Telescopes
Stars and Planets
Inner Planets
Outer Planets
What's Out There?
100
What is electromagnetic radiation? Can we see it? Explain.
Electromagnetic radiation is energy from the sun that can travel in waves through space. We can only see one type of light from the sun - visible light.
100
How is a star different from a planet?
Planets do not usually give off their own light as stars do. Instead the absorb and reflect light and other energy from the star they revolve around.
100
Why are all the inner planets described as terrestrial planets?
Because they all have a solid surface
100
Why are the outer planets called gas giants? What else so they have in common?
None of them has a solid surface, each atmosphere is composed of mainly hydrogen and helium, and all have rings
100

What is the difference between an asteroid, a meteoroid, and a comet?

Asteroids are very large pieces of rock that exist in the asteroid belt.  Meteoroids are smaller bits of rock that break off from asteroids.  Comets come from far away in the Kuiper Belt and sometimes even farther from the Oort Cloud. They are frozen balls of dust and gas that light up when they get close enough in their orbit to a star.

200
What are three other things besides planets that orbit the sun and are studied by astronomers.
Meteoroids, asteroids, and comets
200
How do moons and planets compare?
Moons might be similar in structure and size to planets, but they orbit planets not stars. Like planets, moons do not give off their own light.
200
Which planet is most like Earth in size and density but has an extremely harsh environment for life as we know it?
What is Venus
200
Is Pluto classified as a planet? Explain.
Pluto is actually classified as a dwarf planet, because it does not have enough mass to clear the area around the orbit of other objects. There are asteroids from the Kuiper Belt near its path.
200
Why do we only see comets some of the time?
They have long, narrow, elliptical orbits, and you can only see them when they are near the sun and the gases heat up.
300
What is the ideal location of telescopes? Why? If they are located on Earth's surface where should they be placed? Why?
Space telescopes are most ideal because there is no atmosphere to block light or distort views. Telescopes located on Earth's surface should in observatories should be at high altitudes, again to limit the negative effects of the atmosphere.
300
What is the main characteristic that determines the life cycle of a star? Explain
The mass determines the life cycle of a star. A lower mass star never supernovas. After the red giant stage, it will slowly die out becoming first a white dwarf and the a black dwarf. A massive star will experience the red giant stage more dramatically (it will become a super giant), and then it will supernova (explode) forming either a neutron star (which lasts forever) or, if it is an extremely massive star, a black hole (which also lasts forever and has so much gravity that not even light can escape.
300
Which planet is almost ideal for plants? Why?
What is Mars because it has carbon dioxide, water frozen in the polar ice caps, and sunlight for photosynthesis. It also has soil.
300
Which planet has an enormous amount of gravity and how would that impact weight?
Jupiter - something would weight a lot more on Jupiter than it might on other planets.
300
What is the difference between a meteoroid, a meteor, and a meteorite?
A meteoroid is still in space. A meteor is the same rock as it goes through our atmosphere and glows as it literally burns up from the friction with the air. A meteorite is what is left of that rock when it hits Earth.
400
Who first used the telescope to observe the sky? What kind of telescope did he use?
Galileo first used the telescope to look at the heavens. His was an optical telescope (gathered visible light) and it used only lenses, so it was a refracting telescope.
400
What are some characteristics of stars? Describe our star.
Stars give off their own light due to nuclear fusion. They can vary in size, temperature, and color. Our star, the sun, is a yellow star of medium size and temperature.
400
Explain why no organism can respirate on Mercury and why there are extreme temperature variations. Why would it be hard for an alien to breath on Mars?
Mercury has trouble retaining an atmosphere so respiration is difficult; with no atmosphere to trap thermal energy from the sun, Mercury is extremely hot during the day and extremely cold at night. Mars has very low air pressure, so breathing can become difficult.
400

What is true of the temperature and pressure of all of the outer planets?

They are all extremely cold in the atmosphere and very hot at the core. The pressure also increases dramatically from the atmosphere to the core.

400
Describe what the Goldilocks conditions are.
Liquid water and a suitable temperature range and atmosphere for living things to survive.
500

How was the work of Hubble related to that of Leavitt and Hales??

Hales first used mirrors to help gather light for telescopes. This was helpful because then he could gather more light.  Leavitt discovered a way to measure the distance to stars.  These things together helped Hubble discover that the universe is expanding.

500
What is a galaxy, how are they identified, what are the three main types, and what is our galaxy?
A galaxy is a collection of billions of stars, and they are identified by their shape: spiral, spherical or elliptical, or irregular. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is a spiral galaxy.
500
Why is Venus hotter than Mercury even though Mercury is closer to the sun? What other characteristic does this cause?
Venus has an atmosphere of mostly carbon dioxide so the heat from the sun gets trapped - the greenhouse effect. Because of this Venus also has very high air pressure.
500
Why did the outer planets have the potential to become stars
They are all made of hydrogen and helium, the two main gases in stars (nuclear fusion is hydrogen into helium). With a little more mass, the gravity might have been strong enough for fusion.
500
What are some things that provide evidence for the big bang theory? What must be true of a scientific theory?
You must be able to test a scientific theory (able to gather evidence to prove or disprove it). Hubble's Law states that the farther away a galaxy is, the faster it is moving away from us; this strongly support the big bang theory. There is also a glow of widely and evenly distributed radiation called cosmic background radiation which is likely left-over form the big bang.
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