Astronomy Final
Discuss how Netwon's laws of motion and gravity can be used to derive Kepler's law of planetary motion
By combining Newtons law of Universal Gravitation with Keplers Law of Planetary Motion is circular orbit is only possible if only two bodies the fall of celestial objects fall in an orbit but Earth gets in the way. This answers the question of what other objects are doing in the solar system. Along with this other shapes of orbit are found along with unbound orbits such as comets
Describe some of Galileo's contributions to physics and astronomy and why they led to "problems" with the Catholic Church.
Galileo ran experiments in order to develop a new physics because he did not believe in the aristoles. In regards to physics he discovered the Law of Falling Bodies. This experiment was ran by dropping balls to see how they hit the ground and due to friction how they would land at the same time. In astronomy Galileo discovered sunspots, saturns drawing, lunar observations, phases of venus, and made observations of Jupiter. The observations of Jupiter related to the third law Kepler stated. The problem with the Catholic is church was the bishop told Galileo not to write about Copernicus and his view, but Galileo did indeed do that in his book. While in one of his books he wrote of an argument with Copernicus' views and an unlogical persons views who made comments related to those said by bishop now Pope.
State Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion and the consequences and meaning of those laws.
Kepler's First Law the Law of Ellipses states planets move in elliptical orbits with the Sun located at one focus. So, circles for each planet's orbit will not work. Which is against what other astronomers such as Copernicus stated. The second law, Law of Areas states a line drawn from a planet to Sun will sweep out equal areas in equal time periods. Meaning a planet will move faster near the sun and slower farther away from the Sun. The third law, Law of Harmonies states a ratio of square of orbital period to the cube of the orbital semimajor axis (radius) is the same for all planets. In other words the Sun is the conductor of planets they follow lead of the Sun
describe how newtons law of gravity and keplers 3rd law can be used to find the mass of a planet, the sun or a star.
Newtons Law of universal gravitation with keplers third law of planetary motion it is possible to determine the mass of the sun by observing the orbital distance and orbital period of the planets. He does this by modifying the constant K to G for Universal Gravitation and M for total mass. In order to find the mass P is replaced with M.
Describe one of the major space-based telescopes and the wavelengths it observes in.
The Chandra Telescope is a major space based telescope. This one is the US version of a x-ray telescope. this telescope has short wavelength and high frequency.
Describe some of the evidence we have for how we think solar systems like ours form. Where do they form? What types of objects have been observed? How do the observations compare to the nebular model of solar system formation?
The Orion Nebula is evidence we have found similar to our solar system. This is 1,500 billion lightyears away from us. The center is hallowed with central stars. The early phase has occurred in this nebula. The Accretion has taken place, but the burst of the star has not. Planetesimals is as far as the planets have gotten in the process of the nebular theory.
Using the celestial sphere model, describe motions of the stars. Be sure to make reference to the important reference marks of the celestial sphere
The celestial sphere model suggests that every. Other celestial object rotates around the Earth. This is used to explain the daily motions and change of location. This means that the stars would rotate around the earth due to the Earths location. The stars would rise in the east and set in the west.
Describe the origins of constellations and their modern day definition.
The constellations can be traced back to the European Culture 2000 years ago. The constellations have been viewed and discovered ever since. The modern day definition have been transformed and used to connect with people in the modern day. The Canis Major for example has the name Big Dog today. Zodiac's have been connected to the constellations during their given month and put in relation to the months a person is born. In modern day constellations have been used to categorize people. For examples those born in January are considered Capricorn from December 22 to January 19th. These are the days of the year the Capricorn constellation is viewed in the sky
Describe tides cause on the Earth. Why are the tides due to the Moon stronger than the tides due to the Sun even though the strength of gravitational force on earth due to the moon is much weaker than the strength of the gravitational force of the sun on earth?
The difference in gravitational force from one location to another creates the tides. A tidal stress gives tides as well. The high and low tides are due to the season. The tides due to the Moon are stronger than the tides to the Sun the fractional difference between the Earth and the Sun.
