Astro 100 exam 2

A light wave does not require:

A medium

what is the most likely scenario for the formation of the Solar System?

A cloud of gas and dust collapsed into a flattened disk, within which the Sun and planets formed

Comparing objects in a related group can reveal patterns among them. These patterns in turn can help us learn more about those objects than we could by studying each individually.With this goal in mind, watch the Introduction of the AstroTour Animation on Solar System Formation. Pay attention to the animation of the planets in the Solar System and select all of the following choices that describe the patterns that you've observed. As you do so, think about the implications of how the Solar System may have formed.

A. The orbits of the outer planets (those most distant from the Sun) are spaced farther apart from one another than the orbits of the inner planets.. C. All planets orbit the Sun in a roughly flat plane. D. All planets orbit the Sun in the same direction. H. The closest planets to the Sun are much smaller than the planets that are farther away.

Choose all that apply. CCD cameras are better astronomical detectors than the human eye because

A. they can observe at wavelengths beyond the visible.B. their quantum efficiency is higher.C. the integration time can be longer.

Based on the time frames given in the above figure, which of the following are implications of the finite speed of light?

A.There would be a noticeable delay in communications at the speed of light between Earth and astronauts on the Moon. D. When we gaze at the Andromeda Galaxy, we are looking back in time to the way it used to appear millions of years ago. E. If the light of the Sun were suddenly extinguished, we wouldn't notice it from Earth for over 8 minutes.

The level of each of the surface-shaping processes that occur on a planet throughout its history will determine how its surface appears. The terrestrial planets were formed in basically the same environment, so we can assume that the average frequency of impacts for all of the terrestrial planets has been about the same.In a hypothetical scenario where impacts are the only process that ever shape planetary surfaces, how would the surfaces of the terrestrial planets compare?

All of the planets would have roughly the same number of craters per area.

Following the invention of the telescope, astronomers were able to measure the speed of light by observing Jupiter's moons passing behind Jupiter in their orbit and becoming eclipsed. Study the figure, which shows how someone on Earth can view Jupiter's moon's eclipses when Earth is closer to or farther from Jupiter, and determine which of the following are correct.

B.If light has infinite speed, an eclipse would be seen to happen at the same time regardless of how far away Earth is from Jupiter. C. If light has finite speed, it would take longer for it to travel from Jupiter to Earth when Earth is farther from Jupiter.

Why is the Hubble Space Telescope in space instead of on the ground?

C. It avoids atmospheric distortion.D. It observes in the UV.

The vast distances between astronomical objects and us make them particularly difficult to study. Improvements in technology over the last few hundred years have increased our understanding of the universe, and in turn the drive to learn more has propelled forward advancements in technology. The biggest technological breakthrough in astronomical observations came with the invention of the telescope, and with Galileo's idea of pointing one at the night sky. What is it about a telescope that makes it better at detecting astronomical sources than the human eye? Both your eye and Galileo's telescope have lenses that bend (refract) light, directing it into focus on the focal plane (your retina, in the case of your eye). Light from each distant point source hits every part of a lens with initially parallel light rays, as shown in the figure below. All the light from that source that hits the lens is then focused to a single point on the detector, making it appear much brighter.Which choice below best describes what would happen?

Less total light from the source will hit the lens, making it appear fainter on the detector.

The bright, colorful "stripes" of a rainbow such as the one shown here follow a particular order. Rank each color of the rainbow by how much energy is carried by its electromagnetic waves, from highest to lowest.

MOST ENERGY TO LEAST ENERGY BLUE YELLOW ORANGE RED

Is Earth's view of this system most nearly like the "side view" or most nearly like the "orbit view"?

The "side view" is most nearly Earth's view.

Explain why the presence of RSL in Valles Marineris makes the canyon more interesting than previously thought.

The low latitudes, high elevations, and frequency of RSL at these canyon ridges and isolated peaks, make them more likely to be from recent water flows.

How would you explain the difference in cratering between these two pictures?

The surface on the right has experienced more recent volcanism or erosion than the surface to the left.

Why don't we see cars as bluer when they approach and redder when they recede?

They are too slow.

How are the wavelength and frequency related to each other?

Wavelength and frequency are inversely related.

The TRAPPIST-1 system has seven transiting planets, therefore its orientation must be.....

a disk, like our Solar System. A common orbital plane of the planets increases the chances that more than one planet would transit across the system's central star.

Lava flows on the Moon and Mercury created large, smooth plains. We don't see similar features on Earth because Earth

has plate tectonics that recycle the surface.

If crater A is inside of crater B, we know that

crater B was formed before crater A

A molecular cloud fragments as it collapses because

density variations from place to place grow larger as the cloud collapses.

Imagine two objects moving away from you. Object A is faster than object B. You will observe that the light

from both objects is redshifted

Appropriate parts of a telescope

front= focal plane bottom length= focal length inner part= objective lens

If a quantity is conserved, it means that it

it doesn't change

How might you improve your chances of detecting the motion of light if it moves at finite speed?

move farther away from the light source

Before you start the simulation, examine the setup. You are looking down on Earth from the North Pole.Are the sizes of the Earth and Moon approximately to scale in this image?

no

Before you start the simulation, examine the setup. You are looking down on Earth from the North Pole.Is the distance between the Moon and the Earth to scale in this image?

no

What planet detection method is used by the Kepler mission?

the transit method