Glasgow Exploring the Cosmos 1X
Ceres was initially thought to be
a missing planet between mars and jupiter
Telescopes differentiate the Milky Way into
about 2 x 10^11 stars
Stonehenge was created to
align with the sunrise on the summer solstice
The sun contributes
all energy found on earth except for nuclear fission (splitting of large atoms)
Meteors are
asteroids or comet debris that passes into Earth's atmosphere and burns up
The sun is a
ball of fluid that moves and has spots
The Kuiper belt is located
beyond Neptune and Pluto
Planets are
bright enough to be seen in dawn/dusk esp.
Prefix "centi"
c 10^-2
Stars that dont set are called
circumpolar stars
The primary purpose of a telescope is
collecting and focusing light
Stars can have varying
colors and brightness
Stars are grouped into ________ that are ________
constellations, unchanging over thousands of years, and are typically named in Greek
Solar particles that are part of the Aurorae are
deflected to the poles by the earths magnetic field
The Milky Way appears to the naked eye as a
diffuse band of light
The celestial sphere ___________ over time
doesnt change
Artificial satellites
drift across the sky, reflecting sunlight (brightness varies based on rotation)
Separate tails are formed of ____________, becoming visible through different phenomena; the dust reflects ________ directly and the gases glow from ___________.
dust and gases, sunlight, ionizations
The Milky Way Galaxy is
easy to see in low light polution
The stars are
extremely far away and hard to see even with a telescope
How to find the north star
find "plough", the two end stars are the pointers and the north star is 5x the distance between them further above them
In 2015, the first ____________ were observed, now there are _____________
first gravitational waves, two gravitational wave observatories
In 1957, the first __________ were launched, allowing for ________________.
first satellites, better imaging of the planets (beyond the atmosphere)
Mercury and Venus are hard to see due to
how close to the sun they are
In 1990, the ____________ was launched and gave _____________.
hubble telescope, clear pictures of the universe
As a comet approaches the sun,
it becomes brighter and develops a tail that points away from the sun
Prefix "kilo"
k 10^3
Prefix "milli"
m 10^-3
Steller parallax wasnt detected until the
mid 19th century
With a terrestrial baseline, parallax only works for the _______ because ___________
moon, all other celestial objects are too far away and the parallax is too small
Prefix "nano"
n 10^-9
The north pole is directly under the
north celestial pole
Millions of asteroids
orbit the sun between Mars and Jupiter in the Asteroid Belt
Comets come from
outside our solar system
The celestial sphere has to be very distant because of
parallax shift
Neptune was predicted to exist based upon
perturbations in the orbit of Uranus.
The moon is earth's only natural
satellite
Understanding the universe is a matter of
scale
Meteors can be seen every night, but can also have
showers
1 AU is
1.5 x 10^11 meters
The nearest star shows a parallax shift of only _________ the width of the full moon
1/2000
Width of the fist (excluding thumb) at arms length is _______ degrees
10
Milky Way Galaxy diameter
100,000 light years
Earth's diameter
15k km
The sun's time distance
16 minutes
Telescopes were invented in
1609 by lens makers
Uranus was recognized as a new planet in
1781
Width of a spread hand at arms length is _________ degrees
18
Neptune was predicted and observed in
1846
Pluto was found in
1930
1 degree angle in the sky is
60 arc minutes
1 arc minute is
60 arc seconds
Halleys Comet happens every
76 years
The night sky has ________ constellations
88
Zodiacal Light is
A faint cone of light that can sometimes be seen above the horizon after sunset or before sunrise.
The celestial sphere
An imaginary sphere surrounding Earth to which the stars are attached
Nebulae
Anything we see other than stars outside the galaxy
The inferior planets are
Mercury and Venus
The inner solar system is
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
Most comets are seen _____ with the exception of ________.
Once, Halleys Comet
There are 4-5 big asteroids, some bigger than
Pluto
Aurorae occur in the Earth's upper atmosphere at both ________
Poles
Types of Nebulae
Stellar remnants (e.g. crab nebula), hot gas clouds (e.g. orion nebula), and external galaxies (e.g. andromeda nebula)
Modern telescopes can measure angles to the accuracy of
0.001"
The naked eye can discriminate _______ arc minutes
1
Width of thumb at arms length is _______ degrees
1
Arc second notation
1"
Arc minute notation
1'
The first asteroid discovered was
Ceres
Longitude
Distance east or west of the prime meridian (perpendicular to equator)
Latitude
Distance north or south of the equator (parallel to equator)
What happened during the Astronomical Revolution
Galileo challenged 2,000 years of understanding
Prefix "mega"
M 10^6
There is an asteroid belt between
Mars and Jupiter
The superior planets are
Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn
steller parallax
Maximum baseline is 3 x 10^8 km
What can you see in the sky with the naked eye? (12)
Sun, moon, planets, stars, milky way, nebulae, asteroids, satellites, comets, meteors, aurorae, zodiacal light
What are the 4 main things Galileo discovered?
The moon isnt a perfect sphere, it has hills and valleys just like earth does The milky way is made up of a myriad of stars which are too faint to be seen unaided Jupiter has 4 moons (now known as the galilean moons) The sun has sunspots
North Star (Polaris)
This star does not appear to move in the sky, but remains in the same position each night while constellations appear to rotate around it
Discovery of new planets in outer solar system
Uranus, Neptune, Pluto
Planets ranked in order of brightness in sky
Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Mercury
As a comet approaches the inner Solar System,
solar radiation causes the volatile materials within the comet to vaporize and stream out of the nucleus, carrying dust away with them.
The south pole is directly under the
south celestial pole
How can you differentiate a planet vs. a star?
stars twinkle, planets don't. Planets also change position every night
Comets appear _________ whereas meteors are ___________
stationary, shooting stars
Zodiacal light is caused by
sunlight reflecting off small particles of material in the plane of the Solar System.
The observers meridian is
the arc from the N pole to the S pole directly over the observers head
Aurorae have a glow created by
the collision of particles in the upper atmosphere colliding with charged particles from outer space
Isaac Newton (1642-1727) put
the concept of gravity into a formula and predicted that with enough velocity, objects could be put into orbit (escaping gravity)
A light year is
the distance light (photons) travels in one year
An Astronomical Unit (AU) is
the distance of earth to the sun
The discovery of jupiters moons challenged the concept that
the earth was the center of the universe, since Jupiter clearly has its own orbit
The moon being not sphere and the sun having spots challenged the concept that
the heavens are perfect and earth is corrupt
The further east stars rise,
the higher in the sky they get
Diurnal motion is _________ and is due to __________
the movement of all astronomical bodies across the sky (e.g. the sun rising in the east and setting in the west), earths rotation
The Oort Cloud is thought to be:
the spherical cloud of comets, dust and some larger icy bodies surrounding the outer solar system.
How to measure parallax shift within solar system
through radar method, measured as a time interval between transmission of a radar pulse and reception of an echo
When stars reach the highest point in the visible night sky (directly overhead) they begin
transit
Parallax shift
when near stars appear to shift their position relative to the farthest stars as the Earth revolves around the sun.
Prefix "micro"
~m~ 10^-6