2022 Astronomy Semester Exam Review

Define:

Light Year

Astronomical Unit

Angular Diameter

Celestial Sphere

Ellipse

Absolute Zero

Constellation

Ecliptic

Circumpolar

Precession

Zenith

Cycles: be able to describe why each of these cycles happen, and what happens at different parts of the cycle.

Moon Phases and Eclipses

Year and Seasons

Day and Night

Stellar Evolution (Nebula to Nebula)

History and People: Know their major contributions to this field

Geocentrism gives rise to Heliocentrism

Cecilia Payne

Annie Jump Cannon

Isaac Newton

Galileo

Kepler

Copernicus

Concepts: Review these thoroughly. Write out diagrams and formulas, and look over examples.

The Celestial Sphere model is wrong, but helpful. The Sun doesn’t “rise in the east” after all, but it appears to.

Light is an electromagnetic wave. Relate it frequency and wavelength.

Orbits are maintained by gravity, and described by Kepler’s 3 Laws

Star Lifespan and Luminosity are inversely related

Star Properties can be related on the HR diagram

Atoms emit light (when photons are ejected by electrons) in very specific quanta

Nearly everything about a star’s life is mass-determined at the moment it begins hydrogen fusion.

Equations: It’s helpful to think of these conceptually AND do some practice problems.

Kepler’s Laws

Newton’s Universal Gravitation