Study Deck

Question 1

What star(s) are closest to the sun?

Answer 1

ALPHA CENTAURI or PROXIMA CENTAURI

Question 2

The greatest distance of a planet from the sun is called what? Is it the planet’s:
w) aphelion (pron: ah-feel-yen)
x) perihelion (pron: per-eh-heel-yen)
y) helix
z) eccentricity

Answer 2

W) APHELION

Question 3

What is the name given to very bright meteors or bolides?

Answer 3

FIREBALLS

Question 4

How is the atmospheric pressure of Mars compared to the atmospheric pressure of earth?
w) about the same as the earth’s
x) about 100 times as great as the earth’s
y) about 1/200th that of the earth’s
z) half as much as that of the earth’s

Answer 4

y) about 1/200th that of the earth’s

Question 5

What gas it the main component of the atmosphere of mars?

Answer 5

Carbon Dioxide

Question 6

The planet jupiter has a mass that is:
w) equal to the combined masses of the earth and Mars
x) equal to the combined masses of Saturn and Pluto
y) equal to the combined masses of Saturn, Neptune and Uranus
z) greater than the combined masses of all of the planets

Answer 6

Z) greater than the combined masses of all the planets.

Question 7

Which of the following moon features is named copernicus? Is it a:
w) sea
x) crater
y) mountain range
z) rill

Answer 7

X) crater

Question 8

What is a solstice?

Answer 8

A moment in the year when the Sun’s apparent path in the sky is farthest north or south from Earth’s Equator

Question 9

In which day of the year does a solstice occur?

Answer 9

June 21st

Question 10

When the earth is farthest from the sun, what season is it in the northern hemisphere?

Answer 10

Summer

Question 11

Of the nine known planets in our solar system, seven have one or more natural satellites. Name the two planets without moons.

Answer 11

Venus and Mercury

Question 12

The English nickname for this CONSTELLATION is “The Chained Maiden”. Give me the astronomer’s name for this constellation.

Answer 12

Andromeda

Question 13

Hercules is a constellation which is commonly viewed in the summer in North America. In which of the seasons is the constellation Pegasus normally viewed?

Answer 13

Autum

Question 14

The brightest star in this constellation is vega? In which constellation can Vega be found?

Answer 14

Lyra

Question 15

The brightest star in this constellation is Aldebaran (pron: al-DEB-ar-on). In which constellation can this star be found?

Answer 15

Taurus

Question 16

What is the theory which states that an object at rest will remain at rest, and an object in motion will continue in motion at a constant velocity unless acted upon by an external force.

Answer 16

Inertia

Question 17

barycenter

Answer 17

The center of mass between two or more celestial bodies that orbit each other

Question 18

What is a binary star system?

Answer 18

A system of two stars that orbit each other around a common center of mass, or barycenter, due to their gravitational attraction

Question 19

The center of mass between two or more celestial bodies that orbit each other

Answer 19

barycenter

Question 20

A binary star system lends itself very well to a determination of the total mass of the binary star system. What TWO observables must be measured to make the total mass determination?

Answer 20

1. SEPARATION OF THE TWO STARS
2. THE STARS’ PERIOD OF REVOLUTION

Question 21

THE SEPARATION OF TWO STARS AND THE PERIOD OF REVOLUTION DETERMINE WHAT?

Answer 21

The combined mass of two stars

Question 22

WHAT IS KELPER’S FORMULA FOR TWO STARS?

Answer 22

(M1 + M2) = a^3 / P^2; where M1 and M2 are the masses of the two stars, “a” is the semi-major axis of their orbit (average distance between them), and “P” is the orbital period of the system.

Question 23

THE ORION NEBLUA IS A GOOD EXMPLE OF WHAT KIND OF NEBULA?

Answer 23

EMISSION NEBULA

Question 24

A major component of the interstellar media consists of charged particles which have speeds close to that of light. What are these charged particles called?

Answer 24

COSMIC RAYS

Question 25

A typical galaxy, such as our milky way galaxy, has approximately how many billion stars? Is it:
w) 10 billion
x) 40 billion
y) 200 billion
z) 800 billion

Answer 25

Y) 200 BILLION

Question 26

What do we call the path in the sky that the sun appears to traverse over the course of a year?

Answer 26

ANSWER: ECLIPTIC

Question 27

Refracting telescopes always have which of the following?
w) mirrors
x) lenses
y) television systems
z) film

Answer 27

X) LENSES

Question 28

A comets tail always points in which direction?
w) toward the sun
x) toward the earth
y) behind the comet in its orbit
z) away from the sun

Answer 28

Z) AWAY FROM SUN

Question 29

A spectral line splitting due to the influence of magnetic fields is called?

Answer 29

ZEEMAN EFFECT

Question 30

What is the term applied to the dark, relatively smooth LUNAR plains whose name is derived from the Latin for “sea”?

Answer 30

MARE (singular) or MARIA (plural)