You are on page 1of 1

1.

Briefly describe the major objects or groupings in the universe (planet,


star, solar system, galaxy, etc.)
2. What are circumpolar stars? Are more stars circumpolar at the North Pole
or in the United States?
3. Prof. Macintoshs daughter is a big fan of the PBS series Dinosaur Train. In
a recent episode, the characters sentient pterosaurs and theropods in
the late Cretacous period, about a hundred million years ago learned
about the constellations. However, the constellations shown didnt
resemble any of the real constellations we see in our sky. Was this an
error? Explain why or why not.
4. The star Eta Carinae is about 7,500 light---years away. Some astronomers
think this supermassive star is likely to explode in a supernova relatively
soon. If the star exploded today, (a) all life on Earth would be wiped out
by intense gamma radiation by the end of the week; (b) the explosion
would be visible immediately and brighter than any other object in the
sky; (c) we wouldnt even know about the explosion until the far future.
5. Scaling the local group of galaxies. Both the Milky Way and the
Andromeda Galaxy (M31) are approximately the same size, and
separated by about 2.5 million light years. Using a scale on which 1 cm
represents 100,000 light years, draw a sketch showing both galaxies and
the separation between them. How does the separation between galaxies
compare to the separation between stars? Based on your answer, discuss
the likelihood of galactic collisions in comparison to the likelihood of
stellar collisions.
6. Saturns rings have a diameter of about 270,000 km, and Saturn is
typically about 9 AU from the Earth. The Andromeda galaxy has a
diameter of about 100,000 light years. Which has a larger angular size?
7. Imagine you could drive a car at a constant 100 km/hour. How long would
it take to drive around the Earth at the equator? From the sun to Earth?
From the sun to Alpha Centauri?
8. If instead you wanted to reach Alpha Centauri in 100 years, how fast
would you have to go in km/hr? km/sec? How many times faster is that
than the spacecraft we can build now?
9. Angular conversions: The following angles are given in degrees and
fractions of a degree. Rewrite them in degrees, arcminutes, and arcseconds.
(a) 24.3o. (b) 1.59o. (c) 0.01o (d) 0.002o

You might also like