Observing Techniques Flashcards
What is the apparent magnitude scale and how is it used?
The apparent magnitude scale is a measure of intensity. The bigger the number, the smaller the intensity, and a change of 5 magnitudes is a difference in intensity of 100x.
What is the difference between a double star and a binary star?
A double star is when two stars are in a similar line of sight so they appear close together whereas binary stars are gravitationally bound to eachother.
What is are Asterisms? Give an example.
Asterisms are parts of larger constellation. For example The Plough is part of Ursa Major.
What does an open cluster look like?
Group of up to a thousand stars that were formed from the same giant molecular cloud - found in spiral arms of our Milky Way Galaxy.
What do nebulae look like?
Cloudy patch.
What do globular clusters look like?
Spherical shape with high stellar density near middle due to gravity.
What greek letter are the brightest stars labelled as? What greek letter are the dimmest stars labelled as?
Brightest - Alpha
Dimmest - Epsilon
What does the Plough look like?
Polaris at centre, question mark shape on its back below Polaris, question mark shape on it’s front above polaris - both point towards Polaris (tip of question marks)
How can the bottom line of stars in The Plough be used to find Arcturus?
End of the question mark points to Arcturus.
What does Orion look like?
4 stars in a trapezium shape on its side with a line of 3 stars in the middle.
What do the three stars in the middle of Orion point to?
Pleiades and Aldebaran on one side and Sirius on the other side.
What does Cygnus look like?
A holy cross tilted to the left.
What does Cassiopeia look like?
A W tilted to the right.
What do the Square of Pegasus pointers point towards?
Fomalhault and the Andromeda Galaxy
How can you find the period of a variable star?
Plotting a light curve.
