Astronomy exam 3

Both its temperature and composition

What can astronomers learn by analyzing starlight?

It reflects red light

Why does a red rose appear red

Light reflected from them reaches our eyes.

Why can we see most objects around us?

Photons

What are particles of light called?

Gamma rays

Which type of electromagnetic radiation has the highest energy?

400–700 nm

Visible light has wavelengths approximately between:

Require no medium to travel.

Electromagnetic waves differ from water and sound waves because they:

Shorter

As photon energy increases, its wavelength becomes:

True

Light is a form of energy.

False

The highest-energy photons have the longest wavelengths.

False

Water waves transport water across long distances rather than energy.

Their temperature and chemical composition.

Name two things scientists can learn by studying the light from stars.

A photon is a particle of light.

What is a photon?

No. Electromagnetic waves, including light, can travel through empty space.

Do electromagnetic waves need a material medium to travel?

Blue light has more energy because it has a shorter wavelength.

Which color of visible light generally has more energy: red or blue?

The transmission of energy without transporting material

What is a wave?

The distance between successive crests

What does wavelength measure?

The number of wave cycles per second

Frequency is defined as:

Blue light

Which visible light has the highest energy?

400–700 nanometers

The visible spectrum ranges approximately from:

Decreases

If photon energy increases, its wavelength:

Shorter wavelengths

According to Wien’s Law, hotter objects emit most strongly at:

Blue

Which object is hotter?

What is spectroscopy?

The science of measuring wavelengths of atomic and molecular emissions

A spectrometer is used to:

Split light into its component colors

False

The highest-energy photons have the longest wavelengths.

True

White sunlight contains many different colors.

True

A continuous spectrum contains all wavelengths.

True

Absorption spectra occur when some wavelengths are removed by intervening gas.

True

Emission spectra are produced when excited, hot gas emits specific wavelengths.

They can determine a star’s composition, temperature, motion, and other physical properties.

What information can astronomers learn by studying starlight?

What are the three types of spectra?

Continuous spectrum, absorption spectrum, and emission spectrum.

Isaac Newton.

Who discovered that white sunlight could be split into a rainbow using a prism?

Missing wavelengths called absorption (or spectral) lines, which reveal information about the material in the Sun’s atmosphere.

What did early astronomers notice as dark lines in the Sun’s spectrum?

The science of measuring the wavelengths of atomic molecular emissions

What is spectroscopy?

To split light into component colors

What is the purpose of a spectrometer?

Continuous spectrum

Which type of spectrum contains all wavelengths of visible light?

Absorption

Which type of dark lines where light has been removed?

Emission

Which type of spectrum is produced by a hot excited gas?

White light is composed of many colors

What did Issac newton demonstrate by passing sunlight through a prism?

Rainbows

What natural phenomenon acts like a prism and creates a continuous spectrum?

Every element has a unique pattern of spectral lines

Why are emission lines often called an elements fingerpeint?

Occupy specific energy levels only

In the Bohr model electrons

It jumps a higher energy level

What happens when an electron absorbs the correct amount of energy?

True

A continuous spectrum contains every wavelength of visible light

false

Every chemical element has the same emission spectrum

true

Absorption spectra contain missing wavelengths that can appear dark lines

false

Electrons can exist at any energy between levels

true

Astronomers can determine what stars are made of by studying their spectra

Continuous absorption and emission spectra

Name three types of spectra

An emission spectrum shows bright lines produced by hot gas while an absorption spectrum

Explain the difference between emission spectrum and absorption spectrum

They reveal information such as the stars chemicals composition

Why are the stars spectral lines useful to astronomers?

the electron releases energy in the form of light (a photon)

What happens when electrons fall higher energy level to a lower one?

By comparing the stars spectral lines with the known spectral fingerprints if elements measured in laboratories

How can scientists identify the gasses present in a distant star?

Venus

Which planenet is known for its extreme greenhouse effect and is even hotter than mercurury?

Terrestrial planets

Which planents are rocky and relatively small?

