Astronomy Part 2

Question 1

What is the altitude of a star?

Answer 1

The angle above the horizon

Question 2

What is the azimuth of a star?

Answer 2

The compass bearing clockwise from North

Question 3

What is the zenith of a star?

Answer 3

The point directly overhead, 90 degrees above the horizon

Question 4

What are circumpolar stars?

Answer 4

Stars located near celestial poles that can be seen all year round

Question 5

What is the ecliptic?

Answer 5

An imaginary line along which the sun and planets appear to move

Question 6

What causes the seasons of the Earth?

Answer 6

The tilt of the Earth’s axis

Question 7

What is the star located at the North Celestial Pole?

Answer 7

Polaris

Question 8

What is the order of stars, according to the Bayer Naming System?

Answer 8

Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta

Question 9

What is so unique about the star Beta Orionis?

Answer 9

The brightest star in this constellation is named Beta instead of Alpha

Question 10

What is our solar system?

Answer 10

A flat disc shape with all planets rotating about the sun in the same direction

Question 11

What is the distance of a star in light years?

Answer 11

9.47 X 10 to the power of 12 KM

Question 12

For observers in the Southern Hemisphere, what are circumpolar constellations?

Answer 12

Southern Cross and Pointers

Question 13

What is the significance of Polaris in the Northern Hemisphere?

Answer 13

Polaris is only visible in the Northern Hemisphere and all the stars in the Northern Hemisphere rotate about it

Question 14

What is luminosity synonymous with?

Answer 14

The absolute magnitude of a star

Question 15

What is the difference between absolute and apparent magnitude?

Answer 15

Apparent magnitude is how bright a star is when viewed from Earth, whereas absolute magnitude is how bright the star is from 33 light years away

Question 16

When viewed from Earth, what does the colour of a star tell us about?

Answer 16

Surface temperature

Question 17

What does the spectral analysis of a star tell us about?

Answer 17

Chemical composition

Question 18

What is the greater measure of magnitude?

Answer 18

A negative reading

Question 19

What percentage of stars run our galaxy are multiples?

Answer 19

More than 50%

Question 20

What is the classification of our sun?

Answer 20

1, G

Question 21

What do the x-axis and y-axis of the HR diagram stand for?

Answer 21

X-Axis= Temperature (kelvin), Y-axis= Luminosity

Question 22

On the HR diagram, where are stars grouped according to their life span?

Answer 22

Larger stars which are shorter lived due to quicker burning of fuel are found at the top and smaller stars which are longer lived at the bottom

Question 23

What are white dwarfs?

Answer 23

The remnants of stars similar to our own, which no longer burn fusion but radiate heat, becoming dimmer whilst maintaining higher temperatures

Question 24

Which coloured stars are the hottest and which are the coolest?

Answer 24

Blue stars are the hottest, red stars are the coolest

Question 25

What are red giants?

Answer 25

Very luminous and low in density allowing them to have similar mass to our sun but considerably larger radius

Question 26

What are blue super giants?

Answer 26

Very large stars which burn fuel rapidly, are short lived and culminate in supernova

Question 27

What does the main sequence contain?

Answer 27

The vast majority of stars, which follow the red of temperature directly relating to luminosity

Question 28

What is a red dwarf?

Answer 28

The most common star, smaller than our sun, slowly burn fuel and are hard to spot

Question 29

What is a white dwarf?

Answer 29

Hot, small and very dense, nuclear reactions are finished

Question 30

How did Hubble use the Doppler effect?

Answer 30

To observe light spectrum coming from distant galaxies, which contained the information about the motion of the galaxy to determine the distance and speed of galaxies