21st Century Astronomy 6th Edition
by Laura Kay and Stacy Palen All Chapters
, CHAPTER 1 l
ThinkingLikeanAstronomer l l l
LEARNINGlOBJECTIVES
1.1 EarthlOccupieslalSmalllPlacelinlthelUniverse
1.1 a Statelourl“cosmicladdress.”
1.1 b Expresslastronomicalldistanceslandldistancelscales.
1.1 c Explainlbasiclastronomicalltermslandlconcepts.
1.2 SciencelIslalWayloflViewinglthelUniverse
1.2 a Explainlthelscientificlusagelofltheltermslfact,lidea,lhypothesis,ltheory,landllaw.
1.2 b Distinguishlbetweenlthelcommonlmeaningslofltheltermslfact,lidea,lhypothesis,ltheory,land
law,landltheirlscientificlmeanings.
1.2 c Describelthelstepsloflthelscientificlmethod.
1.2d Assesslwhetherlalgivenlstatementlislscientific.
1.2 e Demonstratelthatlscientificlknowledgelislprovisional.
1.2 f Explainlthelsignificanceloflthelcosmologicallprinciple.
1.2 g EvaluatelcompetinglhypotheseslusinglOccam’slrazor.
1.3 AstronomerslUselMathematicsltolFindlPatterns
1.3 a Identifylpatternslinlnature.
1.3 b Explainlhowlnaturallpatternslimplylunderlyinglphysicalllaws.
WorkinglitlOutl1.1lMathematicallTools
WorkinglItlOutl1.1alExpresslnumberslinlscientificlandlstandardlnotation.lWorkinglItlO
utl1.1blDescribelthelphysicallpropertiesloflobjectslusinglratios.
WorkinglItlOutl1.1clPredictlthelchangelinlproportionallquantitieslwithlrespectltoleachlother.
WorkinglitlOutl1.2lReadinglalGraph
WorkinglItlOutl1.2alIdentifylthelmajorlfeaturesloflalgraph:lx-axis,ly-axis,lxlscale,lylscale,ldatalpoints,lslope.
WorkinglItlOutl1.2blAssessldifferentlcurveslonlalgraph.
WorkinglItlOutl1.2clDemonstratelthelabilityltolreadldatalfromlalgraph.
Originsl1lAnlIntroduction
Originsl1alExplainlthelgoalslandlscopeloflthelfieldloflastrobiology.
,MULTIPLElCHOICE
1. ThelSunlisla
a. supercluster. d. star.
b. moon. e. planet.
c. galaxy.
ANS:l l D DIF: Easy REF: 1.1
OBJ: 1.1alStatelourl“cosmicladdress.” MSC:l Remembering
2. ThelnumberloflplanetslinlourlSolarlSystemlis
a. six. d. twelve.
b. eight. e. twenty.
c. nine.
ANS:l l B DIF: Easy REF: 1.1
OBJ: 1.1alStatelourl“cosmicladdress.” MSC:l Remembering
3. MilkylWaylislthelnamelof
a. ourlSolarlSystem. d. thelsuperclusterloflgalaxieslwelarelin.
b. thelgalaxylinlwhichlwellive. e. thelentireluniverse.
c. thellocallgrouploflgalaxieslwelarelin.
ANS:l l B DIF: Easy REF: 1.1
OBJ: 1.1alStatelourl“cosmicladdress.” MSC:l Understanding
4. Ourlgalaxylandlthelfewldozenlnearestlgalaxieslarelknownlaslthe
a. SolarlSystem. d. VirgolSupercluster.
b. MilkylWay. e. LaniakealSupercluster.
c. LocallGroup.
ANS:l l C DIF: Moderate REF: 1.1
OBJ: 1.1alStatelourl“cosmicladdress.” MSC:l Remembering
5. Accordingltolthelfigurelbelow,liflyoulwereltolspecifylyourladdresslinltheluniverse,llistinglyourlmembershiplfromlthelsmall
estltollargestlphysicallstructures,litlwouldlbe
a. Earth,lLocallGroup,lSolarlSystem,lAndromeda,ltheluniverse.
b. Earth,lSolarlSystem,lLocallGroup,lMilkylWay,ltheluniverse.
c. Earth,lSolarlSystem,lMilkylWay,lLocallGroup,lLaniakealSupercluster,ltheluniverse.
d. Earth,lSolarlSystem,lMilkylWay,lLaniakealSupercluster,ltheluniverse.
e. Earth,lLaniakealSupercluster,lMilkylWay,lSolarlSystem,ltheluniverse.lAN
S:l C DIF: Difficult REF: 1.1
, OBJ: 1.1alStatelourl“cosmicladdress.” MSC:l Understanding
6. ThelAndromedalGalaxylislalsolpartloflthelLocallGroup,lsolitlislalsolpartlof
a. thelSolarlSystem. d. thelVirgolSupercluster.
b. thelMilkylWay. e. darklenergy.
c. thelMoon.
ANS:l l D DIF: Difficult REF: 1.1
OBJ: 1.1alStatelourl“cosmicladdress.” MSC:l Understanding
7. Accordingltolthelfigurelbelow,lEarthlisllocatedlapproximately
a. atlthelcenterloflthelMilkylWay.
b. nearlthelcenterloflthelMilkylWay.
c. aboutlhalfwayloutlfromlthelcenterloflthelMilkylWay.
d. atlthelfarthestloutskirtsloflthelMilkylWay.
e. outsidelthelMilkylWay,lwhichlislwhylwelcanlseelitlaslalbandlacrosslthelnightlsky.
ANS:l l C DIF: Easy REF: 1.1
OBJ: 1.1blExpresslastronomicalldistanceslandldistancelscales. MSC:l l Analyzing
8. WhenlalchangeloccurslonlthelsurfaceloflthelSun,lhowllongldoeslitltakelbeforelastronomerslonlEarthlcanlseelthelchange?
a. 8lminutes d. 1lday
b. 11lhours e. Itlreachesluslinstantaneously.
c. 1lsecond
ANS:l l A DIF: Easy REF: 1.1
OBJ: 1.1blExpresslastronomicalldistanceslandldistancelscales. MSC:l l Applying
9. ThelaverageldistancelbetweenlEarthlandlthelSunlisl1.5l l1011lm,landllightlfromlthelSunltakeslapproximatelyl
tolreachlEarth.
l
a. 8lseconds d. 8ldays
b. 8lminutes e. 8lyears
c. 8lhours
ANS:l l B DIF: Easy REF: 1.1
OBJ: 1.1blExpresslastronomicalldistanceslandldistancelscales. MSC:l l Applying
10. Oneloflthelnearestlstars,lAlphalCentauri,lisl4.4llight-
yearslfromlEarth.lTheltimelitltakesllightltoltravellfromlAlphalCentauriltoluslis
a. 1.25lseconds. d. 600lyears.
b. 8.3lminutes. e. 2.2lmillionlyears.
c. 4.4lyears.
ANS:l l C DIF: Easy REF: 1.1
OBJ: 1.1blExpresslastronomicalldistanceslandldistancelscales. MSC:l l Applying
11. TheltimelitltakesllightltolcrosslNeptune’slorbitlislclosestltolwhichloflthelfollowing?
a. instantaneous
b. alsecond
c. alquicklmeal
d. alnight’slsleep
e. theltimelbetweenlpresidentiallelections
ANS:l l D DIF: Easy REF: 1.1
OBJ: 1.1blExpresslastronomicalldistanceslandldistancelscales. MSC:l l Analyzing