Mars

Which planet has giant volcanoes a huge canyon snd evidence that water flowed in the distant past?

More than 99.8%

The sun contains approximately what percentage of solar systems mass?

They are made of countless chucks of ice and rock

Which statement about saturn is rings correct?

true

Alle ight major planents orbit the sun is nearly in the same plane.

False

Mercury has one of the natural moon.

True

Jupiter has many moons and no solid surface?

True

Dwarf planents are generally smaller than the major planets?

False

Terrestrial planets are father from the sun than jovian planets?

mercury earth and mars

Name the 4 celestial planets

Jupiter staurn uranus and neptune

Name the first jovain planenets

Hydrogen and helium

What are the 2 main elements that amke most of the sun?

It helps scientists understand earth and the worlds by comparing common processes and identifying patterns europa

Why is comparative phtotoolgy useful for scientists?

Europa

Which Galilean moon is believed to have a subsurface ocean?

Mercury, Venus , Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune

List the planets in order from closest to farthest from the sun.

terresitail planets are smalller, rocky and have solid surfaces Jovian planete sare larger mostly gaseous and have many moons and rings

Compare terrestrial and Jovian planets by describing at least 3 differences between them.

Because venus has a very striong greenhouse effect that traps heat.

Why is venus hotter than mercury even though Mercury is closer to the sun"?

They are much smaller than major planets heavy ice comet like compositions and some elictiptical orbits

What zre 2 characteristics of dwarf planets mentioned in the lecture?

The major planets orbit in te same direction and nearly the same plane and most rotate in that same direction.

describe one pattern in the motion of tye major bodies in oir solar system that provides clues about how it formed?

Against intersellecutar gas cloud collapsing under gravity

According to the nebular theory the solar system formed

Immunal Kant and Pierre Simon Laplace

Who first popularized the nebular hypothesis?

Close encounter hypothesis

Which hypothesis suggested that planets formed from material pulled off the sun during a stellar encounter.

It sped up

As the solar nebula contracted whatv happened in its rotataion?

Collisions between gas particles

What caused the collapsing cloud to flatten into a disk?

Outsdie the front line

Which region of the solar nebula was cold enough for hydrogen compounds to freeze into ice?

Accretion

The process of by which small particles collided and combined to build planets is called A

They captured large amounts of of hydrogen and helium gas.

Why are jovian planets become so massive?

Leftovers from the accertion process

According to lecture asteroids and comets are

Large collisions are close gravitational encounters

according to the nebular theory unusual features like Uranus tilted or most likely explained

False

the closest counter hypothesis is currently the leading explanation for solar system formatioj

True

Galatic recycling helped provide the material that formed the sun and planets

True

Hydrogen and helium were the primary elements produced the big bang

True

Rocky terrestrial planets formed mainley inside the frost slide

True

Icy comets generally originated outside the frost line

Patterns of motion of large bodies the existence of terrestrial Jovian planets the existence of asteroids and comments and notabal exceptions to the usual patterns

what are the four major properties that a theory of solar system formation must explain?

The frost line is the distance from the sun beyond which temperatures were low enough for hydrogen compounds to condense into ice allowing larger icy bodies to form

what is the frost line and why is it important?

As the cloud contracted car conservation of angular momentum caused it to rotate faster similar to a figure skater pulling in their arms while spinning

explain where the solar nebula spun faster as a contracted

Astronomers observed flattened disks around young stars showing that star planet formation in its disks and this is common and consistent with the nebular theory

How do observations of disks around young stars support the nebular theory

Earths water may have been deliver by icy plantesimals during the early history of the solar system

according to lecture where might earths water have come from

A cloud of gas and dust

Accoring to the nebular theory what formed first?

Accretion

What processb describes small objects sticking togetrher to form larger ones?

Inner and outer

The 2 main categories of planets in our solar systems are

They could collect hydrogemn and helium gas after building larger cores

Why did the jovain planets become much larger than the terrestialplanets?

Asteroids and comets

Which objects are considered leftovers from the planet formation process?

Inside the front line

Most rocky asteroids are found