Astronomy 101 – Chapter 7 Outline
Name________________________
Date_________________________
1. What do we mean by
comparative planetology? Does it apply only to planets?
2. What would the
solar system look like to your naked eye if you could view it from beyond the
orbit of Pluto?
3. Briefly describe
the overall layout of the solar system as it is shown if figures 7.1 and 7.2.
4. For the Sun and
each of the planets in our solar system, describe at least two features that you
find interesting.
i)
ii)
5. Describe at least
four orderly patterns of motion that we observe in our solar system.
i)
ii)
iii)
iv)
6. What are the basic
differences between the terrestrial and jovian planets? Which planets in our solar system fall into
each group?
7. What do we mean by
hydrogen compounds? In what kinds of
planets or small bodies are they major ingredients?
8. In what ways does
Pluto resemble a terrestrial planet? In
what ways does it resemble a jovian planet?
In what ways does it resemble neither?
9. What are
asteroids? Where do we find most
asteroids in our solar system?
10. What are
comets? How do they differ from
asteroids?
11. What is the
Kuiper belt? What is the Oort
cloud? How do the orbits of comets
differ in the two regions?
12. Describe at least
two “exceptions to the rules” that we find in our solar system.
13. Describe and
distinguish between space missions that are flybys, orbiters, landers or
probes, and sample return missions. What
are the advantages and disadvantages of each mission type?
True/False
14. Pluto orbits the
Sun in the opposite direction of all the other planets. T F
15. If Pluto were as
large as the planet Mercury, we would classify it as a terrestrial planet.
T F
16. Our Moon is about
the same size as moons of the other terrestrial planets. T F
17. The mass of the
Sun compared to the mass of all the planets combined is like the mass of an
elephant compared to the mass of a cat. T F
18. On average, Venus
is the hottest planet in the solar system – even hotter than Mercury.
T F
19. The weather
conditions on Mars today are much different than they were in the distant past.
T F
20. Moons cannot have
atmospheres, active volcanoes, or liquid water. T F
21. Saturn is the
only planet in the solar system with rings. T F
Multiple Choice
1) Which planet has the highest average
surface temperature, and why?
a. Venus,
because of its dense carbon dioxide atmosphere
b. Mercury,
because it is closest to the Sun
c. Mars,
because of its red color
d. Mercury,
because of its dense carbon dioxide atmosphere
e. Jupiter,
because it is so big
2) Which planet, other than the earth, has
visible water ice on it?
a. Mercury
b. the Moon
c. Mars
d. Jupiter
e. Venus
3) Which of the following is furthest from the
Sun?
a. an
asteroid in the asteroid belt
b. Pluto
c. a comet
in the Oort cloud
d. Neptune
e. a comet
in the Kuiper belt
4) Which planet has a ring system?
a. Jupiter
b. Uranus
c. Saturn
d. Neptune
e. all of
the above
5) Which of the following statements is not
an observed pattern of motion in our solar system?
a. All
planets orbit the Sun in the same direction.
b. Most
planetary orbits lie nearly in the same plane.
c. Most
planets orbit at the same speed.
d. Almost
all moons orbit their planet in the same direction as the planet's rotation.
e. Most
planets rotate in the same direction in which they orbit.
6) Which of the following is not a
characteristic of the outer planets?
a. They all
have rings
b. They are
all large balls of gas.
c. They are
primarily made of hydrogen and helium.
d. They have
very few, if any, satellites.
e. Their
orbits are separated by relatively large distances.
7) How do asteroids differ from comets?
a. Asteroids
are made of icy material and are less dense than the comets, which are rockier.
b. Asteroids
are rocky bodies and are denser than the comets, which are made of icy
material.
c. Asteroids
are made of icy material and are denser than the comets, which are more rocky.
d. Asteroids
are rocky bodies and are less dense than the comets, which are made of icy
material.
e. Asteroids
and comets are both made of rocky and icy material, but asteroids are smaller
in size than comets.
8) Some astronomers suggest that, rather than
being a planet, Pluto is really just a large member of
a. an
extrasolar planetary system.
b. the
asteroid belt.
c. the Oort
cloud.
d. the
Kuiper belt.
e. the moon
system around Neptune.
9) Which of the following is not a
characteristic of the inner planets?
a. They all
have solid, rocky surfaces.
b. Their
orbits are relatively closely spaced.
c. They all
have substantial atmospheres.
d. They have
very few, if any, satellites.
e. They are
relatively smaller than the outer planets.
10) The planet closest in size to Earth is
a. Mercury.
b. Pluto.
c. Venus.
d. Mars.
e. the Moon.
Astronomy 101 – Chapter 6 Outline
Name________________________
Date_________________________
1. How does your eye
focus light? How is a glass lens
similar? What do we mean by the focal
plane of a lens?
2. For purposes of
astronomy, what advantages does a camera have over the human eye? What advantages do CCD’s have over
photographic film?
3. What are two key
properties of a telescope, and why is each important.
4. What is the
diffraction limit, and how does it depend on a telescope’s size and the
wavelength of light being observed?
5. How do reflecting
telescopes differ from refracting telescopes?
Which type is more commonly used by professional astronomers, and why?
