Astronomy Quiz Galileo Notes

Galileo observed that Venus had phases very similar to the phases our Moon goes through. From this he conducted that: - Venus orbit the sun and not the Earth Using Kepler’s third law of planetary motion (p2 (in years) = r3 (in AU)) what is the approximate period of Jupiter’s orbit if its average distance from the sun is 5.2 AU? - 11.8 years Which statement best describes the difference between your mass and your weight? - Your mass is a measure of the amount of matter you contain and your weight is a measure of the amount of gravitational pull on your body. How did Kepler’s first law of planetary motion alter the Copernican system? - It changed the perfect circles to eclipses. Galileo was a very important figure in the development of astronomy. Which of the following statements about Galileo’s accomplishments is false? - Galileo looks at the moon through his telescope and observed rivers flowing some kind of liquid (probably water he concluded) lakes and high mountains with shadows the lengths of which he used to determine their size. Which of the following is not an example of pseudoscience? - Astronomy Which statement about the Cosmological Principle is valid? - It is based on two tenets involving the universality of the laws of physics and chemistry and the belief that there is nothing special about the Earth. Where is the Stonehenge located? - In England, west of London Ptolemy was important in the history of astronomy because he: - Developed a model of the solar system that made sufficiently accurate predictions of the planetary positions to remain in use for many centuries. The names of the 7 days of the week are based on the: - Seven naked eye objects that appear to move among the constellations. Galileo observed that Jupiter has moons. From this information you may conclude that: - There are so called heavenly objects that do not orbit the Earth and although its clear that the moon orbits Earth there is then no reason why the Earthmoon combination cannot orbit the sun. What determines the date for Easter? - The Sunday following the first full moon following the spring equinox Which of the following is not one of, nor follows directly from, keplers laws? - When a planet travels at slower speeds it must be nearer the sun and when it speeds up it must be as far from the sun as it can get. Suppose you read on a newspaper website that a new planet has been found having an average speed of 33km/sec. When its closest to the star it moves at 31km/sec and when its farthest it moves at 35km/sec. Why is this information incorrect? - From keplers second law we infer that a planet must move fastest when its closest not when it is farthest away. At which lunar phases are the tides most pronounced the highest tide levels? - Both New moons and full moons According to the Copernican model, which of the following statements describes how planets move where they are closer to the sun? - They move faster. Which of the following is not regarded as a heat transfer mechanism? - Segregation Which of the following are systems for measuring temperature? - Fahrenheit, Celsius and Kelvin. Upon what quantities does angular momentum depend? - Three quantities – an objects mass, its rotational speed and its radius or distance from the rotational center. What does temperature measure? - The average kinetic energy of particles in a substance. Betelgeuse and Rigel are two bright stars in the constellation Orion (famous for the three bright stars appearing in a straight line as Orion’s belt). Betelgeuse emits primarily red light while Rigel appears a blue colour. What can you determine from this observation? - Rigel is hotter than Betelgeuse. Which of the following statements about Isaac Newton is not true? - Newton grew up in Germany. The amount of matter contained in an object is called its mass. Which of the following statements about mass is false? - The average adult human mass is about 160 pounds. Consider a loaded dump truck and you in your Smartcar driving along the 401 highway. Which of the following statements about linear momentum is true? - As long as you follow the truck, both travelling at the same speed, your combined momentum or total momentum is conserved. A neap tide is when the tides are least pronounced (the lowest tides). During which lunar phase do neap tides occur? - Both first and third quarter moons. Which of the following statements is not one of Newtons laws of motion? - The net force applied to an object is equal to its mass times the length of the time that the force is applied. Which of the following statement currently describes the law of conservation of energy? - The total quantity of energy in the universe never changes. The two basic types of telescopes are what? - Reflection and Refraction. What is the main problem that ground based telescopes have to deal with? - All of A, B and C. Spectroscopy can be used to: - All of A, B, C and D. Which of the following statements about X rays and radio waves is not true? - Neither X rays nor radio waves can penetrate the Earth atmosphere. Most of everything we know from outside Earth we know because of our use of what? - LIGHT Suppose the angular separation of two stars is smaller than the angular resolution of your eyes. How will the stars appear to your eyes? - The two stars will look like a single point of light. What do astronomers mean by light pollution? - Light pollution refers to light used for human activities that brightens the sky and hinders astronomical observations. Which of the following statements best describes the principle advantage of telescopes over eyes? - Telescopes can collect far more light with far better angular resolution. Which of the following objects would not considered an optical device? - Your bedroom window. The wavelength of a wave is: - The distance between two adjacent troughs of the wave. The frequency of a wave is: - All of the other answers are true. What is the main advantage of the Hubble Space Telescope? - It orbits above the Earth’s atmosphere. The Doppler Shift is a wave phenomenon that: - Uses the change in wavelength of light to determine the speed of a moving star. Who built the Stonehenge? - Nobody