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School
California State University, Los Angeles *
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Course
1510
Subject
Astronomy
Date
Jan 9, 2024
Type
Pages
3
Uploaded by la0410
Assignment 1 (CH 1-4)
Name:
Chapter 1
1) Which of the following lies on the celestial sphere directly over Earth’s equator?
a. ecliptic
d. south celestial pole
b. celestial equator
e. horizon
c. north celestial pole
Answer:
C.
2) The length of time it takes Earth to orbit the Sun is:
a. an hour
d. a year
b. a day
e. a century
c. a month
Answer:
D.
3) How are constellations useful?
Answer:
They do not change in relation to one another, so when describing a celestial anomaly, one can describe its placement in
relation to the constellations.
4) What is the celestial sphere?
Answer:
The celestial sphere is a map of the earth, showing the equator, line of right ascension and declination, north and south
poles, elliptical, and the vernal equinox.
5) What is the ecliptic?
Answer:
The ecliptic is the Sun's annual path around the celestial sphere.
6) Why is it warmer in the northern hemisphere during the summer?
Answer:
Earth is actually a little farther from the sun when the Northern Hemisphere is having summer.
7) Why does the Moon exhibit phases?
Answer:
Because the moon moves from west to east, while the earth moves from east to west.
8) At which phase(s) of the Moon does a solar eclipse occur?
Answer: Solar-new moon. Lunar-full moon.
A lunar eclipse?
Answer: On the ecliptic.
Chapter 2
1) Who wrote down the equation for the law of gravitation?
a. Copernicus
d. Galileo
b. Tycho
e. Kepler
c. Newton
Answer:
C.
2) Which of the following best describes the shape of a planets orbit around the Sun?
a. circle
d. hyperbola
b. square
e. ellipse
c. parabola
Answer:
E.
3) What is the Sun-centered model of the solar system?
Answer:
Heliocentric system
4) What are Kepler’s three laws?
Answer:
1. The orbit of each planet around the Sun is an ellipse with the Sun at one focus. 2. A line joining a planet and the Sun
sweeps out equal areas in equal intervals of time. 3. The square of a planet's sidereal period around the Sun is directly
proportional to the cube of the length of its orbit's semi major axis.
5) What is the difference between mass and weight?
Answer:
The mass of an object is a measure of the total number of particles that it contains and is expressed in units of
kilograms. Weight is the force with which you push down on a scale due to the gravitational attraction of the world on which you
stand.
6) How does the mass of an astronaut on the Moon compare to their mass on Earth?
Answer:
The mass of an object will not change if the gravitational pull on the object changes, but the weight of the object will
7) How does the weight of an astronaut on the Moon compare to their weight on Earth?
Answer:
You weigh six times less on the Moon than you do on Earth
Chapter 3
1) Describe reflection and refraction?
Answer:
Reflection is when a wave bounces of a barrier or a border between 2 different materials. Refraction is when a wave
bends after it enters a different material.
2) Explain an advantage of a reflecting telescope over a refracting?
Answer:
There is no chromatic aberration as the objective is a mirror in reflecting type telescope. Also the image is brighter
compared to the one formed in refracting type telescope.
3) Why can radio astronomers observe at any time of day or night, whereas optical astronomers are mostly limited to observing at
night?
Answer:
Day and night refer to the ambient visible light in the sky. Daylight does not interfere with radio waves passing through
Earth’s atmosphere, while visible light from stars and other astronomical objects are too dim to be seen during the day, and to
some extent in regions that experience light pollution. Some human-made radio signals emitted at any time of the day or night do
interfere with radio astronomy.
4) A blackbody glowing with which of the following colors is coolest?
a. yellow
d. violet
b. red
e. blue
c. orange
Answer:
D.
5) Of the following photons, which has the highest energy?
a. infrared
d. X-ray
b. radio waves
e. ultraviolet
c. visible light
Answer:
D.
6) What is the Doppler shift, and why is it important to astronomers?
Answer:
The change in wavelength of radiation due to relative motion between the source and the observer toward or away from
each other.
7) A star of which of the following colors is hottest?
a. yellow
d. white
b. red
e. blue
c. orange
Answer:
E
Chapter 4:
1) How long has the universe existed and how long has the solar system existed?
Answer:
4.5 Billion years ago
2) About how long after the universe came into existence did our solar system form?
a. 0 years (they formed together)
d. a billion years
b. a million years
e. 10 billion years
c. 10 million years
Answer:
D
3) Which planets are terrestrial and which are giant?
Answer:
Terrestrial: Mercury, Venus, Mars, & Earth. Giant: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, & Neptune.
4) Jeans instability is responsible for what event in the evolution of the universe?
Answer:
The Jeans Instability is responsible for the collapse of the solar nebula to form the Sun, as well as the rest of the solar
system.
5) Why would it have been hard for the first generation of stars to have planets? If they did have planets, of what would they have
been composed?
Answer:
Heavy elements like oxygen, carbon, and silicon first needed to be created from explosions of huge stars called
supernovas and the stellar cores of stars from the first generation before the first planets could be formed. If they did have
planets, hydrogen, helium and uranium.
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