Vocabulary
A closed, curved geometric shape that looks like a stretched-out or squashed circle.
What is an ellipse?
The eccentricity of a planet is 0.56. Could it be suitable for life?
No, it is too eccentric.
Every planet's orbit has this oval shape, with the Sun at one focus. Which of Kepler's Laws is this?
What is Kepler's 1st Law?
This explosive event can mark the end of a high-mass star and can sometimes be seen during daylight.
What is a supernova?
This is the most important characteristic for determining if a planet is terrestrial or jovian.
What is density?
The type of reaction that occurs in our Sun where two hydrogen atoms combine to form a helium atom and energy.
What is nuclear fusion?
What is the eccentricity of a planet's orbit if the distance between foci is 4 AU and the length of the major axis is 10 AU?
A planet sweeps out equal areas in these intervals of time. Which of Kepler's Laws is this?
What is Kepler's 2nd law?
After the main sequence when fusion is slowing down, the main force acting on a star is
Gravity
Surface temperature ___________ when you go from left to right along the x-axis of an H-R Diagram
decreases
The location in a planet's orbit where it moves the slowest, according to Kepler's 2nd Law.
What is aphelion?
What is the eccentricity of a planet's orbit if the distance between foci is 0.032 AU and the length of major axis is 1.6?
Eccentricity = 0.02
This orbital quantity is represented by T in Kepler's third law.
What is period of revolution?
The area on the HR diagram contains stars that have a balance between gravity and fusion and are fusing hydrogen in their cores.
What is the main sequence?
Stars that live the longest are
SMALLER
Tools that use a diffraction grating to split light into the different wavelengths of the visible light spectrum.
What are spectrometers?
Planet A orbits a star with a mass of 1 solar mass. The planet takes 8 Earth years to complete one revolution. What is its average distance from the star?
R = 4 AU
A planet moves fastest when it is closest to the Sun, and slowest when it is farthest away. Name the closest point.
What is perihelion?
As a Sun-like star expands, it becomes this kind of large, relatively cool star.
What is a red giant?
These stars can end their lives as neutron stars.
What are massive stars?
Graph that uses the temperature, color, and luminosity of stars to compare them to each other.
What is a Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram?
Ceres-3 orbits a star with a mass of 0.85 solar masses. The planet takes 0.78 Earth years to complete one revolution. What is its average distance from the star?
R = 0.8026 AU
As the distance from the host star increases, the period of revolution
increases
A star like the Sun eventually expels its outer layers and leaves behind this type of stellar remnants.
What is a white dwarf?
This is the method used to find exoplanets where the brightness of a star is measured to see if planets pass in front of it.
What is the transit method