really knows for sure. The Scientific method can be best described by which of the following? - A system of collection and analyzing data, formulating a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis and reformulating the hypothesis as needed. When a spaceship or satellite is in orbit around Earth or any other object what actions must take place on- board the satellite to keep it in orbit? - Nothing! Once its in orbit it will stay forever. When Copernicus first created his sun centered model of the universe. It did not lead to substantially better predictions of planetary positions than the Ptolemaic model. Why not? - Copernicus used perfect circles for the orbits of the planets. Which of the following best described the origin of ocean tides on Earth? - Tides are caused by the difference in the force of gravity exerted by the Moon across the sphere of the Earth. Which of the following is not part of Newton’s universal law of gravitation? - The gravitational attraction between two objects depends directly on the distance between their centres of mass. Suppose that the sun were to suddenly disappear from our solar system. What would happen to Earth’s motion? - It would begin travelling in a straight line heading out of the solar system. When a rock is held about the ground, we say it has some potential energy. When we let it go it falls and we say the potential energy is converted to kinetic energy, Finally, the rock hits the ground. What has happened to the energy? - The energy goes to producing sound and to heating the ground, rock and surrounding air. Which of the following statements correctly describes the law of conservation of energy? - The total quantity of energy in the universe never changes. Which model of the universe was supported by Galileo’s observations of the phases of Venus? - Nicolaus Copernicus’s model If your mass is 75kg on Earth what would be your mass on Saturn which is about 95 times as massive as Earth? - About the same 75kg. A skater can spin faster by pulling in her arms closer to her body or spin slower by spreading her arms out from her body. This is due to: - The conservation of angular momentum. What is acceleration? - It is the rate of change of velocity with time. Which of the following statements about orbital motion is not true? - An elliptical orbit is an example of an open orbit Without telescopes or other aids we can see the moon in the night sky because it: - Reflects visible light coming from the sun. Why is an understanding of the concept and principles of light so important to astronomers? - Pretty much everything we know about our solar system, about our galaxy and even about our universe we know because of the light from distant objects we have discovered and analyzed. The 29.5 day lunar month results in full moon dates that slowly change from month to month. Eventually this entire cycle repeats such that a full moon has occurred on November 19th one year, lets say, occurs on November 19th again some years later. Which of the following statements about this cycle is true? - This cycle repeats every 19 years when the lunar phases occur again on the same dates. Which of the following about the Hubble Space telescope is false? - It was designed by a famous astronomer named Edwin Hubble. The visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum can be divided into seven colour bands: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet (from long to short wavelength). A single photon of which of the following colours has the greatest amount of energy? - Violet The trouble with refraction telescopes is that: - Different colours of visible starlight get focused to slightly different points in space making the image blurry. Which of the following is not an advantage of the Hubble Space Telescope over ground based telescopes? - Although it orbits the Earth and is outside Earth’s atmosphere, it is after all closer to the stars. From laboratory measurements, we know that a particular spectral line formed by hydrogen appears at a wavelength of 486.1 nanometers. The spectrum of a particular star shows the same hydrogen line appearing at a wavelength of 496.1 nm. What can we conclude? - The star is moving away from us. From lowest energy to highest energy which of the following correctly orders the different categories of electromagnetic radiation? - Radio, infrared, visible, uv, x rays, gamma rays. The light gathering power of a 5 cm telescope is _________ that of a 10 cm telescope. - Less than A hot star emits primarily what colour of visible light? - Blue An object is able to stay in orbit around another object because: - It has just the right tangential speed. Which of the following is not a unit of speed? - Kilometers/ light year What would happen if the Space Shuttle were launched with a speed greater than the Earth’s escape velocity? - It would travel away from the Earth into the solar system. What type of energy is light energy? - Radiative Energy. Kepler’s third law of planetary motion states that: - The cube of the semi major axis of a planets orbit is directly proportional to the square of its period of motion around the sun Suppose a planet is discovered orbiting a star in a highly elliptical orbit. While the planet is close to the star it ______ but while it is far away it _______. - Moves faster, moves slower Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galelei lived pretty much at the same time. When was that timeframe? - 1550 – 1650 The Metonic Cycle recognizes what? - the cycle of lunar phases that repeats every 19 years. Early Greek Philosphers who influenced the development of scientific thought included: - Aristotle, Socrates, Plato and Ptolemy A green apple (not your mac computer) looks green because: - It reflects green light and absorbs all other colours. The larger the size of the telescope the greater the what? - Light gathering ability. Suppose there are two monochromatic light beams. Beam 1 has one quarter the wavelength of beam 2. How do their frequencies compare? - Beam 1 has 4 times the frequency of beam 2 The speed of light is 300, 000 km/sec. why is it so important to know this value so precisely? - All of A, B and C are true.