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Astronomy Flashcards

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1
Q

How does a galaxy form?

A

When gravity causes a large, slowly spinning cloud of gas, dust, and stars to gravitate together

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2
Q

How many stars are in the milky way?

A

400 billion

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3
Q

What are elliptical galaxies?

A

Vary in shape from spherical to flattened oval. 15-20% can be seen from unaided eye.

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4
Q

What are spiral galaxies?

A

Look like pinwheels. Flattened disks with central Bulge and two four spiral arms. Arms contain clouds of gas and dust and young stars. Can be found as barred galaxies that have central bar pattern across middle with spiral arms trailing from ends.

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5
Q

What kind of galaxy is the milky way?

A

Spiral

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6
Q

What is an irregular galaxy?

A

No definite shape. Contain more gas and dust that other galaxies. Make at least 10% of all galaxies.

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7
Q

What is a galaxy?

A

Collection of many stars, gas, and dust held together by gravity

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8
Q

Who was the first person to observe space through a telescope?

A

Galileo

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9
Q

A British astronomer

A

William Herschel

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10
Q

Types of telescopes found on earth

A

Optical, radio

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11
Q

How does a telescope observe space?

A

Detects wavelength, visible light, radiation

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12
Q

What is azimuth and altitude?

A

Distance measured from north along horizon to point directly below celestial object.

Angular height of celestial object measured from horizon.

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13
Q

What is retrograde motion?

A

Apparent slowing, reversal, then looping of a planet in its path across the sky over a period of time

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14
Q

What is ecliptic?

A

Path the sun and other sky objects appear to take across the celestial sphere

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15
Q

What is the celestial sphere?

A

Imaginary rotating sphere which lies all objects of night sky

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16
Q

What divides the celestial sphere to northern and southern hemisphere?

A

celestial equator

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17
Q

What is a constellation?

A

Group of stars that form a pattern in the sky

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18
Q

How many official constellations are there?

A

88

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19
Q

What is a smaller group of stars called

A

Asterim

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20
Q

What did people use stars for?

A

Harvesting time, landmarks, navigation, planting crops, performing ceremonies, season changes

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21
Q

What are the 5 planets?

A

Only planets visible to unaided eye. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn

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22
Q

What are examples of evidence of sky observing?

A

Medicine wheel, Stonehenge, Codex, Tomb Monument of Newgrange, Ivory, Mammoth Tusk,

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23
Q

What is a star cluster?

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A

Collection of stars held together by gravity

24
Q

What is an open cluster?

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A

Type of star cluster; contains 50-1000 stars; appear alond disk of milky way

25
What is globular cluster?
Spherical shape; contains 100,000-1,000,000 stars
26
What is the diameter of the milky way?
100,000 light years across
27
What is a lightyear?
Distance that light travels in one year: 9.5×10^12km
28
What is the closest galaxy to us?
Andromeda; said that milky way will collide with andromeda in 4 billion years
29
What is an AU?
Distance between earth and sun is one AU (150,000,000km)
30
You're doing great!
Woohoo keep it up!
31
How long does it take for the suns light to reach earth?
8 minutes
32
When we look at a star, are we seeing into the future, past, or present of the star?
Past
33
What is parallax?
Apparent change in position of an object against a fixed background when viewed from two different lines of sight
34
What method does parallax use?
Triangulation
35
What is HIPPARCOS?
Satellite (HIgh Precision PARallax COllecting Satellite)
36
What is a stars luminosity?
A measure of the total amount of energy it gives off per second
37
What is another word for luminosity?
Absolute magnitude
38
What does the colour of a star give indication of?
Surface temperature
39
What colour are hotter stars and what colour are colder stars?
Hotter = blue Cooler = red In between = yellow
40
How do we analyze light from stars?
Spectroscope
41
What is a spectroscope?
Instrument that produces a pattern of colours and lines called a spectrum from a narrow beam of light.
42
What are the lines shown in a spectroscope called?
Spectral lines
43
What are binary stars?
Two stars that orbit each other
44
How is star mass expressed?
Solar mass = mass of sun, 10 × 10^30kg
45
What is a H-R diagram?
"Hertzsprung-Russell diagram" a graph that compares properties of stars
46
What's on the x axis of an H-R diagram? What's on the y axis?
X axis = Star colour (temperature) | Y axis = Luminosity
47
What is the main sequence?
Narrow band of stars in H-R diagram that runs diagonally from the upper left to lower right
48
What is the life cycle as a nebula (yellow)
Yellow star, red giant, planetary nebula, white dwarf, black dwarf, nebula
49
What is the life cycle of a nebula (blue)
Blue star, red supergiant, supernova, neutron star, black hole, nebula
50
When is a star considered a high mass star?
Stars that are 10 or more solar masses
51
What are high mass stars?
Consume fuel fast and die quickly and violently
52
What is a supernova?
Massive explosion where the whole outer portion of a star is blown off
53
What is important materials found in supernovas?
Carbon, oxygen
54
What is a neutron star?
Star so dense only neutrons can exist throughout
55
What is a blackhole?
Remnant of a supernova explosion with a gravitational field so strong that nothing can escape its pull
56
Does a black hole have volume?
No, but it does have mass

Astronomy (1 decks)

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