6. What do we mean
when we speak of images made from nonvisible light, such as X-ray or infrared
images? What do the colors in these
images mean?
7. What do we mean by
spectral resolution? Why is higher
spectral resolution more difficult to achieve?
8. List at least
three ways in which Earth’s atmosphere can hinder astronomical observations,
and explain why putting a telescope into space helps in each case. What problem can adaptive optics help with?
9. Study Figure 6.22
and describe how deeply each portion of the electromagnetic spectrum penetrates
Earth’s atmosphere. Based on your
answers, why is space astronomy so important to our understanding of the
universe?
10. What is
interferometry, and how can it improve astronomical observations?
True/False
11. Interferometry
combines several telescopes and combines their signals to get the equivalent of
one large telescope. T F
12. By using a CCD, I
can photograph the Andromeda Galaxy with a shorter exposure time than I would
need with photographic film. T F
13. I have a reflecting
telescope in which the secondary mirror is bigger than the primary mirror.
T F
14. The photograph
shows what appears to be just two distinct stars, but each of those stars is
actually a binary system. T F
15. I built my own 14
inch telescope that has a lower diffraction limit than most large professional
telescopes. T F
16. Now that I’ve
bought a spectrograph, I can use my home telescope for spectroscopy as well as
imaging. T F
17. If you lived on
the Moon, you’d never see stars twinkle. T F
18. New technologies
will soon allow astronomers to use X-ray telescopes on Earth’s surface.
T F
19. Thanks to
adaptive optics, the telescope on Mount Wilson can now make ultraviolet images
of the cosmos. T T
20. Thanks to
Interferometry, a properly spaced set of 10-meter radio telescopes can achieve
the same angular resolution of a single 100-km radio telescope. T F
Multiple Choice
1) Suppose the
angular separation of two stars is smaller than the angular resolution of your
eyes. How will the stars appear to your eyes?
a. You will see two distinct
stars.
b. You will see only the
larger of the two stars, not the smaller one.
c. You will not be able to
see these two stars at all.
d. The two stars will appear
to be touching, looking rather like a small dumbbell.
e. The two stars will look
like a single point of light.
2) Which of the
following statements best describes the two principal advantages of telescopes
over eyes?
a. Telescopes have much more
magnification and better angular resolution.
b. Telescopes collect more
light and are unaffected by twinkling.
c. Telescopes can see
farther without image distortion and can record more accurate colors.
d. Telescopes can collect
far more light with far greater magnification.
e. Telescopes can collect far
more light with far better angular resolution.
3) What do we
mean by the diffraction limit of a telescope?
a. It is the maximum size to
which any telescope can be built.
b. It is the best angular
resolution the telescope could achieve with perfect optical quality and in the
absence of atmospheric distortion.
c. It describes the maximum
exposure time for images captured with the telescope.
d. It describes the farthest
distance to which the telescope can see.
4) Which of the
following studies is best suited to a timing experiment?
a. studying whether a
particular star's brightness is steady or variable
b. measuring the rotation
rate of a distant star
c. studying how different
stars differ in their chemical compositions
d. estimating the time since
the Big Bang
e. determining the age of
the solar system
5) What causes
stars to twinkle?
a. variations in the
absorption of the atmosphere
b. variable absorption by
interstellar gas along the line of sight to the star
c. bending of light rays by
turbulent layers in the atmosphere
d. the inability of the
human eye to see faint objects
e. It is intrinsic to the
stars—their brightness varies as they expand and contract.
6) What is the
purpose of adaptive optics?
a. to improve the angular
resolution of telescopes in space
b. to allow several small
telescopes to work together like a single larger telescope
c. to increase the
magnification of telescopes on the ground
d. to eliminate the
distorting effects of atmospheric turbulence for telescopes on the ground
e. to increase the
collecting area of telescopes on the ground
7) Which of the
following is not a good reason to place observatories on remote mountain
tops?
a. to be able to observe at
infrared wavelengths
b. to reduce light
distortion
c. to be able to observe at
radio wavelengths
d. to reduce light pollution
e. to reduce light
absorption
8) Why do
astronomers need different telescope designs to observe across the
electromagnetic spectrum?
a. because light pollution
is worse at radio wavelengths than visible wavelengths
b. New telescopes
incorporate new technology to increase their efficiency.
c. Astronomers and engineers
enjoy the challenge of making new telescope designs.
d. Telescopes have to adapt
to the greater distortion of the atmosphere at shorter wavelengths.
e. Photons of different
energy behave differently and require different collection strategies.
9) What does
the technique of interferometry allow?
a. It allows us to determine
the chemical composition of stars.
b. It allows two or more
telescopes to obtain a total light-collecting area much larger than the total light-collecting area of the individual telescopes.
c. It allows the same
telescope to make images with both radio waves and visible light.
d. It allows two or more
telescopes to obtain the angular resolution of a single telescope much larger
than any of the individual telescopes.
e. It allows astronomers to
make astronomical observations without interference from light pollution.
10) Which of
the following wavelength regions cannot be studied with telescopes on the ground?
a. radio waves
b. X rays
c. ultraviolet
d. both B and C
e. both A and C
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