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Astro 7N > Exam 1 > Flashcards

Exam 1 Flashcards

1
Q

What was Kepler’s First Law?

A

Planets revolve around the sun in elliptical orbits with the sun at one focus of the ellipse

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2
Q

What best describes the orbit of the Earth around the Sun?

A

An ellipse that is very close to being circular

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3
Q

What is Kepler’s Second Law?

A

When a planet is closer to the sun, it’s speed is greater than when it is farther away

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4
Q

How was Kepler’s Second Law originally stated?

A

A line joining a planet and the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal intervals of time

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5
Q

What is Kepler’s Third Law?

A

The orbital time period time squared is proportional to the average distance from the sun (P^2=a^3)

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6
Q

If Saturn is 10 times farther from the sun than Earth, or a=10, what is the orbital period of Saturn?

A

about 30 years

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7
Q

Besides the discovery that moons orbit Jupiter, what other discovery made by Galileo Galilei, with an early telescope, proved that the earth is not at the center of the universe?

A

The phases of Venus

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8
Q

What is P in Kepler’s Third Law?

A

Orbit period

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9
Q

Of the four Galilean moons, which is closest to Jupiter?

A

Io

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10
Q

Which moon of Jupiter is believed to have a liquid ocean beneath a layer of ice?

A

Europa

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11
Q

Which moon of Jupiter is the largest?

A

Ganymede, also the largest moon in the solar system

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12
Q

Venus speed of rotation: fast or slow

A

Slow

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13
Q

For someone watching the sky from Venus’s surface, where does the sun rise and fall?

A

It would rise in the West and set in the East

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14
Q

How do craters on Venus compare to those on Earth, the moon, and Mars?

A

They are significantly larger

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15
Q

Does Venus have volcanos, and if so, how much of the planet’s surface does the lava flow cover?

A

Yes; at least 85%

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16
Q

Where do mountains on Earth come from?

A

In some locations, plates of rock on the planet’s surface press together and the plates rise together

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17
Q

Where are auroras likely to be seen most frequently and what causes them?

A

Locations near the poles. Charged particles come down over the poles and light up when they hit the atmosphere

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18
Q

Which planet has more carbon dioxide and thus a greater greenhouse effect, Earth or Venus?

A

Venus

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19
Q

What is ozone?

A

Three oxygen atoms bonded together into a single molecule (O3)

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20
Q

What would happen if the ozone layer were completely destroyed?

A

Ultraviolet radiation from the sun would get through the atonischere and chase damage to life

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21
Q

Why is Venus’s day so long?

A

Venus’s rotation time is very long compared to Earth’s

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22
Q

Which terrestrial planets have the least amount of atmosphere?

A

Mercury and Mars

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23
Q

The densities of the four terrestrial planets are similar to each. This means:

A

They are made of similar substances

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24
Q

A meteor shower can occur when:

A

Earth’s orbit crosses a trail of debris left behind from a comet

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25
Q

Most meteors:

A

are very small (centimeters) pieces of rock burning in the Earth’s atmosphere

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26
Q

A comet’s nucleus is composed of:

A

Dust, dry ice, and water ice

27
Q

Meteorite age

A

Roughly as old as solar system

28
Q

Characteristics of Jovian planets

A

Many moons, higher mass, higher radius, farther apart from each other, lower density, deep atmospheres made of hydrogen and helium compounds

29
Q

Which moon has many sulfur volcanoes and which planet does it belong to?

A

Io; Jupiter

30
Q

What properties characterize all the Jovian planets?

A

Many moons, large size, low densities

31
Q

Asteroids

A

Found in large quantities in main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Found in both small and large sizes; solid, rocky, or metallic, and can have craters

32
Q

Moon phases:

A

Waning on left side, waxing on right side; crescent on top, gibbous on bottom; first quarter left side, third quarter right side, new moon up, full moon down

33
Q

Solar eclipse

A

Moon is in between sun and earth

34
Q

What is a meteorite?

A

a meteor that passes through the earth’s atmosphere and survives to hit the Earth?

35
Q

What is the size of a meteor?

A

between the size of a small grain and a large boulder

36
Q

meteorites come from:

A

Asteroids

37
Q

When do comets develop a tail?

A

Only when they get closer to the sun in their orbit

38
Q

What is the size of the head of a comet and what is it made of?

A

About the size of a city and is made of frozen gases, rock, and dust

39
Q

Which planet rotates in the opposite direction as the other planets?

A

Venus

40
Q

Why do orbits of the planets all lie in nearly the same plane?

A

The early solar nebula flattened into a dism

41
Q

Of these choices, which planet has the most moons: Earth, Mercury, Saturn, Mars, Venus

A

Saturn

42
Q

When is Venus visible to us?

A

near sunrise or sunset

43
Q

How many Earth years does it take Uranus to orbit the Sun?

A

84

44
Q

What makes Neptune blue?

A

methane in its atmosphere

45
Q

Which planet(s) have a dark/ black sky, even in the daytime?

A

Both the Moon and Mercury

46
Q

Of asteroids, meteors, and comets, which one’s tail always points away from the sun?

A

Meteors and comets

47
Q

Things required to classify a solar system object as a planet

A

It must not be a moon around another objects, it must be massive enough to be nearly round, it must orbit, it must clear the region around its orbit

48
Q

What planet looks most like Earth’s moon?

A

Mercury

49
Q

Characteristics of comets

A

Tail points away from the sun, tails become more prominent when comet is close to the sun, highly elliptical orbit, move slowly across the sky

50
Q

What causes an aurora?

A

Solar wind particles that hit the atmosphere of a planet

51
Q

Io

A

Yellow color with black spots; lots of volcanoes

52
Q

Europa

A

Pale tan/ white; covered in fine cracks, appears very smooth

53
Q

Ganymede

A

Marbled look, alternates between dark and light spots

54
Q

Callisto

A

Looks like Ganymede with no dark and light spots

55
Q

Titan

A

Bright orange

56
Q

Miranda

A

dull and grey, odd jumbled/ striped look

57
Q

Triton

A

Looks like Miranda but is bumpy

58
Q

If you were to sit on the ground, there would be a force due to gravity pulling you toward the Earth. Which of the following is true according to Newtons’s 3rd Law?

A

You are pulling the earth toward yourself with the same force

59
Q

What month is always dark at the south pole?

A

June, summer in general for us is dark for south pole

60
Q

How many degrees is the moon tipped relative to Earth’s orbit

A

5 degrees

61
Q

The spectrum of an oxygen lamp looks different than the spectrum of a sodium lamp because:

A

each atom has a unique set of electron orbits

62
Q

Dark lines in an absorption spectrum represent:

A

Particular energies of light coming from a distant object that are absorbed by material in between

63
Q

Even the largest ground based telescopes have resolution restrictions imposed by:

A

atmospheric blurring of images

Astro 7N (2 decks)

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