Earth Science Chapter 21-24

T/F The distance from the Sun is used to measure distances in the solar system and is called a light year.

False

Famous Greek philosopher that concluded the earth was spherical

Arisotle

First Greek to profess a Sun- centered or heliocentric universe

Aristarchus

First to successfully estimate the size of the earth.

Eratosthenes

Determined the location of almost 850 stars which he divided into groups according to brightness

Hipparchus

Compiled the "Almagnest" that described the earth centered or geocentric view of the planets and stars.

Claudius Ptolemy

Polish astronomer who concluded that the Earth was a planet with the Sun at the center of the solar system.

Nicolas Copernius

Built pointers that he used to measure the locations of stars and planets before the invention of the telescope.

Tycho Brache

Developed 3 basic laws of planetary motion.

Johannes Kepler

Italian scientist who constructed his own telescopes and made numerous discovered that supported the Copernican theory.

Galileo Galilei

English scientist that formulated and tested the Law of Universal Gravitational and proved that the force of gravity combined with inertia (tendency of an object to remain in a straight line motion) results in keeping the planets in their elliptical orbits.

Sir Isaac Newton

gravitational disturbance of the orbit of one celestial body by another

perturbation

turning, or spinning, of a body on its axis

rotation

the motion of a body along a path around some point in space

revolution

gradual change in the orientation of Earth’s axis

precession

Earth is farthest from the Sun

Aphelion

Earth is closest to the Sun

Perihelion

westward drifts of planets

retrograde motion

T/F Galileo discovered Jupiter’s 4 largest moons.

True

The true shape of the planetary orbits was discovered by

Johannes Kepler

A very slow motion of Earth’s axis that requires 26,000 years to complete is called

precession

The first successful attempt to establish the size of Earth is credited to

Eratosthenes

According to the Ptolemaic (Greek) model of the universe, how many "heavenly" bodies could be observed wandering along the background of stars?

seven

Is the Ptolemaic (Greek) model of the universe, the Earth is the

center of the universe.

T/F Earth is closest to the Sun in January.

True

T/F When Earth is the farthest from the Sun, it is said to be in the perihelion position.

False

Which of these men formulated the Law of Universal Gravitation?

Sir Isaac Newton

T/F The period of the Moon’s rotation is equal to its period of revolution.

True

The period of time required for the Moon to complete a revolution is called the _____ month.

sideral

the time it takes for the moon to go through all its phases which takes 29 1/2 days

synodic

On what planet is the largest known volcano in the Solar System?

Mars

What is the name of the largest known volcano on the planet Mars?

Olympus Mons

True period of the moon’s revolution around Earth 27 1/3 days

sidereal

What planet has the highest surface temperature?

Venus

Which of these lunar features is the oldest?

lunar highlands

How did the lunar maria most likely originate?

huge impact basins that were nearly filled with basaltic lava flows

T/F Rayed craters on the Moon, such as Copernicus, formed during an intense, early period of bombardment prior to the formation of the lunar maria.

False

T/F The 4 largest moons of Jupiter are known as the Galilean moons.

True

T/F Meteorites disintegrate and burn up as shooting stars; meteoroids survive an impact event a a trip through Earth’s atmosphere.

False

The surface features of ____ are known only through satellite radar mapping.

Venus

Which one of the following statements is believed to be true of comets?

They have highly elliptical orbits around the Sun.

T/F Jupiter is the largest and most massive planet in our solar system.

True

____ is the principal gas in the Venusian atmosphere and also a minor component of the atmospheres of Earth and Mars.

Carbon dioxide

____ meteorites are thought to be analogous in composition to Earth’s core.

iron

Which one of the following is not found on Mars?

H2o- rich atmosphere

_____ has great, dark spot on its surface.

Neptune

____ is a moon of Mars.

Phobos

_____ refers to the bright head of a comet.

Coma

T/F The Jovian planets are more massive but less dense than the terrestrial planets.

True

Nearly all large optical telescopes built today are

reflectors

T/F The wavelength of red light is shorter than the wavelength of yellow light.

False

Which of the following is NOT considered a form of electromagnetic radiation?

gravity

T/F Shorter wavelengths correspond to more energetic photons.

True

The layer of the Sun that radiates most of the light that reaches Earth is called the

photosphere

T/F In some instances, light behaves like waves, and in others, like discrete particles.

True

Because lenses act like a prism to separate the colors of the spectrum, they produce a troublesome effect known as

chromatic aberration

T/F Dark-line (absorption) spectra can be used to identify the elements present in stars.

True

As the temperature of a radiating surface is increased

both a and c: a larger portion of the energy is radiated at shorter wavelengths and a larger portion of the energy is radiated at longer wavelengths

The Sun produces energy by convering

hydrogen nuclei to helium nuclei

The layer of the solar atmosphere directly above the photosphere is referred to as the

chromosphere

T/F A hot (incandescent) gas under low pressure produces a continuous spectrum.

False

Which of the following is NOT an advantage that radio telescopes have over optical telescopes?

They have better resolution.

T/F All of the world’s largest telescopes are of the refracting type.

False

The most conspicuous features on the surface of the Sun are dark areas called

sunspots

The Sun is considered an "average star."

True

A star in which light cannot escape because of the immense gravitational pull at its surface is called a

black hole

T/F The hottest main-sequence starts are also the most massive.

True

This property of a star can be determined from its color.

Surface temperature

Stars having the same surface temperature radiates the same amount of energy per unit area.

True

One of the most common units used to express stellar distance is the

light- year

The Sun belongs to this class of starts.

main- sequence stars

T/F Stars with a surface temperature 3000 K appear red in color.

True

T/F The larger the magnitude number, the brighter will be the star.

False

When a main-sequence star has exhausted the fuel in the inner region, it becomes a

red giant

Hubble’s law states that galaxies are receding from us at a speed that is proportional to their

distance

T/F Using stellar parallax, astronomers are able to determine the distance to event he most distant stars.

False

The final stage for a star which is as massive as he Sun is a

black dwarf

The measure of a star’s brightness is called

magnitude

Which one of the objects listed below has the largest size?

galaxies

The most dense starts known to exists are

black holes