State Newton's Three Laws of motion. Give examples of each of the laws.
The first law of motion is the Law of Interia. This law states that an object will continue in motion until stopped by an external force acts upon it. An example would be an ice skater gliding on a straight blade on the ice and suddenly the blade turns ending the straight line. The second law, Force Law states acceleration a body experiences is directly proportional to net force acting on it and inversely proportional to its mass, F = ma. An example would be drag racing, changing from stopped to fast. The third law is the Action-Reaction Law. This law states that for every force there is an equal and opposite force. An example is a car crash, both cars experience the same amount of impact.
Describe what is meant by "light travel time". give the light travel time to a number of celestial objects and how it relates to their distance from Earth
The light travel time can be defined as the amount of delay time it takes light to hit the Earth from the Moon and the Sun. The light travel time between the Moon and Earth is 1.25 seconds in distance. This meaning earth receives light from the Moon 1.25 seconds after the time it actually occurred on the Moon. The light travel time between the Sun and the Earth is 8 minutes and 3 seconds. Meaning the earth receives light from the 8 minutes and 3 seconds later than when it actually occurred on the Sun. The light travel time relates to the distance because the distance is the same and the light travel time giving the delay of light.
describe the modern model of an atom. include the descriptions of how the mass is distributed, the composition of the nucleus and electron energy levels
The modern model of an atom is Bohr. The electrons are in an electron cloud at a fundamental level with a negative charge surrounding the nucleus. The nucleus is 99.98% mass composed of protons and neutrons. Protons are positive charged and Neutrons are neutral charged. The electron levels are like a bookshelf and go increase the higher up the bookshelf you go. The atoms emit light when the energy changes therefore the more energy the further atom can go. But if there is too much energy applied the atom will be knocked off the bookshelf.
Briefly describe the nebular model for the formation of the solar system.
The nebular model formation begins with the large amount of dust and gas clouds. The first step is the collapsing of the clouds due to the gravity. They collapse and spin up into a disk and flatten out. After this the dust grains are viewed and come together. Acceretion begins and the grains begin sticking together in a snowball effect becoming bigger. Eventually these become planetesimals. When the planetesimals combine they create planets are made in the solar system. The gas giants are rock and ice. The inner planets are made of rock or metals. The prostar in the middle explodes when ready. During this explosion it is dangerous and blows out the extra dust and gas away from the inner planets
Describe the Scientific method and how scientists use it to explain physical phenomena.
The scientific method is the system scientists use to help better understand how nature works. First decide on what phenomena or subject you want to study, then gather preliminary information to help form a hypothesis. A hypothesis is an educated guess to explain the phenomena. Use the hypothesis to make a prediction that can be tested. Then preform an experiment or observation to test the prediction. If the experiment supports the hypothesis and its prediction you make more and more tests. If the experiment does not support the hypothesis, modify/change the hypothesis and test again. In this way the hypothesis is always modified and test as needed. The method never ends and always loops back on itself. An example is the theory of gravity. Newton proposed a theory of gravity. Then tested by predicting motions of the planets and compared predictions to actual motion. His theory was continually tested a problem was found with discovery of the orbit of Mercury. Einstein came along and proposed a new theory which has been tested many times and is continually tested today.
Describe the hunt for extra-solarplanets. What kinds of techniques are used, what kinds of planets have been found, how many planets have been found, what kind of orbits do the planets have?
