Astronomy Ch. 2 Test Questions – Flashcards
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Navigate the ocean, planting, and harvesting
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Why did ancient cultures use the stars?
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Stonehedge
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Salisbury plain in England, built in 2800-1100 BC, largest stones were 50 tons, used as calendar/almanac
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Big horn medicine wheel
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In Wyoming, used by plains Indian tribes as calendar, set up to show rising and setting times of the sun and stars
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Caracols temple
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In Mexico, built by Mayans in 1000AD, windows line up with the sunrise/set of the solstices and equinoxes, rising and setting of Venus (god they worshipped) can be observed
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Ancient chinese
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Collected scientific data during the dark ages (5-10th centuries) they documented supernova in 1054AD
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Islamic Astronomers
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Developed trig, came up with terms zenith and azimuth and named many stars: vega, Rigel, Betelgeuse
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Cosmology
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The study of the workings of the universe in the largest scale
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Greeks
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Who observed in the night sky and thought the earth was the center? sun, moon, and stars, 5 planets: Mercury, Venus, earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. Planets were called wanderers
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Retrograde
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Greeks thought planets motion was _______
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Greeks
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Who observes that planets move with respect to fixed stars. Because brightness and speed of planets changed, they thought the motion was retrograde
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Mercury and venus
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Which planets are inferior planets
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Inferior planets
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Planets that orbit closer to the sun than to earth
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Mars, Jupiter, Saturn
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Which planets are superior planets
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Superior planets
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Planets whose orbits are farther away from the sun
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Prograde
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Motion is forward, east
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Retrograde
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Motion is backwards, west
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Aristotle
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Taught that the universe is geocentric. The sun, planets, moon, and stars orbit the earth. Had more influence, belief until the 16th century
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Aristarchus
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Said everything orbits the sun and that earth rotated on an axis, correct but not widely accepted. His ideas weren't really published until copernicus
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Epicycle
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Each planet, sun, and moon moves in small circle
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Deferent
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The center of each epicycle moves around earth
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Ptolemy
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In order for aristotles theory to work, this philosopher developed his theory of planetary motion
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Ptolemaic model
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Geocentric model with epicycles and deferents, lasted until the 16th century, Ptolemaic picture lasted 13 centuries with 80 epicycles, Renaissance changed it
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Nicholas copernicus
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Re-introduced idea of sun centered solar system. Idea first presented by Aristarchus during Aristotle's time. Writings banned for 200 years
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Copernican model
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Sun is the center, moon orbits the earth, planets orbit the sun. This model wasn't popular. Written in Latin so only educated could read and understand it. Also went against teachings of Catholic Church- God would only make a earth centered universe
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Galileo
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Who is the father of experimental science
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Galileo
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Modern astronomy is attributed to _____
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Telescope
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What did Galileo build without ever actually seeing
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Sun spots
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Galileo looked at the sun and documented that the sun rotates and has _____
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Jupiter
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Which planet did Galileo document has moons
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Venus
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Which planet did Galileo see that goes through phases, which helped support a sun centered solar system
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Bradley and bissel
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Which two astronomers helped strengthen the copernican system after Galileo
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Bradley
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Discovered the aberration of starlight
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Bissel
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Discovered stellar parallax to help support the copernican system
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Kepler
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Who worked with Tycho Brahe and took the data he collected from his teacher when he died?
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Tycho Brahe
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Who was Keplers teacher?
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Tycho Brahe
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collected astronomical data and was known as the greatest observational astronomer
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Kepler's first law
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orbital paths of planets are elliptical with the sun at one focus
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ellipse
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flattened circle, orbits are known as these
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focus
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one of 2 points on the major axis (diameter) of the ellipse
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major axis
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the long axes or diameter of the ellipse
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semi major axis
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half of the long/major axis (radius)
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Eccentricity
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measure of how flat the ellipse is
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1
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eccentricity of a line
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perihelion
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a planets closest approach to the sun
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aphelion
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a planets furthest approach to the sun
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Kepler's second law
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an imaginary line connecting the sun to any planet sweeps out equal areas of the ellipse in equal time intervals (the speed changes)
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period
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time needed for the planet to complete one revolution around the sun (orbital ____)
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Kepler's Third Law
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the square of the planet's orbital period is proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis; p2/au3 = 1au = astronomical unit
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mercury and pluto
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which planets have the most eccentric orbits
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greater its orbital period
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the further a planet is from the sun ...
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astronomical unit
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distance of the Earth from the Sun
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Triangulation
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(old method) use transit of Mercury and Venus across the sun. Measure from different locations on Earth and apply parallax
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Radar
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modern method to find dimensions of the solar system
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radio detection and ranging
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what does radar stand for?
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the law of gravity
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what is newtons most famous law?
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3 laws of motion, law of gravity, calculus
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what are the newtonian mechanics
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first law
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every body continues at a state of rest or movement in a straight line unless acted upon by an outside force
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force
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the change in original motion of an object
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inertia
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the tendency of an object to continue in the same direction and speed unless acted upon
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mass
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object's inertia = ______ = amount of matter
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velocity
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speed and direction
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acceleration
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rate of change in velocity
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second law
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when a force acts on a body with mass, its acceleration, a=F/m
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third law
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to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction
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gravity
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a continuous force
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inverse square law
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gravitational force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance
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gravitational force
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attractive force exerted on objects by other objects with mass
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Newton
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Who corrected Keplers laws saying that they the planets do NOT have the sun in the direct center of their orbits (the center of their orbits is the center of the mass)?
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center of mass
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planet and sun orbit the _____
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escape speed
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the speed needed to escape orbit
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unbound
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an object exceeds escape speed
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gravitational field
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created by gravity between 2 objects
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9.80 m/s2
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What is the constant for gravity?
