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Physical Science Study Guide – Astronomy

Name ______________________________________________ Date _____________

Origin of the Solar System

1. Define the following terms:

Nebula – cloud of dust, hydrogen gas and plasma

Accretion Disk – rotating cloud of dust and matter (basically a rotating nebula)

Planetesimal – collection of matter from which a planet is formed

Protoplanet – newly developing planet formed by planetesimals

2. What are the two basic types of planets? (know which planets fall into which
category)
Terrestrial – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
Jovian – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

3. What are the three stages of the growth of protoplanets?

1 - Condensation and accretion of solid particles into planetesimals


Size up to ~ 1 km

2 - Coalescing of planetesimals into protoplanets

3 - Clearing the nebula from most of the remaining gas and dust

4. What causes a Nebula to start spinning into an Accretion Disk?


Disturbed and collapses under its own gravity.
Spins faster due to conservation of angular momentum

5. What is the difference in the materials that make up a Terrestrial Planet vs. a Jovian
planet?
Terrestrial – solids (metals and silicates)
Jovian – gases (hydrogen and helium)

6. Why did the Asteroid belt form? What two planets is it between?
Asteroids are basically chunks of rock left over from the formation of the solar system
Mars and Jupiter.

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Life Cycle of Stars

1. What element/atom fuels most stars in the process of fusion?


Hydrogen

2. What is the 1st stage of the life of a Star?


 Ball of gas and dust that is pulled together by gravity à Nebula.
 Nuclear fusion starts as gas cloud becomes denser and hotter à Protostar.

3. Name and describe the 2nd stage of the life of a Star:


 Main Sequence (the Sun)
 2nd stage
 Longest stage
 Hydrogen changes into helium which creates enormous amounts of energy

4. Name and describe the 3rd stage of a Star.


 Giants and Supergiants
 3rd stage
 Main Sequence star becomes a red giant

5. A star will expand, becoming a RED GIANT when the outward force of FUSION is
greater than the inward force of GRAVITY

6. When the OUTWARD FORCE of FUSION is LESS than the INWARD FORCE of
GRAVITY the star will SHRINK in size, becoming a WHITE DWARF

7. What are two things that can result from a Supernova of a Supergiant Star?
Black hole
Neurtron star

8. What type of rays are given off by a Black Hole?


X-rays

9. What kind of Star is the Sun?


Main sequence

10. What is the H-R Diagram?


 Shows the relationship between a star’s surface temperature and absolute
magnitude
 Used to study the lives of stars

11. What are 4 main types of stars?


Main sequence
Giants
Super giants
White dwarfs

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Asteroids

1. List one evidence of Asteroids.


 There have been eyewitness accounts of impacts.
 In many cases, the mineral composition of samples indicates the material
cannot be native to Earth.
 Most older samples are iron, most “fresh” samples are stony material.

2. Why is Antarctica one of the best places to find meteorites?


• Antarctica is one of the best places to find meteorites on Earth, owing to the high
contrast (black rocks on white snow).

3. Why is it useful to study meteorites?


• They are material samples from outside the Earth that can be analyzed in the
laboratory.
• We can measure the age of the solar system by studying meteorites.

4. How big is Ceres? 1000 km

5. How many asteroids have been catalogued? 150,000

6. What are three basic groups of asteroids?


There are three basic groups: stony, carbon rich, and iron rich.

7. Describe the trend in how often asteroid impacts have occurred through time since the
early history of the solar system.
• The rate of impacts was higher in the early history of the solar system (e.g. about
4 billion years ago).
• Eventually, most of the small bodies were used up, so the impact rate dropped.
• However, the present-day impact rate is NOT zero.

8. What can one do for early warning and prevention in regards to asteroids?
 One can survey the sky for near-Earth asteroids. Currently only a small fraction
of the entire population has been found.

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The Moon

1. The moon is a natural satellite

2. How many moons are in our solar system? 96 moons

3. Describe the theory of the birth of our moon:


• Formed from impact of Mars-sized “planetesimal” on Earth
• Debris from both objects melted together to form the Moon

4. Name four differences between the Earth’s surface and the Moon’s surface.
• No atmosphere, No liquid water, Extreme temperatures, 1/6 Earth’s gravity

5. What are two basic features that we can see on the moon?
Highlands, Craters, Maria

6. What are the Maria filled with?


• Filled by lava after crash of huge meteorites on lunar surface at time of formation
• Mostly basalt rock

7. The moon orbits the Earth every 271/3 days days.

8. True or False: The same side of the moon always faces the earth.

9. What are 3 differences between the far side and the near side of the Moon?
More craters, Very few Maria, Thicker crust

10. Moonlight is reflected sunlight.

11. What are the phases of the moon (in order) starting with the New Moon? (know
what they look like, too. Use the worksheet to help you.)
• New moon
• Waxing Crescent moon
• First Quarter moon
• Waxing Gibbous moon
• Full moon
• Waning Gibbous moon
• Third Quarter moon
• Waning Crescent moon
• New moon

12. Tides are caused by pull of Moon’s gravity on Earth.

13. Who was the first man to walk on the moon? What year?
Neil Armstrong First man on the Moon – July 20, 1969

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