AST 1002 STUDY GUIDE -- HOUR TEST 1
- celestial sphere -- constellations, celestial poles and equator
- appearance of sky with celestial sphere -- horizon, zenith; altitude,
azimuth and compass
directions, celestial meridian; orientation of celestial sphere with
latitude; daily (diurnal) motion
- Sun's apparent motion -- Sun's position on ecliptic and seasons,
equinoxes and solstices, dates, tropical year; caused by Earth's revolution
- Moon -- path among stars and sidereal month; synodic month and phases,
times of rise and set; reason for difference between sidereal and synodic months
- eclipses -- geometry, umbra and penumbra, effects of Earth's atmosphere:
refraction and scattering; lunar eclipses, solar eclipses, Moon's phases and
viewability; eclipse seasons and line of nodes, regression
- planets -- inferior vs. superior, configurations and phases; retrograde
motion
- energy -- kinetic; potential, especially gravitational; radiative
- definitions -- speed, velocity, acceleration, mass
- dynamics and Newton's Laws -- constant velocity if no external force;
force = mass x acceleration; action=reaction; circular motion: centripetal
force, centrifugal "force"
- angular momentum -- what determines it
- law of universal gravitation, inverse-square dependence and consequences,
surface gravity and dependence on mass, radius
- gravitational two-body problem 1 -- Kepler for planets: elliptical orbits,
semimajor axis and eccentricity, orbital speed and Law of Areas, perihelion and
aphelion, Harmonic Law relating period and semimajor axis
- gravitational two-body problem 2 -- Newton in general: closed/bound/periodic
orbits (ellipses, including circle) and open/unbound/one-time orbits (parabolas,
hyperbolas), circular/orbital speed and parabolic/escape speed (not exact
numbers); form of orbit and sign of total energy; conservation of orbital
angular momentum and connection with Law of Areas; revision of Harmonic Law
including masses
- tidal forces, high and low tides and tidal bulges; combining lunar and
(weaker) solar: spring, neap tides and lunar phases; tidal friction, Earth's
rotation, and changes in the Moon's orbit
- electromagnetic radiation, including light -- wave vs. particle;
wavelength, frequency, energy, and interrelations (dependences but not
exact formulas); main regions of the electromagnetic spectrum and colors
of visible light in proper order (Remember Roy!)
- types of spectra -- 1) continuous; 2) emission-line (bright-line);
3) absorption-line (dark-line); sources, examples for each
- thermal energy; connection between heat, temperature, and kinetic energy of
particles, temperature scales: Fahrenheit, Celsius or Centigrade, Kelvin or
Absolute
- thermal radiation -- shift in peak wavelength (maximum intensity) with
temperature and accompanying shift in color of visible light; change in energy
output per unit area per unit time with temperature (both require temperature
in K)
- atomic structure -- nucleus (protons, neutrons; atomic number, atomic
weight/mass, isotopes), electron cloud, electron energy (kinetic+potential),
energy levels, ground state and excited states (above ground), ionization
and recombination
- emission- and absorption-line radiation -- energy-level transitions in
atoms or ions=charged atoms, unique to element and its ionization stage;
excitation and temperature, ionization and temperature when collisions
involved, giving temperature and pressure as well as chemical composition