General Astronomy Quiz 1 Flashcards
What is astronomy defined as?
The study of the objects that lie beyond our planet Earth and the processes by which these objects interact.
What does astronomy attempt to organize?
What we learn into a clear history of the universe
How is science described in the context of astronomy?
A progress report that changes constantly as new techniques allow us to probe the universe.
What is astronomy?
A field of science
How is science defined in the context of knowledge acquisition?
A method by which we acquire new knowledge about how things work
What distinguishes astronomy from other sciences like chemistry, biology, or physics?
Requires observations of distant objects
What do we build as we gather observations in astronomy?
Ideas or models to help us understand them
What is a hypothesis in scientific terms?
A new model that describes observations and is testable
Fill in the blank: Astronomy requires _______ of distant objects more than lab experiments.
[observations]
True or False: Science is a fixed set of knowledge to memorize.
False
What do we call a model that can be tested?
Hypothesis
List the sciences mentioned that are different from astronomy.
- Chemistry
- Biology
- Physics
What is a scientific theory?
A hypothesis supported by a large amount of observations, considered true ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’.
This definition emphasizes that scientific theories are not absolute truths but are based on substantial evidence.
Can anything in science be proven 100% true?
No.
Scientific knowledge is always open to revision based on new evidence.
What must scientists provide to support their ideas?
Evidence.
This evidence is crucial for the validation of scientific hypotheses.
What happens to ideas in science over time?
They are constantly subjected to new tests to prove weak hypotheses wrong and to provide evidence for stronger hypotheses.
This process ensures the robustness of scientific knowledge.
Fill in the blank: A hypothesis is called a scientific theory only when it is supported by a large amount of observations and experiments and considered true ‘beyond a _______’.
reasonable doubt.
This phrase highlights the level of confidence in scientific conclusions.
What is one of the fundamental principles in astronomy?
The universe behaves by the same scientific laws everywhere.
How can most universal laws in astronomy be described?
By very simple equations.
What will be shown throughout the semester?
Equations and descriptions of their meanings.
What unit in astronomy is equivalent to the distance that light travels within a year?
Light-years (ly)
1 light-year is approximately 9.46 trillion kilometers.
What is the abbreviation for Astronomical Units?
AU
1 AU is the average distance from the Earth to the Sun, about 149.6 million kilometers.
What are the common units of measurement for distances in astronomy?
- Kilometers (km)
- Astronomical Units (AU)
- Light-years (ly)
- Parsecs (pc)
Each unit serves different scales of measurement in the universe.
Fill in the blank: Distances in astronomy may be measured in kilometers (km), ________, light-years (ly), and parsecs (pc).
Astronomical Units (AU)
True or False: Parsecs (pc) is a unit of distance used in astronomy.
True
1 parsec is approximately 3.26 light-years.
What is the scientific notation known as and based on?
Orders of Magnitude and Powers of Tens
