Astronomy Midterm Review

cleavage

a fertilized cell splits into 2 equal parts

blastocyst

hollow ball of cells during gestation

fetus

cells begin to differentiate after ten weeks into a...

zygote

fertilized egg

the 11 body systems

circulatory, digestive, respiratory, urinary, skeletal, muscular, integumentary, immune, nervous, endocrine, reproductive

ramapo college longitude and latitude

41 degrees N, 75 degrees W

Egyptian astrology

setting sun fought the demons of the 12 gates of night

appearance of Sirius

in Spring sky marks the flooding of the Nile

Pythagoras

planets circle within musical crystal spheres

Pythagorean Theorem

helped future astronomers unlock secrets of the universe

planet

greek for wanderer

geocentric

Earth at center of universe

Aquinas adopted

Aristotle's geocentric, fixed universe theory

Erastosthenes

measured Earth's circumference

Ishtar

Babylonian goddess of fertility.

sun spots are

Cooler than the surrounding regions of the sun

silicates

part of Earth's surface, quartz, rock crystal, clay, mica

Heliocentric

sun-centred, Copernicus and Galileo's theory

Newton's math

fluctuations or calculus

Hawking's theory

string theory

Galileo obersves

sunspots

Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion

Planets have elliptical orbits; a planet's orbit gets faster the closer it is to the sun; there is a mathematical equation for a planet's distance from the sun and the time it takes to orbit

Galaxies are moving away from us

universe is expanding; Edwin Hubble

Halley's comet

used Newton's work to calculate and analyze comet orbits
every 76 years

Einstein

warned Roosevelt of dangers of atomic energy

Newton's law of inertia

object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

disease Hawking has

How did astronomy aid early cultures in transferring from nomadic to agrarian societies?

They used stars, constellations, and the Moon in determining upcoming seasons. For example Egyptian used the rise of Sirius in the Spring to signal the flooding of the Nile. Knowing when this season happened was important for knowing when to plant and harvest crops.

qualitative vs quanitative

qualitative results from philosophical speculation
quantitative results from empirical observation

copernicus scared of

the church

evolution of man

ardipithecus, australopithecus, homohabilis, homo erectus, homo naledi, homo neanderthal, cro magnon, homo sapien

Stonehenge

Megalithic Site, Neolithic People, Preliterate • Between 3000 & 2000 BC, Salisbury Plains, England
Stones 20x8x7, Quarried 350 miles away
heel stone aligned with summer solstice

babylonians

• Planets & stars were Gods
• Sun and moon controlled calendar
• Venus \= Ishtar• Goddess of fertility
• Celestial wheel divided sky into 12
• All Astronomical events are periodic
• First to map constellations

decilnation

latitude of celestial sphere

120,000 light years

milky way's diameter

Earth's orbit is

elliptical

lightyear

6 trillion miles

Mars

fourth planet from the sun

celestial sphere

The imaginary sphere on which objects in the sky appear to reside when observed from Earth.

polaris

North Star

30,000 light years

distance from the sun to the center of the galaxy

Northern circumpolar stars

can be seen all year long

93 million miles

The distance from the Earth to the Sun

Aphelion

Earth is farthest from the sun, 94.5 million miles from sun on july 4th

Perihelion

Earth is closest to the sun, 91.4 million miles on january 4th

575 mililon miles

Earth's orbital circumference

67,000 mph

How fast the earth revolves around the sun

1070 mph

how fast earth rotates on axis

celestial horizon

under observer's feet

Celestial Hemisphere

above celestial horizon, what we see at night

The Sun began its life as a

molecular cloud of hydrogen

Creating the Heavy Elements

supernova creates all elements after iron

sun at its half-life

4.6 billion years old, in a more dormant step of solar formation, in 4.6 billion years sun will have collapsed into a white dwarf

15 degrees

1 hour

gas giants before terrestrial planets

temperature and distance dictate rate of planetary formation, snow and ice adhere faster than metal and rock, Jupiter and Saturn close enough to get big ice core and lots of gas, Neptune and Uranus get less gas but still have ice cores, terrestrial planets form last because they are made of metal and rock and go through heavy bombardment

star formation

molecular cloud, dark star, photon effect, protosun, protoplanetary disk, t-tauri, post t-tauri, nuclear fusion, main sequence

Agglomeration

second step in planetary formation, build up of larger fragments through the accumulation of smaller ones, gentle process

first 3 seconds

basic elements (hydrogen to iron) form through fusion of molecules into heavier elements and galaxies don't show up until 300 million years, Webb findings suggest that galaxies formed faster than expected

photon effect

stabilization of star as photons push out and gravity pulls in

denser objects rotate

faster

bigger protoplanets

more gravity

atmospheric layers

Troposphere, Stratosphere, Mesosphere, and Ionosphere.
Weather happens in the troposphere. The ozone filters UV radiation in the Stratosphere. Mesosphere can have meteors. Io

troposphere

weather

stratosphere

ozone layer

mesosphere

Meteors burn up here

ionosphere

aurora borealis, satellites

zenith

the point directly overhead

altitude

distance above horizon

azimuth

the direction of a celestial object from the observer, compass reading

analemna

A pattern made by recording the position of the sun in the sky at the same time every day from the same location, peak\= summer solstice, crossing\= spring/fall equinox, bottom\= winter solstice

Axis towards sun

summer

Axis Away From Sun

winter

Cepheus

King, house, NCP

Draco

dragon, NCP

Gemini

twins, winter

scorpio

killed orion, summer

Leo

lion, spring

sagittarius

teapot, summer

pegasus

andromeda galaxy, fall

cassiopeia

queen, vanity, NCP

canis major

Sirius, hunting dog, winter

cygnus

swan, deneb, summer

lyra

harp, vega, summer

ursa major

big bear, NCP

ursa minor

Polaris, NCP

orion

hunter, winter

taurus

pleiades, bull, winter

aquila

eagle, altair, summer

ophiuchus

healer, summer

Winter Constellations

Gemini, Orion, Taurus, Canis Major

summer constellations

scorpio, sagittarius, cygnus, ophiuchus, lyra, aquila

Fall Constellations

pegasus

Spring Constellations

leo

nebula

galactic gas cloud, dust, heavy element particles

nuclear fusion

how stars form energy

5 types of galaxies

Spiral, Barred Spiral, Elliptical, Lenticular, Irregular

black holes

can only be seen by its intense gravitational effect on the material around it, objects are warped and pulled toward the center, light itself is bent

supermassive black hole

center of galaxies, stellar black holes from supernovae

Niels Bohr

electrons move within orbits

plasma

superheated gas energizes ions and electrons, most common form of matter in universe, what stars are made of