AST 1002 EXAMS SCRIPT ANSWERS AND
QUESTIONS SET A+
✔✔Kepler's First Law - ✔✔1. describes the shape of planetary orbits as ellipses
2. places the sun at the focus of the ellipse rather than at the center
✔✔Kepler's Second Law - ✔✔the speed of a planet is greatest when closest to the sun
✔✔Kepler's Third Law - ✔✔the semimajor axis of the orbit is 4 AUs then the orbit period
is 8 years
✔✔velocity - ✔✔distance divided by time with direction
✔✔speed - ✔✔distance divided by time without direction
✔✔force - ✔✔this, if unbalanced, will cause an object to accelerate
✔✔acceleration - ✔✔a decrease in speed is an example of this
✔✔inertia - ✔✔This property of an object is greater if the mass of the object gets bigger
✔✔Select the discoveries Galileo made by making astronomical observations through a
telescope. - ✔✔1. craters of moons
2. Jupiter's moons
3. phases of Venus
✔✔a comet on an elliptical orbit has a speed greatest when - ✔✔near the sun
✔✔If the distance between the Earth and Sun were cut in half, the gravitational force
between these two objects would: - ✔✔increase by 4
, ✔✔What types of electromagnetic radiation from space will reach the surface of Earth
without being significantly absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere? - ✔✔visible lights and
radio waves
✔✔All forms of light have what property in common? - ✔✔all forms of light are
electromagnetic radiation
✔✔What is the one fundamental difference between X rays and radio waves? - ✔✔The
wavelengths of X rays and radio waves are very different.
✔✔By what factor is the amount of light gathered by the 10-m diameter Keck telescope
on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, greater than that gathered by the 2.5-m diameter Mount Wilson
telescope? - ✔✔16
✔✔why was adaptive optics developed - ✔✔to compensate for image distortion caused
by Earth's atmosphere
✔✔The PRIMARY reason professional observatories are built on the highest mountain
tops is to - ✔✔reduce atmospheric blurring
✔✔Order the different types of electromagnetic waves in increasing frequency. - ✔✔1.
Radio
2. Microwave
3. Infrared
4. visible
5. ultraviolet
6. x-rays
7. gamma rays
✔✔The overall shape of the orbits of most of the planets in the solar system is -
✔✔slightly elliptical but not nearly circular
✔✔The most probable time sequence for the formation of the solar system was the
following: - ✔✔The Sun contracted first as a gas ball, and the planets and moons
formed shortly afterward by accretion and condensation.
✔✔How much mass was there in the protoplanetary disk out of which the planets
formed, compared to the mass of the Sun? ` - ✔✔less than one percent
✔✔What happens to the gravitational energy of gas as it falls toward and eventually hits
the accretion disk surrounding a protostar? - ✔✔it is converted into thermal energy,
heating the disk
QUESTIONS SET A+
✔✔Kepler's First Law - ✔✔1. describes the shape of planetary orbits as ellipses
2. places the sun at the focus of the ellipse rather than at the center
✔✔Kepler's Second Law - ✔✔the speed of a planet is greatest when closest to the sun
✔✔Kepler's Third Law - ✔✔the semimajor axis of the orbit is 4 AUs then the orbit period
is 8 years
✔✔velocity - ✔✔distance divided by time with direction
✔✔speed - ✔✔distance divided by time without direction
✔✔force - ✔✔this, if unbalanced, will cause an object to accelerate
✔✔acceleration - ✔✔a decrease in speed is an example of this
✔✔inertia - ✔✔This property of an object is greater if the mass of the object gets bigger
✔✔Select the discoveries Galileo made by making astronomical observations through a
telescope. - ✔✔1. craters of moons
2. Jupiter's moons
3. phases of Venus
✔✔a comet on an elliptical orbit has a speed greatest when - ✔✔near the sun
✔✔If the distance between the Earth and Sun were cut in half, the gravitational force
between these two objects would: - ✔✔increase by 4
, ✔✔What types of electromagnetic radiation from space will reach the surface of Earth
without being significantly absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere? - ✔✔visible lights and
radio waves
✔✔All forms of light have what property in common? - ✔✔all forms of light are
electromagnetic radiation
✔✔What is the one fundamental difference between X rays and radio waves? - ✔✔The
wavelengths of X rays and radio waves are very different.
✔✔By what factor is the amount of light gathered by the 10-m diameter Keck telescope
on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, greater than that gathered by the 2.5-m diameter Mount Wilson
telescope? - ✔✔16
✔✔why was adaptive optics developed - ✔✔to compensate for image distortion caused
by Earth's atmosphere
✔✔The PRIMARY reason professional observatories are built on the highest mountain
tops is to - ✔✔reduce atmospheric blurring
✔✔Order the different types of electromagnetic waves in increasing frequency. - ✔✔1.
Radio
2. Microwave
3. Infrared
4. visible
5. ultraviolet
6. x-rays
7. gamma rays
✔✔The overall shape of the orbits of most of the planets in the solar system is -
✔✔slightly elliptical but not nearly circular
✔✔The most probable time sequence for the formation of the solar system was the
following: - ✔✔The Sun contracted first as a gas ball, and the planets and moons
formed shortly afterward by accretion and condensation.
✔✔How much mass was there in the protoplanetary disk out of which the planets
formed, compared to the mass of the Sun? ` - ✔✔less than one percent
✔✔What happens to the gravitational energy of gas as it falls toward and eventually hits
the accretion disk surrounding a protostar? - ✔✔it is converted into thermal energy,
heating the disk
