Term
| What is a heliocentric solar system? |
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Definition
| the idea that the planets orbit the central sun in circular orbits |
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Term
| Upon whose observations did Kepler base his laws? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the eccentricity of a circle? |
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Definition
| how squashed the ellipse is compared to a circle. |
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Term
| What are two values needed to describe the size and shape of a planets orbit? |
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Definition
| eccentricity and the semi-major axis |
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Term
| what is the equation for relating the orbital period and semi-major axis of an orbit? |
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Definition
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Term
| What do refracting telescopes use to focus incoming light? |
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Definition
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Term
| what do reflecting telescopes use to focus incoming light? |
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Definition
| the primary concave mirror |
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Term
| What type of objects would a telescope with a focal ratio of 4 best observe? |
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Definition
| deep sky objects such as nebulae and galaxies |
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Term
| What are LGP and M always compared tO? |
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Definition
| the human eye's ability to collect light |
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Term
| What are the units of Resolving Power? |
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Definition
D (measured in inches)
RP (measured in arcseconds) |
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Term
| What is the ideal size of the Exit Pupil? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the definition of a solar rotation rate? |
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Definition
| the change in longitude per day |
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Term
| What are the units of the solar rotation rate? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the average rotation rate of the sun? |
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Definition
| about 13 degrees/per day. (360 degrees/per 27 days) |
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Term
| What part of the sun rotates the fastest? |
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Definition
| the suns equatorial region rotates faster than the poles |
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Term
| What does the absolute magnitude of a star measure? |
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Definition
| the actual brightness of the star |
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Term
| SPectral types are a measure of what? |
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Definition
| of the surface temperatures of stars |
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Term
| In which group are most of the stars? |
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Definition
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Term
| Red Giants have _____ temperature and _______ luminosity |
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Definition
| low temp, high luminosity |
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Term
| Fusion reactions take place in the core of the main sequence star. What is hydrogen fusing into? |
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Definition
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Term
| When our Sun reaches the end of it's life, what will it become? |
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Definition
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Term
| What does the Hubble Law state? |
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Definition
| that the recessional velocities of galaxies are directly proportional to their distances |
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Term
| What event is theorized to have initiated the expansion of the Universe? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the Hubble constant? |
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Definition
| specifies how much velocities of galaxies increase with distance. |
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Term
| What important thing does the Hubble constant help us calculate? |
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Definition
| the rate in which the universe is expanding. (the age of our universe) |
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