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Astronomy > Mini Test > Flashcards

Mini Test Flashcards

1
Q

Kepler’s first law basically just says a planet’s orbit is an ____ with the sun at a ______

A

ellipse, focal point

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2
Q

what charge was Galileo tried by the Catholic church for?

A

Hersey

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3
Q

what was Hubble’s big moment of discovery that changed astronomy?

A

that Andromeda was its own galaxy indicating that there were many more galaxies other than us

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4
Q

why didn’t Einstein like lemaitres big bang theory?

A

Einstein believed in eternal universe

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5
Q

newton is the “father” of what 2 major academic studies?

A

physics and calculus

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6
Q

why did ancient man start taking interest in astronomy?

A

to tell time and season

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7
Q

if the focal points of an ellipse get further from the center, what happens to eccentricity?

A

it gets closer to 1; more oval/flat

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8
Q

How did Copernicus try to refine Ptolemy’s explanation for the retrograde “loops” of planets?

A

parallex

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9
Q

Moving from perihelion towards aphelion, would a planet be speeding up or slowing down?

A

slowing down

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10
Q

Are the eccentricities of the planets generally closer to 0 or closer to 1?

A

0

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11
Q

Who was the first human to ever see the moon up close and to see the moons of Jupiter?

A

galileo

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12
Q

Who developed the first working mathematical model for gravity that made good predictions of motion?

A

newton

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13
Q

Who came up with the solar system view that was accepted for over a millennium even though it was wrong?

A

ptolemy

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14
Q

Whose personality clashed with Brahe’s to the point that he could not finish his equations until after Brahe had passed away and he was able to “acquire” Brahe’s data?

A

kepler

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15
Q

Who contributed to this history of astronomy by creating an early catalogue of stars and naming many of the stars (with the names we still use today)?

A

brahe

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16
Q

Who proposed that matter was able to curve “space-time” to create the orbits that we currently observe for the planets?

A

einstein

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17
Q

Brahe discovered a supernova in the constellation Cassiopeia. What controversial idea was he able to prove through this discovery?

A

that stars and everything beyond could be made or moved or born

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18
Q

Who was the primary defender of the heliocentric theory of Copernicus?

A

galileo

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19
Q

Who was the first to seriously purpose that the universe created from a singularity in a “big bang”?

A

lemaitre

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20
Q

Who was the first to embrace the idea that the planets, stars, etc. all worked together in a “system”?

A

aristotle

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21
Q

Why was there conflict between Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke?

A

accused each other of stealing each others work

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22
Q

What experiment by Arthur Edington confirmed that Einstein’s relativity might actually be right?

A

he witnessed a total solar eclipse and saw stars in front of the moon

23
Q

What orbiting bodies tend to have the highest eccentriciy in our solar systen

A

comets

24
Q

How were the “ancients” able to tell the difference between stars and planets?

A

only the planets had retrograde motion

25
Q

how do you use keplers 3rd law to figure out the length of time for a planet to go around the sun?

A

P^2=a^3

26
Q

What major breakthrough in the study of astronomy began around the beginning of the 1960’S?

A

we started sending people and robots to space

27
Q

Where and what is Stonehenge?

A

ancient stone calendars in england

28
Q

What was the first planet to actually be “discovered”?

A

uranus

29
Q

Why does Saturn appear to move more slowly across the sky than Mars over a long period of time?

A

because mars is closer than saturn

30
Q

Why did humans start looking up and studying the sky in the first place?

A

to tell time and season

31
Q

How do Newton’s explanation of gravity and Einstein’s explanation gravity differ from each other?

A

newton - explained as a force between 2 objects
einstein - explained as a curve in space itself

32
Q

When using Kepler’s 2nd law to “sweep out” an area over time, why does the wedge shape that is nearer to the sun look different from the wedge shape furthest from the sun?

A

the time was the same but they were different distances so it gets faster towards time sun

33
Q

Why did Lemaitre have a hard time finding support for his theory at first?

A

his religion, he was a priest

34
Q

What important contribution did the ancient Egyptians and Greeks leave us?

A

size and shape of earth

35
Q

At what time of year is the earth at perihelion?

A

january

36
Q

The “perihelion” distance plus the “aphelion” distance matches what other measurement?

A

major axis

37
Q

Eccentricity equaled “c divided by a”. What is c, and what is a?

A

c - focal point to center
a - semi major axis

38
Q

The difference between Aristotle’s model and Ptolemy’s is that Ptolemy accounted for what?

A

retrograde motion

39
Q

Other than his planetary model, what other major contribution to Ptolemy contribute to astronomy?

A

named majority of constellations

40
Q

The apparent motion of the planets due to our own motion is known as _____

A

parallex

41
Q

“the ancients”

A
  • Eratosthenes: determined size/shape of earth
  • Learned how to tell time using the sky
  • Named the “wandering” stars the “planets”
42
Q

aristotle

A
  • Developed the first model of a “solar system”
  • Consisted of spherical shells for each body
43
Q

ptolemy

A
  • His model explained the motion of planets
    through “epicycles” which stood for 1,500 yrs.
  • Named the northern constellations
44
Q

Arabic and Chinese astronomers

A
  • Named the stars and recorded events such as
    eclipses, comets, and supernovae
  • Begun to challenge geocentric models
45
Q

copernicus

A
  • Developed the first real heliocentric model
  • Explained retrograde motion with parallax
46
Q

brahe

A
  • Compiled a massive amount of data on the
    positions of stars and planets over years
  • Improved parallax measurements
47
Q

kepler

A
  • Developed three laws of planetary motion
  • Proved that planets orbit in ellipses
48
Q

galileo

A
  • First to use refracting telescope for astronomy
  • Discovered moons of Jupiter and rings of Saturn
  • Tried by the church for defending Copernicus
49
Q

newton

A
  • Used the reflecting telescope for astronomy
  • Explained gravity mathematically
  • Laid down the laws of physics in “The Principia”
50
Q

einstein

A
  • Explained gravity through “space-time”
  • Developed general and special relativity
51
Q

hubble

A
  • Learned the universe was much bigger than was
    originally thought and that it is expanding
  • Found expansion is accelerating
52
Q

lamaitre

A
  • Priest who proposed that the universe had a
    moment of “creation”; that it is not eternal
  • Peers referred to his ideas as “The Big Bang”
53
Q

space exploration

A
  • Launching people, telescopes, probes and rovers
    has exponentially increased our knowledge of
    the universe
54
Q

history of astronomy in order

A
  1. the ancients
  2. aristotle
  3. ptolemy
  4. Arabic and Chinese astronomers
  5. copernicus
  6. brahe
  7. kepler
  8. galileo
  9. newton
  10. einstein
  11. hubble
  12. lamaitre
  13. space exploration

Astronomy (3 decks)

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