There are 5 techniques that have been used in the hunt for extrasolar planets. The two most successful ones are Doppler Shift and Transit method. The Doppler Shift method uses the fact that a planet will put on its host star making the star wobbly a little. By seeing the spectrum of the star over and over the wobble can be detected by the Doppler Shift o the absorption lines in the stars spectrum. The transit method looks for planets that cross directly in front of their star. The brightness of star will dip slightly due to the light the planet blocks. The next technique is the gravitational lensing affect a planet will have as it passes in front of more distant star. The problem with this technique is that this is a one time observation that is often difficult to view and verify. Another technique that relies on the wobble in a stars motion is Astrometic method. This directly observes the wobble of the by carefully measuring the position of the star. To date no planets have been found this way. The last technique is the Direct observational of planet. since the planets shine by reflecting light from their star the planets need to be very large and far from star . Only a handful have been found this way. All techniques except the direct observation tend to find large planets. The majority of extra solar planets found are larger than Neptune. Only few have been found with same size as Earth. To date over 3,800 planets have been found outside our solar system
Briefly describe a Newtonian telescope. Include a drawing.
This telescope also gathers and concentrates light. this one bounces the light off a surface to be viewed. the light is focus to a focal point. the resolution depends on the size and wavelength of light due to diffraction
Describe how and how the tides on earth due to the moon are affecting the orbit of the moon and the rotation of the earth
earths rotation drags the tidal bulge taking it out of perfect alignment with the moon. the earths pull on the moon's tidal bulge pulls caused it to lock in on earth. this slows the rotation period of the moon to match the orbital period. The friction caused by the rotational period moves the moon further from earth. the spiral away from us causes slow rotation because of the tidal bulge.
Use words and a diagram to describe a refracting telescope.
gathers a lot of light and concentrates it, the light gathering power is proportional to the diameter squared. this telescope being the light when it goes from one material to another. this telescope suffers from Chromatic Aberration
Use words and a diagram to describe a Cassegrain telescope.
made of primary concave convex mirror. along with this it is also made of secondary convex mirrors. it bounces the light off alight surface to be viewed. the hole of the focal point is placed at the center
Describe briefly the causes of the seasons and how they are related to the apparent motion of the sun. Along with the elliptical and positioning of the Earth in its orbit around the Sun. Make specific reference to the Earths perihelion and Aphelion and their relationship to the seasons due to the four important date in the seasonal motion of the Sun.
primary cause of the seasons is the 23.5° tilt of the Earth's equator from its orbit around the Sun. As a result of the tilt, when a hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun it receives more direct sunlight and the Sun remains above the horizon for longer so it is summer in that hemisphere. When a hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun it receives less direct sunlight and the Sun stays above the horizon for less time thus making it winter. The spring and fall are when neither hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun. Despite the fact that the Earth orbits the Sun in an elliptical orbit, the distance to the Sun has very little to do with our seasons. The Earth is actually closest to the Sun, at perihelion, on January 2, the middle of the northern hemisphere winter. We are farthest from the Sun, aphelion, on July 2, the middle of the northern hemisphere summer. The important dates in the motion of the Sun are the two equinoxes and the two solstices. The spring equinox, when the Sun crosses the celestial equator moving northward, is around March 21. The summer solstice, when the Sun is farthest north of the celestial equator, is around June 21. The fall equinox, when the Sun crosses the celestial equator moving southward, is around September 21. Finally, the winter solstice, when the Sun is farthest south of the celestial equator, is around December 21.
Briefly describe a prism spectrometer. Include a diagram
red green, and violet are more commonly viewed colors from this prism spectrometer. this prism measure the brightness of the individual color and wavelength. this diagram shows absorption lines. This also determine the intensity and wavelength from CCD picture of spectrometer
state newtons universal law of gravitation and describe each of the terms in it and some of the consequences of the law
says that every particle of matter in the universe attracts every other particle with a force that varies directly with the product of their masses and inversely with the square of the distance between them. the force depends on both the distance and mass. the amount of objects force adds up when an object is being pulled on. this lead to calculus. The consequence is that it derives some on Kepler's laws.
Describe the formation of a planet beginning with the solar nebula and going up to the formation of a protoplanets.
the solar nebula is made of mostly hydrogen and helium. The dust grains form through condensation. Then accretion kicks in and the grains begin to stick together in a snowball effect. Once they form to a certain larger point they are planetesimals. The final process is the colliding of the planetesimals then making the protoplanets.
