Honors Astronomy 11/9/17 – Flashcards
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It is much easier to build large reflectors than large refractors
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True
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The light gathering ability of a telescope is most dependent on the diameter of its primary objective (collecting area)
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True
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One reason for building telescopes on mountain tops is that they improve seeing by reducing the amount of air above the observer
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True
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Optical telescopes are used only at night, but radio telescopes can be used at day or night
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True
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Due to our ozone layer filtering much the UV waves, ultraviolet telescopes are mainly in space
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True
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Like a water bucket that collects only rain falling into it, a telescope intercepts
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Radiation
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What is the primary purpose of an astronomical telescope
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To collect a lot of light and bring it into focus
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The process occurring when photons bounce off a polished surface is called
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Reflection
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The total area capable of gathering radiation is called the
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Collecting area
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Altitude of a telescope minimizes atmospheric absorption of
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Infrared radiation
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It is diffraction that limits what of a a telescopes objective
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Resolution
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What is the resolution of a telescope
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Its ability to distinguish two adjacent objects close together in the sky
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Diffraction is the tendency of light to...
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Bend around corners
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It is diffraction that limits the what of a telescope of a given objective diameter
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Resolution
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What are two advantages of large scopes over smaller ones
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Large telescopes have more light grasp and better resolution
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Turbulence in the air causes light from a star to be what as it travels towards us
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Refracted
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The space between the stars in our galaxy is not empty, but instead filled with
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Low density gas
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Radio telescopes must be built large because what are very faint
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Cosmic radiation sources
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Radio dishes are large in order to
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Increase their angular resolution and collect the very weak radio photons
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Radio astronomy is disadvantaged compared to optical astronomy because it has poor
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Angular resolution
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High end astronomy studies what two types of radiation
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X rays and gamma rays
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The ability of a telescope to distinguish between adjacent objects in the sky is angular resolution
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True
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A collection of two or more telescopes working together as a team observing the same object is called an interferometer
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True
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Optical telescopes are designed to collect wavelengths of visible light
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True
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A reflecting telescope uses a lens instead of a curved mirror to focus the incoming light
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False
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Turbulence is small scale eddies of swirling air in the atmosphere
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True
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Which is a problem for all large radio telescopes
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Radio waves have long wavelengths, so radio telescopes have poor resolution
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In which part of the EM spectrum have astronomers been unable to get any information
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We now have access in all spectral wavelengths
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Which supplies x ray images from space
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Einstein & Chandra
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X-ray telescopes depend on
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Grazing incidence optics and nested mirrors
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The spitzer space telescope detects UV rays
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False, it detects infrared
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Radio telescopes can be used during the day time and bad weather
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True
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Ground based telescopes can be used for infrared radiation in higher elevations but the atmosphere diminishes the intensity diminishes
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True
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The best place to observe astronomy is in the mid west states
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False
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Which of these is not used to detect infrared and ultraviolet astronomy
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Low altitude drones
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Using infrared astronomy telescopes, we can see through dust and smog
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True
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The fermi space telescope detects what wavelengths
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Gamma rays
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A telescope that uses a lens to gather and focus light from a distant object is
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A refracting telescope
