AST 161
Test No.1 Review

This document is under revision for test 1 on 02-14-2014.
Last revised on 2-11-2014 at 16:37

SUBJECT MATTER:

Class notes thru  Kepler's Laws 02-11-2014
My web site Chap. 1 thru Chap. 3, section C on Kepler's Laws.
Also all the related sections of the S&A text listed under "Readings".
The subject matter contained in Ex. 1.0, 2.0, 15.0   in the Course Manual.  Also look at
the chart in Ex. 16.0, page 118 with regard to elongatiions.

Lab exercises: 1, 2, 15..

This review does not necessarily list every term or concept that will be on the test, but the
subject matter is limited to the chapters and lab exercises listed above.

Know definitions for all terms introduced.

Also study the homework questions in the Announcements document on line.

Important topics

    1. Recognized Hierarchical Structure of Universe

    2.  Distance Units

    3.  Four Fundamental Forces and what they do.

    4.  Solar System, types of solar satellites, law of gravity, inverse-square law , location of
         barycenter, depending on mass ratio.

    5.  Motions of Earth: Rotation, revolution, precession, and the Earth-Moon barycentric motion.

    6.  Differences among stars, planetary bodies, comets,TNOs, and the other bodies in the Solar
          System.

    7.  Planetary orbits, elongations.  Planetary configurations and aspects terms. Computing times
         of planetary events.

        Time of a planetary Event (Tp) = Time the Sun does the same thing (TS) - Time for
        the Earth to rotate through the elongation of the planet, (TE).

    8.  The ecliptic, zodiac

   10.  Inventory of the Solar System and nomenclature

    11.  History of discoveries:  Who did what and when.
 

Know:

Definitions for:   planet, star, force, gravity, barycenter, mass, weight, satellite, astronomical unit,
light year, thermonuclear fusion, right ascension, declination, elongation, ecliptic, zodiac, hour circle,
celestial equator, diurnal motion and what it causes.

Distances and sizes given for various quantities and objects.

Arcmeasure: Sexagesimal system: degrees, arcminutes, and arcseconds.
Correct notation for angles without colons.

Decimal system for arcmeasure and time.

When to use a decimal point, a colon, or no delimiter.

For each angle we have learned, know from where the angle is measured (zero location), in what
direction it is measured, and in what units it is expressed.

Elongation, conjunction, quadrature, opposition

Kepler's Laws of planetary motion
The ecliptic & zodiac

 Newton's 3 Laws of Motion; Newton's Law of Gravity.

The inventory of the solar system.

History:  Who did what and when, e.g.: , Newton, Galileo, Kepler,
                Herschel, Kuiper, Messier, Lemaitre, Hubble, etc.

Be able to:

Convert arcmeasure or time from sexagesimal to decimal or vice versa.

Locate objects on a rectangular chart using RA and DEC chart scales, such as in Ex. 2.0,
or by making eye interpolations between fiducial marks.

Be able to draw an hour circle of RA and a parallel of declination for a star on a rectangular
star chart.

Compute what time a planet rises, sets, or makes upper transit when the elongation of the
planet is known.  You must be able to do this following exactly the steps used in the example
the my Chapter 2 notes

Draw and measure the elongation of a planet on a planar orbital  chart such as those in Ex. 15.0.
 Also see the example on pages 107 and 111 in the Manual.

On a planar orbital chart for the planets, be able to recognize inferior and superior conjuinction.
greatest easter/western elongation, eastern or western quadruture, and opposition.  Know what
elongation angles are associated with these terms.

Be able to estimate the elongation of a planet on rectangullar star chart as was demonstrated
in lecture.
 

Know definitions, visualize, and be able to utilize all the following terms: Celestial Sphere,  Axis of rotation, Celestial Equator (CE),  Celestial Poles (NCP & SCP)

Declination (Dec. or Greek delta), Equinoctial colure (EC),  Hour circles (HC),

Right Ascension (RA or Greek alpha)

Celestial horizon (CH),  Diurnal Circle,  Diurnal Motion

Ecliptic,  Zodiac,   elongation

Solar systen, solar neighborhood, galaxy, local group, supercluster.

