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
From where on Earth could you observe all of the stars during the course of a year? What fraction of the sky can be seen from the North Pole?
Give four ways to demonstrate that Earth is spherical.
Explain, according to both geocentric and heliocentric cosmologies, why we see retrograde motion of the planets.
In what ways did the work of Copernicus and Galileo differ from the views of the ancient Greeks and of their contemporaries?
What were four of Galileo’s discoveries that were important to astronomy?
Explain the origin of the magnitude designation for determining the brightness of stars. Why does it seem to go backward, with smaller numbers indicating brighter stars?
Ursa Minor contains the pole star, Polaris, and the asterism known as the Little Dipper. From most locations in the Northern Hemisphere, all of the stars in Ursa Minor are circumpolar. Does that mean these stars are also above the horizon during the day? Explain.
How many degrees does the Sun move per day relative to the fixed stars? How many days does it take for the Sun to return to its original location relative to the fixed stars?
How many degrees does the Moon move per day relative to the fixed stars? How many days does it take for the Moon to return to its original location relative to the fixed stars?
Explain how the zodiacal constellations are different from the other constellations.
The Sun was once thought to be a planet. Explain why.
Is the ecliptic the same thing as the celestial equator? Explain.
What is an asterism? Can you name an example?
Why did Pythagoras believe that Earth should be spherical?
How did Aristotle deduce that the Sun is farther away from Earth than the Moon?
What are two ways in which Aristotle deduced that Earth is spherical?
How did Hipparchus discover the wobble of Earth’s axis, known as precession?
Why did Ptolemy have to introduce multiple circles of motion for the planets instead of a single, simple circle to represent the planet’s motion around the Earth?
Why did Copernicus want to develop a completely new system for predicting planetary positions? Provide two reasons.
What two factors made it difficult, at first, for astronomers to choose between the Copernican heliocentric model and the Ptolemaic geocentric model?
What phases would Venus show if the geocentric model were correct?