New Horizons – Astronomy Hw
The key terms of Astronomy Homework include New Horizons.
All of the following were discovered by the New Horizons mission as it flew past Pluto
– the small moons have chaotic orbits
– a heart shaped nitrogen ice glacier 2000 km in size
– mountains made from water ice
– Charon is tidally locked to Pluto, but Pluto is also tidally locked to Charon
What do we believe happens to Pluto’s atmosphere as it orbits the sun?
there is more of it at perihelion and less of it at aphelion
Because protons are positively charged, they experience an electromagnetic repulsive force when they are near each other. If protons collide and are even momentarily close together, then this force will keep them from flying apart.
Strong Nuclear Force
What percentage of our solar system’s mass is contained in the mass of the sun?
99.86
What is the source of energy that powers the sun and keeps it “alive”?
nuclear fusion in the core
The name of the spacecraft that was launched in January 2006 in order to visit the planet Pluto (July 2015) and continue on into the Kuiper Belt is named
New Horizons
When hydrogen is converted to helium through the proton-proton chain in the core of the sun, 4 protons (hydrogen nuclei) combine to form 1 helium nucleus. Which of the following statements correctly describes how this process releases the energy that powers our sun?
The mass of the helium nucleus formed is less than the mass of the 4 hydrogen nuclei. The missing mass is converted into energy which powers our sun.
These photons are created in the core of the sun during the process of nuclear fusion, but luckily they are trapped in the radiative zone for nearly 100,000 years before their energy escapes from the sun as sunlight.
gamma ray photons
How does the magnetic field cause a sunspot to form?
The magnetic pressure causes the region to expand and cool. When the thermal pressure plus the magnetic pressure inside the spot are equal to the thermal pressure outside the spot, it will stop growing.
The darkest part of a sunspot is typically 1000 K cooler than the surrounding surface of the sun. What do we call the darkest part of the sunspot?
umbra
Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) is best described as
an incredibly powerful and energetic expulsion of material from a coronal hole, that would be dangerous to humans if it hit the Earth
The net result of the proton-proton chain in a main sequence star is to convert:
four protons to one helium-4 nucleus, two neutrinos, two positrons, and gamma rays.
If star A has an apparent magnitude of 4 while star B has an apparent magnitude of 6, then star A is ________ than star B.
6.25 times brighter.
The parallax method is useful for determining the distance to stars within
1000 parsecs
From the data given, which star in the table has the greatest luminosity?
Use the chart below to answer the following question(s).
58 Ori
What is the name for the radioactive form of hydrogen, also known as H-3?
tritium
A lone neutron (found outside the nucleus) is unstable and will decay with a half-life of only 10.2 minutes. Which of the fundamental forces is reponsible for the decay of the neutron?
Weak Nuclear force
All protons and neutrons in the universe are Baryons and made of exactly three quarks bound together. What flavors of quarks are used to make protons and neutrons?
up quarks and down quarks
What is the force that holds quarks together to form a hadron?
Strong Nuclear Force
All of the following were discovered by the New Horizons mission as it flew past Pluto
– the small moons have chaotic orbits
– a heart shaped nitrogen ice glacier 2000 km in size
– mountains made from water ice
– Charon is tidally locked to Pluto, but Pluto is also tidally locked to Charon
What do we believe happens to Pluto’s atmosphere as it orbits the sun?
there is more of it at perihelion and less of it at aphelion
Because protons are positively charged, they experience an electromagnetic repulsive force when they are near each other. If protons collide and are even momentarily close together, then this force will keep them from flying apart.
Strong Nuclear Force
What percentage of our solar system’s mass is contained in the mass of the sun?
99.86
What is the source of energy that powers the sun and keeps it “alive”?
nuclear fusion in the core
The name of the spacecraft that was launched in January 2006 in order to visit the planet Pluto (July 2015) and continue on into the Kuiper Belt is named
New Horizons
When hydrogen is converted to helium through the proton-proton chain in the core of the sun, 4 protons (hydrogen nuclei) combine to form 1 helium nucleus. Which of the following statements correctly describes how this process releases the energy that powers our sun?
The mass of the helium nucleus formed is less than the mass of the 4 hydrogen nuclei. The missing mass is converted into energy which powers our sun.
These photons are created in the core of the sun during the process of nuclear fusion, but luckily they are trapped in the radiative zone for nearly 100,000 years before their energy escapes from the sun as sunlight.
gamma ray photons
How does the magnetic field cause a sunspot to form?
The magnetic pressure causes the region to expand and cool. When the thermal pressure plus the magnetic pressure inside the spot are equal to the thermal pressure outside the spot, it will stop growing.
The darkest part of a sunspot is typically 1000 K cooler than the surrounding surface of the sun. What do we call the darkest part of the sunspot?
umbra
Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) is best described as
an incredibly powerful and energetic expulsion of material from a coronal hole, that would be dangerous to humans if it hit the Earth
The net result of the proton-proton chain in a main sequence star is to convert:
four protons to one helium-4 nucleus, two neutrinos, two positrons, and gamma rays.
If star A has an apparent magnitude of 4 while star B has an apparent magnitude of 6, then star A is ________ than star B.
6.25 times brighter.
The parallax method is useful for determining the distance to stars within
1000 parsecs
From the data given, which star in the table has the greatest luminosity?
Use the chart below to answer the following question(s).
58 Ori
What is the name for the radioactive form of hydrogen, also known as H-3?
tritium
A lone neutron (found outside the nucleus) is unstable and will decay with a half-life of only 10.2 minutes. Which of the fundamental forces is reponsible for the decay of the neutron?
Weak Nuclear force
All protons and neutrons in the universe are Baryons and made of exactly three quarks bound together. What flavors of quarks are used to make protons and neutrons?
up quarks and down quarks
What is the force that holds quarks together to form a hadron?
Strong Nuclear Force