses infrared

A 
ISO
Spitzer (SIRTF)
SOFIA
James Webb
Herschel
58
Q

What uses X-rays

A

CHANDRA
RXTE (Rossi)
Suzaku
NuSTAR

59
Q

What uses radio waves

A

Very large baseline array (VLBA)
HALCA
VLA

60
Q

What uses gamma rays

A

Fermi
SWIFT
CGRO
HESS

61
Q

Gamma rays (discoveries)

A
  • passes easily through atoms
  • radioactive decay
  • explosions
  • CME’s
  • composition of Mars
  • pulsars/black holes
  • come from top of thunderstorms
  • protection for satellites
62
Q

What uses UV

A

Hubble
IUE
Astro
GALEX

63
Q

Stellar black holes

A

From stars

64
Q

Supermassive black holes

A

In centre of galaxies

Much bigger

65
Q

Event horizon

A

Point past where nothing can return

66
Q

Outflow

A

Spin of magnetic field of gas

67
Q

Jet

A

Specific type of outflow

Field line spinning (elongated tubes of plasma)

68
Q

Frequency

A

Cycles/s

Hz

69
Q

Wavelength

A

Length of wave (crest-crest)
-measures in metres (nm too)
Or angstom

70
Q

Electromagnetic wave theory

A

James maxwell
1873
Electro + magnetism
“Light is an electromagnetic wave composed of electric + magnetic field - exerts forces on charged particles”

71
Q

Red light

72
Q

Yellow light

73
Q

Blue light

74
Q

Violet light

75
Q

Which type of spectrum is most useful in the study of stars

A

Absorption line spectrum

76
Q

Maxwell was the first to _____

A

Unite magnetism and electricity

77
Q

A star that emits most of its radiation in shorter wavelengths is what colour

78
Q

In which class of stars would you find the greatest amount of heavier elements

A

Class M (red)

79
Q

A main sequence star generates most of its energy by fusing

A

Hydrogen info helium

80
Q

Which stars have the shortest lifespan

A

Supergiants

81
Q

What type of star may end in a black hole

A

Supergiant

82
Q

A protostar becomes a star when it begins to:

A

Generate energy

83
Q

What is the speed of light

A

3.0x10^8 m/s

84
Q

Binary stars end their life through

A

Type 1a supernova

85
Q

As an object gets farther what do the angle measuring to it get closer to?

Earth And Space (10 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions