Contents
- Preface
1Science and the Universe: A Brief Tour
2Observing the Sky: The Birth of Astronomy
7Other Worlds: An Introduction to the Solar System
13Comets and Asteroids: Debris of the Solar System
14Cosmic Samples and the Origin of the Solar System
18The Stars: A Celestial Census
20Between the Stars: Gas and Dust in Space
21The Birth of Stars and the Discovery of Planets outside the Solar System
27Active Galaxies, Quasars, and Supermassive Black Holes
- AHow to Study for an Introductory Astronomy Class
- BAstronomy Websites, Images, and Apps
- CScientific Notation
- DUnits Used in Science
- ESome Useful Constants for Astronomy
- FPhysical and Orbital Data for the Planets
- GSelected Moons of the Planets
- HFuture Total Eclipses
- IThe Nearest Stars, Brown Dwarfs, and White Dwarfs
- JThe Brightest Twenty Stars
- KThe Chemical Elements
- LThe Constellations
- MStar Chart and Sky Event Resources
- Index
Review Questions
Review Questions
Describe the main differences between the composition of Earth and that of the Sun.
Describe how energy makes its way from the nuclear core of the Sun to the atmosphere. Include the name of each layer and how energy moves through the layer.
Make a sketch of the Sun’s atmosphere showing the locations of the photosphere, chromosphere, and corona. What is the approximate temperature of each of these regions?
Why do sunspots look dark?
Which aspects of the Sun’s activity cycle have a period of about 11 years? Which vary during intervals of about 22 years?
Summarize the evidence indicating that over several hundreds of years or more there have been variations in the level of the solar activity.
What it the Zeeman effect and what does it tell us about the Sun?
Explain how the theory of the Sun’s dynamo results in an average 22-year solar activity cycle. Include the location and mechanism for the dynamo.
Compare and contrast the four different types of solar activity above the photosphere.
What are the two sources of particles coming from the Sun that cause space weather? How are they different?
How does activity on the Sun affect human technology on Earth and in the rest of the solar system?
How does activity on the Sun affect natural phenomena on Earth?