Chapters 9-11 Flashcards
Most of the stars in the Big Dipper are ___ magnitude.
2nd
Name the astronomer who traveled to St. Helena to plot the position of stars in the southern sky.
Edmund Halley
The Little Dipper is part of the constellation ___ ___.
Ursa Minor
What is the shape of a planet’s orbit?
elliptical
What scientific instrument can determine chemical composition from light patterns?
spectroscope
Isaac Newton combined the work of Kepler (on planetary motion) and the work of Galileo (motion of objects on earth) and developed what important law?
The Law of Universal Gravitation
Why are Red Giants so luminous?
Because they are very large
What type of star is our sun?
main-sequence G
Which is brighter, -3.0 magnitude or 4.0 magnitude?
-3.0
Which element was identified in the sun before being discovered on earth?
helium
Name the astronomer who described the shape of a planet’s orbint with his first law.
Kepler
During Edmund Halley’s time, the most mysterious objects in the solar system were ___.
comets
Which stars can be used as an optical yardstick to measure distance?
cepheid variables
Other than the sun, the star closes to the earth is Proxima ___.
Centauri
Name the Danish astronomer who made the most careful record of star locations after Ptolemy.
Tycho Brahe
