Astro study Guide exam 2
Intro to Light
Relevant worksheets: Electromagnetic (EM) Spectrum of Light (pg 37-39)
(done in class)
(9/20) Name all components of the electromagnetic spectrum and put them
in order by wavelength, or frequency, or energy.
- Lowest to highest energy: radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible
light, UV, x-rays, gamma rays
- Lowest to highest frequency: radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible
light, UV, x-rays, gamma rays
- Lowest to highest wavelength: gamma rays, x-rays, UV, visible,
infrared, microwaves, radio waves
(9/20) Explain what determines the "color" of light.
- Depends on wavelength of visible light
(9/20) Know which have higher energy: high or low frequency waves.
- High frequency waves have more energy than low-frequency waves
(9/20) Describe how the speed of light varies with wavelength.
- No matter its color, wavelength or energy, the speed at which light
travels in a vacuum is always the same.
- However, the speed of light is not constant as it moves from medium
to medium. When light enters a denser medium (like from air to glass)
the speed and wavelength of the light wave decrease while the
frequency stays the same.
(9/20) Use the wave equation for light to calculate either frequency or
wavelength, given the other.
- Wavelength x frequency = c (constant)
Our Solar System
Relevant worksheets: none
(9/22) Name all 8 planets in order.
- The eight planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, and Neptune.
(9/22) Identify all 4 terrestrial and all 4 Jovian planets.
- Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars = terrestrial
- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune = Jovian
(9/22) State the major characteristics of terrestrial vs. Jovian planets, and
planets vs. dwarf planets
- Terrestrial: earth-like, inner, small, dense, rocky, no rings
- Jovian: gas giants, outer, gaseous, rings, many moons
- Planets
- Dwarf planets: small
(9/22) Define an Astronomical Unit (AU).
- astronomical unit (AU, or au), a unit of length effectively equal to the
average, or mean, distance between Earth and the Sun, defined as
149,597,870.7 km (92,955,807.3 miles).
(9/22) Explain the difference between the greenhouse effect and global
warming.
- Greenhouse: Earth's atmosphere traps some heat from the sun,
keeping the planets earth warm
- Global Warming: Adds additional warming to the atmosphere and can
cause a greater greenhouse effect.
(9/22) Explain differences and similarities between the asteroid belt and
Kuiper belt.
- Kuiper Belt: Outside of the orbit of Neptune, Pluto in this
- Asteroid Belt: Located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter
- Both: Shaped like a flat ring-shaped disc, composed of very many small
rocky bodies, typically much smaller than planets, constituent objects
are each orbiting the Sun, constituent objects are each orbiting the
Sun, Mostly empty Space
(9/27) Explain the differences between comets and meteors.
- Comets: Looks bright BC of reflected sunlight, can be visible in the sky
for many weeks, typically, several AU away from Earth when you see it
- Meteors: Only visible when passing through Earth's atmosphere
- Both: Looks like a streak of light in a photograph of the sky
Properties of Stars
Relevant worksheets: The Parsec (pg 21-23) (done in class), Parallax and
Distance (pg 25-27), Luminosity, Temperature, and Size (pg 41-44) (done in
class)
(9/27) Use the parallax / distance equation (d = 1 / p) to calculate either
quantity or compare distances and parallax angles of different stars.
(9/29) Identify correlated and uncorrelated quantities in a graph relating
them.
(9/29) Sketch a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (including the axes, with labels)
and identify its most prominent feature.
(9/29) Identify where high and low mass stars reside on the Main Sequence
and explain why more massive stars have shorter lifetimes.
- High mass and high luminosity: top left, low mass: bottom right
(9/29) Sketch which direction radius increases on an HR Diagram, and sketch
lines of constant radius
- The green diagonal lines that run from top-left to bottom-right, are
lines upon which stars have the same physical size (i.e., they represent
lines of constant radius).
(9/29) Given two star locations on the HR diagram, identify which one has a
larger radius (if either) and be able to explain why
(9/29) Describe how the luminosity of a star depends on both radius and
temperature
- The Luminosity of a star is proportional to its Effective Temperature to
the 4th power and its Radius squared.
- A black body radiates power at a rate related to its temperature - the
hotter the black body, the greater its power output per unit surface
area. An incandescent or filament light bulb is an everyday example.
As it gets hotter it gets brighter and emits more energy from its
surface.
- If two stars have the same effective temperature but one is larger than
the other it has more surface area. The power output per unit surface
area is fixed by equation 4.3 so the star with greater surface area must
be intrinsically more luminous than the smaller one.
Light, Colors, and Spectra
Relevant worksheets: Blackbody Radiation (pg 45-48) (done in class),
Doppler Shift (pg 49-54) (done in class)
(10/4) Translate between a picture and a graph of a spectrum.
