Astronomy Part 1

Question 1

What does light from a star that is moving towards the Earth do?

Answer 1

Increase in frequency, decrease in wavelength and become blue shifted

Question 2

What does light from a star that is moving away from the Earth do?

Answer 2

Decrease in frequency, increase in wavelength and become red shifted

Question 3

What were Hubble’s observations?

Answer 3

Distant galaxies were moving away from us and becoming red shifted

Question 4

Which theory did Hubble’s observations add weight to?

Answer 4

The Big Bang Theory

Question 5

What is the most dramatic property of a neutron star?

Answer 5

Its high density

Question 6

What is the visible edge of a black hole known as?

Answer 6

Event horizon

Question 7

Where are larger elements created?

Answer 7

Supernovae

Question 8

What is the heaviest element that comes from our sun?

Answer 8

Iron

Question 9

What is the order of the final stage for a star with a mass 10 times that of our sun?

Answer 9

Red giant, supernova, neutron star

Question 10

What is the first step in the evolution of a star?

Answer 10

A dense cloud of dust and gas starts to collapse under its own gravity

Question 11

What is the second step in the evolution of a star?

Answer 11

The individual clumps grow hotter until they reach 15 million degrees and nuclear fusion begins

Question 12

What is the third step in the evolution of a star?

Answer 12

The star shines for billions of years by converting hydrogen into helium in its core

Question 13

What is the fourth step in the evolution of a star?

Answer 13

The central hydrogen runs out and the core collapses and heats up, causing the star to become a red giant

Question 14

What is the fifth step in the evolution of a star?

Answer 14

The star jettisons its outer atmosphere as planetary nebula

Question 15

What is the sixth step in the evolution of a star?

Answer 15

The collapsed core survives as a hot white dwarf

Question 16

What is the final step in the evolution of a star?

Answer 16

The core cools slowly to become a cold black globe

Question 17

What are the key characteristics of the Milky Way galaxy?

Answer 17

Billions of stars, 100,000 light years across, spiral shape and the sun is 30,000 light years from the centre

Question 18

How are most planets formed?

Answer 18

From gas or dust left over during the initial formation of protostars collapsing

Question 19

What determines the lifetime of a star?

Answer 19

The mass of a star

Question 20

How is a neutron star formed?

Answer 20

Gravitation forces drive electrons into the nucleus of the atoms in the core of a large star

Question 21

What is the age of the Earth?

Answer 21

4.6 billion years

Question 22

What is the age of the universe?

Answer 22

13.8 billion years

Question 23

When viewed from Melbourne, how do stars and planets move?

Answer 23

Rise in the east and set in the west, rotating about the South Celestial Pole

Question 24

When viewed form the South Pole, how do stars move?

Answer 24

Rotate about the zenith and only half the possible stars are ever seen