ASTR 1101 Midterm 1

A hypothesis is an idea that is

Falsifiable.

Before you can scientifically test a hypothesis, you must use the hypothesis to develop a

prediction to test.

If you have a stuffy nose, a fever, chills, and body aches and a doctor treats you for the flu rather than four separate diseases that account for each of your symptoms, this is an application of

Occam's razor.

If the radius of circle B is 5 times the radius of circle A, then the ratio of the area of circle B to that of circle A is

25.

Right ascension is a measure of a star's location on the celestial sphere that is most similar to which measurement of location on Earth?

longitude

The point directly below your feet is called the

nadir

A friend takes a time-lapse picture of the sky, as shown in the figure below. What direction must your friend have been facing when the picture was taken?

north

Assume you are observing the night sky from a typical city in the United States with a latitude of +40. Using the figure below, which constellation of the zodiac would be nearest to the meridian at 6 P.M. in mid-September?

Scorpius

The day with the smallest number of daylight hours over the course of the year for a person living in the Northern Hemisphere is the

winter solstice (Dec. 21).

If Earth's axis were tilted by 5 instead of its actual tilt, how would the seasons be different than they are currently?

Winters would be warmer.

If you are above the arctic circle, the majority of the stars in your sky are

circumpolar.

If you see a full Moon tonight, approximately how long would you have to wait to see the next full Moon?

4 weeks

During which lunar phase do solar eclipses occur?

new

If you are lucky enough to see a total solar eclipse, you must be standing in the

Moon's umbra.

A superior planet is one that is

farther from the Sun than Earth.

Based on the figure below, an inferior planet would have its greatest angular separation from the Sun and would therefore be most easily visible at

at either greatest eastern or western elongation.

If the synodic period of Mars is observed from Earth to be 2.1 years, what is the sidereal period of Mars?

1.9 years

If the Sun is located at one focus of Earth's elliptical orbit, what is at the other focus?

nothing

The time it takes a planet to complete one full orbital revolution is commonly known as its

period.

The average distance between a planet and the Sun is given by the ________ of its elliptical orbit.

semimajor axis

Which of the following is true about a comet that is on an elliptical orbit around the Sun?

The comet's speed is greatest when it is nearest the Sun.

Kepler's third law says that a comet with a period of 160 years will have a semimajor axis of

30 AU.

The force of gravity that an object has is directly proportional to its

mass.

Tidal forces can affect
a. moons.
b. galaxies.
c. planets.
d. satellites.

all of these

The distance between Earth and the Moon is increasing because of

tidal forces from the Moon.

If the wavelength of a beam of light were to double, how would that affect its frequency?

The frequency would be two times lower.

A red photon has a wavelength of 650 nm. An ultraviolet photon has a wavelength of 250 nm. The energy of an ultraviolet photon is ________ the energy of a red photon.

2.6 times larger than

When an electron moves from a higher energy level in an atom to a lower energy level,

a photon is emitted.

What does it mean to say that an object is in thermal equilibrium?

It is absorbing the same amount of energy that it is radiating.

At what temperature does water freeze?

273 K