Exercises
Exercise 1
The following questions are from chapters 1
and 2 of the text, my Web site, and Stellarium
Fill in the blanks for the following
¢ The
__________________ is the totality of all space, time, matter, and energy.
¢ A configuration of stars is
called a________________________________ Ancient astronomers named many of
them after mythological beings.
¢
____________________ is the study of the universe.
¢ The ___________________ of a
star is measured in degrees north or south of the celestial equator.
¢ The ______________________
of a star is measured in hour, minutes, and seconds. It increases in the eastward direction.
¢ The apparent path of the Sun on the celestial sphere in the course of a year is called the _______________________. It is inclined to the
celestial equator at an angle of
23.5 degrees.
¢ The prime meridian runs
through (name of the location) _______________________
¢ The apparent displacement of a foreground object relative to the background as the observer's location changes is known as _______________
¢ A ________________________ is a representation of a phenomena in terms familiar to the observer.
It is useful in studying
properties of the phenomena but one should be careful concerning the
validity that is attached to it.
¢ A ____________________ is a framework of ideas and assumptions used to explain some set of observations and to make predictions about
the real world.
¢ The distance that light
travels in one year is called a ____________________
¢ The Big Dipper is called
a(an) ___________________________
¢ _____________________
discovered our place in the "suburbs" of the Milky Way galaxy.
¢ _____________________
discovered the expansion of the universe.
¢ The ______________________
universe concept placed the Earth at the center of everything.
¢ The
______________________ universe concept placed the Sun at the center of
everything.
¢ The earliest models of the
universe followed the teachings of the Greek philosopher _______________
¢ Later, around 140 AD, the
Greek Astronomer ______________________ constructed one of the most complete
Earth centered models of all time.
¢ What is the name of the
following constellation?_______________________
¢ Stellarium, along with all modern planetarium software require the use of longitude and latitude of a user’s location. These items are also related
to celestial coordinates.
Define these two term.
Ø Longitude
Ø Latitude
¢ Indicate whether the
following statements are true or false by placing a check mark (P
) in the
appropriate column.
|
Statement |
True |
False |
|
Galileo Galilei’s daughter was placed in a
monastery |
|
|
|
Newton was born the same year Galileo died |
|
|
|
Aristotle argued that the Earth was stationary and
the universe was finite |
|
|
|
Ptolemy was born somewhere in South America |
|
|
|
Tycho Brahe was an observational astronomer
|
|
|
|
Kepler’s nose was severed in a sword fight |
|
|
|
Copernicus was the first to publish a heliocentric
hypothesis |
|
|
¢ State Kepler’s 3 laws
¢ Sirius will be visible at
night or in the morning (you pick which). List below the date, time, and direction Sirius will be visible using Stellarium.
¢ How far away is Sirius?
___________________________