Reach for the Stars
Magical Magnitude
Go the Distance
Classifying Stars
Miscellaneous
100
A system of stars held together by gravity is a _____________.
galaxy
100
The magnitude of a star as measured from earth is called ______________ magnitude.
apparent
100
The average distance between the earth and the sun is called ____________.
Astronomical unit (AU)
100
What do we call this type of diagram?
HR diagram
100
Which gives a clearer view of the stars: a telescope orbiting earth or a telescope on the surface of the earth?
a telescope orbiting earth
200
What can't we see stars in our sky during the daytime?
The light of the sun overwhelms the stars' light.
200
Fill in the blank:
The _________ the apparent magnitude of a star, the brighter it appears to us.
smaller / lower
200
What is a lightyear?
the distance light would travel in a year, based on how it behaves on earth
200
Which star would be brighter: the one labeled 'B' or the one labeled 'D' in the diagram on the right?
B
200
The _________________ is the name of cluster to which our galaxy belongs.
Local Group
300
Fill in the blank:
A binary star system contains one star and it's ___________ star.
companion
300
What is absolute magnitude?
the apparent magnitude of a star if it is viewed from a distance of 10 parsecs
300
Fill in the blank:
When using paralax to determine a star's distance, astronomers make one observation of the star and then a second one _________ months later.
six
300
Which star is hotter: the one labeled 'A' or the one labeled 'C' in the diagram?
A
300
Which of the following can a supernova produce?
A) a main sequence star
B) a nebula
C) a supercluster
B) a nebula
400
What is a standard candle?
a visible stellar object whose absolute magnitude can be determined without knowing the distance to it
400
Fill in the blank:
The time over which a Cepheid variable's brightness changes can be used to determine the star's _______________ magnitude.
absolute
400
We use Cepheid variables to determine the distance to a star when __________ is no longer able to measure its distance.
paralax
400
What kind of star is our sun?
Main sequence star
400
The heliosphere is protected from the rest of the galaxies radiation by what?
charged particles from the sun
500
You are comparing 3 stars. The first has a large redshift. The second has a small redshift. The third has a redshift in between the first two. Which star is farthest from earth?
The first star (the one with the longest redshift)
500
A star has an absolute magnitude of 1.3. If its apparent magnitude is 7.5, is the star less than 10 parsecs from earth or more than 10 parsecs from earth?
more than 10 parsecs from earth
500
An object in the Kuiper Belt is 21 AU from earth. How many kilometer's is that? (1 AU = 150,000,000 km)
3,150,000,000 km
500
A star is located in position D in the diagram. What kind of star is it?
white dwarf
500
Time passes fastest on which of the following:
A) the surface of the earth
B) a satellite orbiting the earth
B) a satellite orbiting earth