PSU ASTRO 7N EXAMS SCRIPT UPDATED EXAM
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS GRADED A+
✔✔Constellations close to the North Pole of Earth _____ - ✔✔Move in a circle around
the North Star, Polaris, over the course of a single night
✔✔There are a total of 88 constellations. Roughly how many of these can be seen at a
given time from a single location on a clear night? - ✔✔44
✔✔What is the relationship between wavelength and frequency? - ✔✔If the frequency
increases, wavelength decreases
✔✔Compare the frequency of x-ray versus regular light - ✔✔The x-ray has a larger
frequency than visible light
✔✔Compare the frequency and wavelength of a gamma ray with that of visible light: -
✔✔Gamma ray frequency is higher and its wavelength is lower
✔✔Compared to blue light, red light has - ✔✔Longer wavelength, smaller frequency,
smaller energy
✔✔Which types of radiation have the lowest energy? - ✔✔Infrared radiation and radio
✔✔The spectrum of an oxygen lamp looks different than the spectrum of a sodium lamp
because: - ✔✔Each atom has a unique set of electron orbits
✔✔Dark lines in an absorption spectrum represent: - ✔✔Particular energies of light
coming from a distant object that are absorbed by material in between
✔✔True or false: The energy of a photon increases in proportion to the wavelength of
the radiation - ✔✔False
✔✔True or false: An absorption spectrum appears as a continuous spectrum interrupted
by a series of dark lines - ✔✔True
✔✔The electrons in a cloud of hydrogen gas are making the transition from excited
states to the ground state. What does the spectrum of this cloud of gas look like? - ✔✔It
will consist of few bright emission lines at specific wavelengths
✔✔In what ways does a 30 meter telescope outperform a 10 meter telescope? - ✔✔Its
images are 9x brighter than a 10 meter
, ✔✔Even the largest ground-based telescopes have resolution restrictions imposed by: -
✔✔Atmospheric blurring of images
✔✔When you magnify an object with a telescope, what else happens to your view of the
sky? - ✔✔Your field of view gets smaller, so you can only see a small area of the sky
✔✔How long would one need to observe a star on a 10 meter telescope to collect the
same amount of light as one collects in one hour on a 5 meter telescope? - ✔✔15
minutes
✔✔If a telescope in space is only 1/4 the diameter of a telescope on Earth, is this
statement true or false: the larger telescope can observe objects fainter that the space
telescope - ✔✔True
✔✔What was Kepler's first law? - ✔✔Planets revolve around the sun in elliptical orbits
with the sun at one focus of the ellipse
✔✔What best describes the orbit of the Earth around the sun? - ✔✔An ellipse that is
close to being circular
✔✔What does Kepler's second law support? - ✔✔When a planet is closer to the Sun, its
speed is greater than when it is farther away
✔✔How did Kepler himself originally state his second law? - ✔✔A line joining a planet
and the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal intervals of time
✔✔What was Kepler's third law? - ✔✔The square of the time period for an orbit of a
planet is proportional to cube of its average distance from Sun (in other words P2 is
proportional to a3)
✔✔Saturn is about 10x as far from the sun as Earth is (a=10 AU). About how many
times does Earth orbit the sun in the time it takes Saturn to orbit just once? - ✔✔About
30
✔✔Besides, the discovery that moons orbit Jupiter, what other discovery made by
Galileo Galilei, with an early telescope, proved that the Earth is not at the center of the
Universe? - ✔✔The phases of Venus
✔✔We saw that Kepler's 3rd law states that P^2/a^3 = constant. What does P represent
in this equation? - ✔✔Orbital period, in this case how long it takes for a satellite to orbit
Jupiter
✔✔Of the 4 Galilean moons, which is the closest to Jupiter? - ✔✔Lo
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS GRADED A+
✔✔Constellations close to the North Pole of Earth _____ - ✔✔Move in a circle around
the North Star, Polaris, over the course of a single night
✔✔There are a total of 88 constellations. Roughly how many of these can be seen at a
given time from a single location on a clear night? - ✔✔44
✔✔What is the relationship between wavelength and frequency? - ✔✔If the frequency
increases, wavelength decreases
✔✔Compare the frequency of x-ray versus regular light - ✔✔The x-ray has a larger
frequency than visible light
✔✔Compare the frequency and wavelength of a gamma ray with that of visible light: -
✔✔Gamma ray frequency is higher and its wavelength is lower
✔✔Compared to blue light, red light has - ✔✔Longer wavelength, smaller frequency,
smaller energy
✔✔Which types of radiation have the lowest energy? - ✔✔Infrared radiation and radio
✔✔The spectrum of an oxygen lamp looks different than the spectrum of a sodium lamp
because: - ✔✔Each atom has a unique set of electron orbits
✔✔Dark lines in an absorption spectrum represent: - ✔✔Particular energies of light
coming from a distant object that are absorbed by material in between
✔✔True or false: The energy of a photon increases in proportion to the wavelength of
the radiation - ✔✔False
✔✔True or false: An absorption spectrum appears as a continuous spectrum interrupted
by a series of dark lines - ✔✔True
✔✔The electrons in a cloud of hydrogen gas are making the transition from excited
states to the ground state. What does the spectrum of this cloud of gas look like? - ✔✔It
will consist of few bright emission lines at specific wavelengths
✔✔In what ways does a 30 meter telescope outperform a 10 meter telescope? - ✔✔Its
images are 9x brighter than a 10 meter
, ✔✔Even the largest ground-based telescopes have resolution restrictions imposed by: -
✔✔Atmospheric blurring of images
✔✔When you magnify an object with a telescope, what else happens to your view of the
sky? - ✔✔Your field of view gets smaller, so you can only see a small area of the sky
✔✔How long would one need to observe a star on a 10 meter telescope to collect the
same amount of light as one collects in one hour on a 5 meter telescope? - ✔✔15
minutes
✔✔If a telescope in space is only 1/4 the diameter of a telescope on Earth, is this
statement true or false: the larger telescope can observe objects fainter that the space
telescope - ✔✔True
✔✔What was Kepler's first law? - ✔✔Planets revolve around the sun in elliptical orbits
with the sun at one focus of the ellipse
✔✔What best describes the orbit of the Earth around the sun? - ✔✔An ellipse that is
close to being circular
✔✔What does Kepler's second law support? - ✔✔When a planet is closer to the Sun, its
speed is greater than when it is farther away
✔✔How did Kepler himself originally state his second law? - ✔✔A line joining a planet
and the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal intervals of time
✔✔What was Kepler's third law? - ✔✔The square of the time period for an orbit of a
planet is proportional to cube of its average distance from Sun (in other words P2 is
proportional to a3)
✔✔Saturn is about 10x as far from the sun as Earth is (a=10 AU). About how many
times does Earth orbit the sun in the time it takes Saturn to orbit just once? - ✔✔About
30
✔✔Besides, the discovery that moons orbit Jupiter, what other discovery made by
Galileo Galilei, with an early telescope, proved that the Earth is not at the center of the
Universe? - ✔✔The phases of Venus
✔✔We saw that Kepler's 3rd law states that P^2/a^3 = constant. What does P represent
in this equation? - ✔✔Orbital period, in this case how long it takes for a satellite to orbit
Jupiter
✔✔Of the 4 Galilean moons, which is the closest to Jupiter? - ✔✔Lo
