Exploring the solar system Flashcards
What is the period of a short period comet?
A short period comet have periods < 200y
What is the period of a long period comet?
> 200
Where do long period comets originate from?
They originate from the Oort cloud
Where does short period comet originate from?
They originate from the Kuiper belt
What is the radiant?
When the meteors appear to diverge from a vanishing point called the radiant.
How did Halley find the difference between time taken for Venus to cross the solar disc?
Halley used geometry to show that the difference between the two chords (The path of mercury and Venus) could be calculated from the difference in their length.
What is the difference between a refracting and reflecting telescope?
A refracting telescope uses a convex lens to capture and focus light.
A reflecting telescope uses a parabolic concave mirror to capture and focus its light.
What is the aperture of a telescope?
It is the diameter of its objective lens or mirror.
What is the benefit of having a larger aperture telescope?
More light enters the telescope making images brighter.
The sharper the image the higher the amount of detail that can be resolved.
What is a telescopes light grasp?
A telescopes light grasp is a measure of how much light is captured by the objective element.
What is the formula for magnification?
Focal length of objective / focal length of eyepiece
What does a Barlow lens do?
A Barlow lens can increase the magnification and allow the short focal length telescope to achieve its maximum useable power.
What are the differences between a Cassegrain and Newtonian reflector?
Newtonian is cheaper / Has lower focal length.
Cassegrain is expensive / has a higher focal length.