(10/4) Use Wien's law to calculate either the peak wavelength of a spectrum
or its associated temperature.
- Wavelength=.0029/T
(10/4) Explain why different masses of stars are different colors and identify
what color high and low-mass stars would appear to your eyes.
- Larger, brighter stars are blue because they are hotter. Hotter objects
appear blue on the thermal spectrum, which peaks at smaller lambda
for hotter stars. Smaller, dimmer stars are red because they are cooler.
Cooler objects appear red on the thermal spectrum, which peaks at
larger lambda for cooler stars.
(10/4) Given two thermal radiation spectra, identify which object is hotter.
(10/4 & 10/6) Recognize and be able to sketch examples of each of the 3
basic kinds of spectra.
- Continuous, emission, absorption
(10/4 & 10/6) List what type of matter emits each of the 3 basic kinds of
spectra.
- Continuous Spectrum: A continuous spectrum contains all wavelengths
of light in a certain range. Hot, dense light sources like stars, for
example, emit a nearly continuous spectrum of light, which travels out
in all directions and interacts with other materials in space. The broad
range of colors that a star emits depends on its temperature.
- Absorption Spectrum: When starlight passes through a cloud of gas,
some of the light is absorbed and some is transmitted through the gas.
The wavelengths of light that are absorbed depends on what elements
and compounds it is made of. An absorption spectrum has dark lines or
gaps in the spectrum corresponding to wavelengths that are absorbed
by the gas.
- Emission Spectrum: Starlight can also heat up a cloud of gas, exciting
the atoms and molecules within the gas, and causing it to emit light.
The spectrum of light that a cloud of gas emits depends on its
temperature, density, and composition. An emission spectrum consists
of a series of colored lines that correspond to wavelengths emitted by
the glowing gas.
(10/4 & 10/6) Tell what physical property of the emitting matter can be
determined by each of the 3 kinds of spectra.
- Absorption spectra and emission spectra tell you the composition.
Continuous tells you the temperature
(10/11) Explain what causes the Doppler effect.
- Movement of the observer and the wave source
(10/11) Define blueshift and redshift. Match each to the direction of relative
motion between source and observer.
- Blueshift: moving towards the observer, wavelengths are compressed
- Redshift: moving away from observer, wavelengths are stretched
(10/11 & HW8) Given spectral line wavelength measurements showing
different amounts of Doppler shift, rank them in order of speed of their
motion (including direction).
Gravity
Relevant worksheets: Ranking Tasks Gravity (pgs 13-16) (done in class &
on HW8), Newton's Law and Gravity Q1-3 (pg 17-18) (done on HW8)
(10/13) Describe how gravity acts between objects, and on what kind of
objects it acts.
- Acts between all objects with mass
- Used to calculate strength of force between two objects
- Weaker for larger distances
- Stronger for larger masses
- Force of attraction, never repulsive
(10/13) Use the law of gravitation to calculate how much the force of gravity
would change if either mass or distance were different. (or, compare the
force of gravity between any two pairs of objects, given how their masses
and distances compare).
(10/13) Explain what causes the phenomenon of "weightlessness".
- When objects are in freefall
(10/13) Describe how weightlessness and freefall are related to orbits.
- Free falling while in orbit
Stellar Evolution
Relevant worksheets: Stellar Evolution (pg 65), Ranking Task Star
Evolution #1, (pg 67-68), Ranking Task Star Evolution #2 (pg 69) (did all in
class)
(10/18 & HW8) Of low- or high-mass stars, identify which ones: are hotter,
fuse H to He faster, live longer, and fuse heavier elements during their life.
- Hotter: High Mass
- Fuse Faster: High Mass
- Live Longer: Low Mass
- Fuse Heavier: High Mass
(10/18 & HW8) List the stages that a low- and high-mass star will go through
in its evolution after being on the Main Sequence.
- Low mass: Red Giant, Planetary Nebula, White Dwarf, Black Dwarf
- High mass: Red Supergiant, supernova, neutron star, black hole
(10/18) Identify what event marks the end of a star's main sequence lifetime.
- Burning through the hydrogen in its core and fusion stops, helium left
over
- Either becomes red giant or red supergiant depending on mass
(10/18 & HW8) Define red giant, red supergiant, & white dwarf, and locate
them on the H-R diagram.
- Red giant: life after being a low-mass star
o Location: middle right, above main sequence
- Red supergiant: life after being a high-mass star
o Location: top right
- White dwarf: last phase of being a low-mass star
o Location: bottom left
(10/18 & HW8) Define planetary nebula.
- Formed by an expanding shell of gas around a low mass aging star.
- A ring-shaped nebula formed by an expanding shell of gas around an
aging star.