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ASTR 1020
Stellar and Galactic Astronomy

Study Guide: Mid-Term (Tentative)

The student should be able to know and understand the following things:

  • Scientific Method

    • The definition and purpose of science.

    • The characteristics of a good experiment and it's role in the scientific method.

    • The role of serendipity in the scientific method.

  • Spectra

    • The three types of Spectra observed and what physical conditions form them.

    • What a Blackbody Radiation Curve is.

    • How Emission and Absorption Lines are created using the Bohr Model of the atom.

    • What physical information can be gained from studying spectra and how (Doppler Effect).

  • Light

    • The electromagnetic spectrum.

    • The blackbody radiation curve.

    • Stephan's Law relating energy output and temperature.

    • The inverse square law of light intensity and distance.

  • Optics and Telescopes

    • How magnification is computed

    • How refracting and reflecting telescopes are built

    • Why a bigger objective lens or mirror is better

    • Why astronomers look in different wavelengths

    • What wavelengths our atmosphere is transparent and opaque to.

  • Gravitation

    • Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation

    • Why the Moon orbits the Earth.

    • What factors will effect the gravitational force between two objects

  • The Sun

    • The structure of the Sun's interior and atmosphere

    • How the Sun's light is produced/The Proton-Proton Chain

    • What are sunspots and how are they produced/Babcock Magnetic Dynamo model?

    • The Neutrino Problem

  • Stellar Measurement

    • How we define the meter and use it to define the AU.

    • What parallax is and how it is measured for stars.

    • How luminosity be determined from apparent magnitude and distance measurements.

    • How mass can be determined from binary star motions and Kepler's Third Law.

    • What the Mass-Luminosity relationship is and what it looks like when it's plotted.

    • What spectral classes are (OBAFGKM) and how they are determined.

    • The relationship between spectral class, color and temperature for a star.

    • What the HR Diagram is and how it is plotted.

  
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