Astronomy exam 3

The metallic hydrogen in Jupiter's interior contributes to

its strong magnetic field

The thermal emission from several giant planets

is larger than would be predicted from the amount of sunlight absorbed by the planets

The high level of motions and activity in Jupiter's atmosphere results from

Convection driven in part by the interior heat of the planet

The poles and equator on Jupiter do not rotate at the same rate, implying that

Jupiter's visible surface is made of liquid or gas

Uranus is very similar to

Neptune

Moons that come too close to a planet

will disintegrate

Prior to the Cassini mission, we had not made a good map of the surface features on Titan because

it has a relatively opaque atmosphere

The densest of Jupiter's large moons are found

close to Jupiter

This moon of Jupiter has a relatively smooth icy surface suggesting an underlying ocean.

Europa

A key ingredient in discovering Pluto was

comparison of photographs taken at different times

The New Horizons spacecraft revealed that Pluto

has surprisingly complex surface

We have determined the surface compositions of asteroids by

finding pieces of them on the ground , studying spectra of sunlight reflected from them

Comets originate

from cloud surrounding the Solar System

Pluto is likely one of the largest members of

the Kuiper belt

A meteor shower results when

the earth passes through the remnants of a comet

Comets are comprised mainly of

ice

If all the asteroids in the asteroid belt were assembled into a planet, it would be

less than 1/1,000 of Earth's mass

No full-sized planet formed between Mars and Jupiter because

Jupiter's gravity kept stirring things up so no large object was safe from big collisions

A star may be a variable star because

it alternately expands and contracts

The Shapley-Curtis debate

was important philosophically because the topics touched on our place in the Universe

That "spiral nebulae" were other galaxies like the Milky Way was first established when

the new 100-inch telescope was used to resolve some of them into stars

Galaxy distances are determined

by a large variety of techniques that have to be used together, depending on the circumstances

Distance measurements to the galaxies around us show that

the Milky Way is part of a galaxy group in which it and M31 are surrounded by many small galaxies

The biggest change in our view of our place in the Universe compared with the view 100 years ago is

then, we thought that the "Universe" was just the Milky Way

What is the evidence there is dark matter beyond the disks of spiral galaxies?

the stellar mass distribution does not account for the rotation curve of the galaxies

We think that either dark matter is in the form of low mass brown dwarfs and wandering planets, or

the Universe is filled with an undetected type of nuclear particle

Galaxies are distributed

in vast sheets and filaments that make a structure a little like soap bubbles, in clusters and groups

Gravitational lenses in galaxy clusters are used

to confirm that the clusters have huge amounts of dark matter

Spiral arms are prominent in some galaxies because

they show where young and bright stars have formed

The various types of galaxy

include spirals, ellipticals, and irregulars

We see where the young stars are in a galaxy most easily when we look in

the ultraviolet and far infrared

In very deep images that let us detect very distant and hence young galaxies, we find them to be

generally to be smaller and with less regular structure compared with nearby ones

We know about the black hole in the Galactic Center because

from Newton's and Kepler's laws

The nature of quasars was initially confusing because

their emission lines were at peculiar wavelengths

An active nucleus can be identified by

all of the above

Active galaxy nuclei are powered by

matter falling into a very massive black hole

The rapid variability in the outputs of quasars and other active nuclei shows that

the nuclear sources are very small

In comparison with the black holes in some other galaxies, the one in the Galactic Center is curious because

it seems to be making very little energy

The Galactic Center was hidden from astronomers for many years because

it is hidden in the visible by clouds of interstellar dust

Galaxies undergoing starbursts

are forming massive stars rapidly and in exceptionally large numbers

Our own galaxy

is pulling apart some nearby galaxies and will eventually consume them

Ring-shaped galaxies and galaxies with tails of stars are evidence for

galaxy collisions

Star formation

tends to be enhanced where peaks in the local density compress the molecular clouds

Galaxy collisions can

trigger high rates of star formation

Saturn's rings are much more visible than other rings because

they are small particles largely of ice

Look at the graph at the left. What is the period for this star

4.5 days

You have measured the period of a Cepheid variable and found that it is 5 days. From the graph at left, what is the luminosity of this star?

10^3 LSun

Astronomers have found that there is a relationship between the mass of stars in a galaxy and the mass of the black hole in the galaxy's center.

this is surprising because the black hole would seem to be too small to influence all the stars

In the collection of pictures above, which galaxy is an elliptical galaxy?

b.

The Milky Way most closely resembles which of these galaxies

a.