How many years does it take light from Proxima Centauri to reach us? Our sun formed about how many years ago?

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 Assignment 1

  1. The moon is about 240,000 mi away. What is this in scientific notation?
  2. The planets shine because they [produce their own energy, reflect sunlight].
  3. What is meant by the AU?
  4. The light-year is a unit of [time, distance].
  5. How many years does it take light from Proxima Centauri to reach us?
  6. Our sun formed about how many years ago?
  7. What is meant by a galaxy?
  8. Our galaxy is about how many light-years in diameter?
  9. Is Pluto always further from the sun than Neptune?

10.When we see a galaxy 8 billion light-years away we are looking how many years into the past?

11.The universe is thought to be about how many years old?

12.It is [likely, unlikely] that most stars have planets going around them.

13.There are how many official constellations?

14.The Big Dipper is an example of [a constellation, an asterism].

15.Which star usually appears brighter, one designated alpha or one designated beta?

16.Which star appears brighter, one of second magnitude or one of fifth magnitude?

17.If two stars differ in magnitude by 4, what is the ratio in their apparent brightness? [No calculation is required. See Pg. 15]

18.Approximately what is the apparent visual magnitude of the sun?

19.Where on Earth is the north celestial pole at the zenith?

20.The latitude of Seattle is 47 degrees north. How many degrees above the north point of the horizon is the north celestial pole as seen from Seattle?

21.What is meant by a circumpolar constellation?

22.If you travel south, Polaris would get [higher, lower] in the sky.

23.The Earth rotates from [west to east, east to west].

24.Circumpolar stars circle around the north celestial pole [clockwise, counterclockwise].

25.How many years does it take the Earth to complete one precession?

26.In about 12,000 years what bright star will be a few degrees from the north celestial pole?

27.Can people in Australia see the Big Dipper?

28.Where on Earth could you see all the constellations rise and set?

29.What is meant by a scientific model?

30.Who is believed to compile the first star catalog and discovered precession?

31.Give one reason why the study of astronomy can be useful.

32.What is the name of the brightest star in the sky? [Don’t say the sun!]

33.The pointer starts at the front of the big dipper point to what star?

34.Astronomers measure distances across the sky in [inches, meters, angles].

35.According to the Universe Bowl (See page 6), on the time scale civilization began about [1- yard, 1 foot, less than 1 inch] from the other goal line.

36.What are the largest known structures in the universe?

 

 

Open the editable document attached below and follow the instructions. Provide your responses below each prompt using red, blue, or green color font. Copy and paste any graphs, tables, or figures where needed.

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DISCUSSION ESSAY

Open the editable document attached below and follow the instructions. Provide your responses below each prompt using red, blue, or green color font. Copy and paste any graphs, tables, or figures where needed. For this lab, you can either type in the answer to the questions and edit the H-R graph template directly on your computer or you can simply print it and add the entries by hand. Then scan it, save it as a PDF, and submit it here.

We hope, within the next couple of decades, to send humans to Mars for exploration, and eventually colonization. What are the key obstacles and challenges we have to face to accomplish this goal?

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435:W3F(250 words)

Myths and misconceptions have clouded our understanding of Mars for centuries. Today, we understand the red planet much better. In this discussion, you will reflect on the what we have learned and what we still need to know about this intriguing world.

Choose one of the following topics to discuss:

We hope, within the next couple of decades, to send humans to Mars for exploration, and eventually colonization. What are the key obstacles and challenges we have to face to accomplish this goal?

or

Discuss terrain features on Mars — what’s unusual, surprising, and what have Mars orbiting spacecraft and rovers told us about Mars’ past?

Write an essay about the exploration of Mars; include details about past missions, current missions, potential future missions, and the current state of our knowledge about the planet.

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435:W3A

Instructions

Write an essay about the exploration of Mars; include details about past missions, current missions, potential future missions, and the current state of our knowledge about the planet.

Write an essay about the exploration of Jupiter; include details about past missions, current missions, potential future missions, and the current state of our knowledge about the planet.

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435:W4A

Instructions

Write an essay about the exploration of Jupiter; include details about past missions, current missions, potential future missions, and the current state of our knowledge about the planet.

What’s special and interesting about Saturn’s moon Enceladus? Why is learning more about this moon considered an important objective by many planetary scientists?

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435:W5F(250 words)

Pick one of these topics to discuss:

What did we learn about Saturn’s moon Titan from the Cassini-Huygens mission? What major questions about Titan remain unanswered?

–OR–

What’s special and interesting about Saturn’s moon Enceladus? Why is learning more about this moon considered an important objective by many planetary scientists?

Write an essay about the exploration of Saturn; include details about past missions, potential future missions, and the current state of our knowledge about the planet.

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435:W5A

Instructions

Write an essay about the exploration of Saturn; include details about past missions, potential future missions, and the current state of our knowledge about the planet.

Write an essay about any two of the moons of Jupiter and/or Saturn – discuss the exploration of these moons, what we know about them, what we’d still like to learn about them, and why knowledge of these moons is important to our understanding of the solar system.

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435:W7A

Instructions

Write an essay about any two of the moons of Jupiter and/or Saturn – discuss the exploration of these moons, what we know about them, what we’d still like to learn about them, and why knowledge of these moons is important to our understanding of the solar system.

Discuss the discovery of “Planet Nine” — why astronomers think it exists, what it’s orbit appears to be like, the expected characteristics of the planet, and how and why astronomers have come to these conclusions.

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435:W7F(250 words)

Choose one of the following topics to discuss:

Discuss the Kuiper Belt, including the theories by Edgeworth and Kuiper, the discovery of objects, what we know about the Belt, and what mysteries remain.

or

Discuss the Oort Cloud, including the current theories about its structure and what we know about it at present.

or

Discuss the New Horizons mission, including what it’s discovered so far and what the future holds for the spacecraft.

or

Discuss the discovery of “Planet Nine” — why astronomers think it exists, what it’s orbit appears to be like, the expected characteristics of the planet, and how and why astronomers have come to these conclusions.

Uranus and Neptune are very similar planets. In what ways are they similar, and in what ways do they differ? In what ways, if any, are they unusual?

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435:W6F(250 words)

Uranus and Neptune are very similar planets. In what ways are they similar, and in what ways do they differ? In what ways, if any, are they unusual?