An astronomical unit, a light year

Sample Questions (Don't ask me for the answers, find them):

1.   In general, what are the Laws of Physics conceptually?
2.   How many stars are there in the Solar System?
3.   How many stars are estimated to be in the Milky Way Galaxy?
4.   What is the radius of the solar neighborhood in parsecs ?
5.   What is the name of the process by which stars generate energy?

6.  How long (in hours and minutes) does it take for a star to move 55 degrees along its daily path
     (diurnal circle) in the sky as a result of the Earth's rotation?
7.  What factors determine the strength of the gravitational interaction?
8.  Define what is meant by the radius of the solar system conceptually.  What is the numerical value
     of this in astronomical  units?
9.  What is the difference between rotation and revolution?
10.  What force determines the structure of the atom?

11.  Who discovered that planets move in slightly elliptical orbits and when?
12.  What is the mass ratio between the Earth and the Moon?
13.  What causes every object in the sky to rise in the east and set in the west once a day?
14.  What are the fundamental forces and what do they do?
15.  How long does it take the Earth's center to revolve 360 degrees around the Earth-Moon
        barycenter.

16.  Define the sidereal month and sidereal year.
17.  What is a force?
18.  If Venus has an elongation of  22o E, what time will it set or rise?
19.  By how much and in what direction does the Sun appear to move along the ecliptic?
20.  What causes the Sun's apparent motion along the ecliptic?

21.  What force determines the structure of the atomic nucleus?
22.  Explain the difference between the solar system and the solar neighborhood.
23.  State in words, the universal law of gravity.
24.  Draw a diagram showing where the barycenter would be located for 2 gravitationally
       bound stars that have a mass ratio of 5.  Identify the more massive star in the diagram
25.  What is the name of the great circle on the celestial sphere that is everywhere 90 degrees
       from the celestial poles?

26.  Identify the following:  The acceleration that a net force produces on an object is inversely
        proportioanl to that object's mass.
27.  Draw a planar diagram showing Mars at western quadrature; Venus at greatest eastern
        elongation;  Mercury at superior conjunction.
28.  Compute what time Saturn rises when its elongation is 135 degrees E.  Show the step by step
        details of your calculation as shown in the example in Chapter 2 on the web.
29.  Draw a diagram showing 1) Jupiter at conjunction, 2) Mars at opposition, 3) Mercury at
        greatest eastern elongation, and 4) Venus at inferior conjunction.
30.   When is an asteroid  not  a dwarf planet ?

31.   What is the numerical value for the radius of the Solar System in AU?
32.   What are the names of the dwarf planets?
33.   What are the cirteria that are used to classify an object as a dwarf planet?
34.   When is a TNO not considered to be a KBO?
35.   When was the first TNO discovered other than Pluto?

36.   What did Herschel discover and when?
37.   Who made the most precise positional measurements of the planets before the introduction
        of the telescope and when was this?
38.   Who discovered the planet Neptune and when?
39.   What is a KBO?
40.   Who discovered the first asteroid and when?

Also study the homework questions in the Announcements doocument on line.

End of file.

The following, in blue, are not on test 1.

ecliptic poles, obliquity of the ecliptic and tilt of the Earth's axiis
Sun's apparent motion along the ecliptic. Changing diurnal circles of the Sun. (Lab. Ex. 7.0).
The equinoxes and solstices.

obliquity of the ecliptic, vernal equinox., ecliptic poles, obliquity of the ecliptic

Know the RA and declination of the Sun when it is at the equinoxes and solstices.
Cause of the Seasons, Angle of incidence, length of daylight.
 

Be able to locate the Sun on the ecliptic for any day of the year.

42.  Use the diagram in Chapter 3, sec. D to determone the constellation in
      which the Sun is located on November 22.
43.  Locate the Sun on July 21 in the rectangular star chart in Chapter 3,
       sec. D
44.  What is the RA and Dec. of the Sun on July 21 as determined from the
      the same chart in the above question.

41.  What casues the RA and Dec. of the Sun to change from day to day?