Review Notes for exam 1

The first exam will cover the history of astronomy through the obsrevations and discoveries of Galileo. Make sure that you have read chapters 1 – 6 of Ferris' Coming of Age in the Milky Way, chapters 1 – 11 in Bartusiak's Archives of the Universe and chapters 1 and 3 of Comins' Discovering the Essential Universe.

Make sure that you have a thorough understanding of the concepts addressed in the homework questions (including the sections on the Doppler effect and blackbody radiation covered in Chapter 3.) Working some of the problems I did not assign is often good practice in preparation for exams as is going back through the chapters to reread the sections covering material discussed in class.

The topics covered on the exam will be:

  1. A general understanding of the scale of our solar system and the immense distances to stars (A Sense of Place presentation 2.1 MB pdf)
  2. Basic distance definitions (the astronomical unit, light-year and parsec)
  3. The celestial sphere
    1. Basic definitions (north celestial pole, Vernal equinox, ecliptic, zenith, circumpolar, etc.)
    2. The orientation of Earth’s axis and the cause of the seasons
    3. Important latitudes on Earth (Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, the arctic and antarctic circles, etc.)
    4. Cause of the precession of Earth's axis
    5. Trigonometric parallax
  4. Phases of the Moon (33kB pdf)
  5. The birth of science or (Ancient Astronomies Presentation 5.8 MB pdf) and observations of the Greeks (notes in Word format 352 kB )
  6. Shoulder of Giants presentations (Part 1 6.1 MB pdf, Part 2 2.7 MB pdf)
  7. Ptolemy's geocentric model of the Universe
    1. Retrograde motion
    2. Equant
    3. "Saving the appearances"
  8. Copernicus' heliocentric model of the Universe (Slides 70 kB pdf)
    1. Simplified explanation of retrograde motion
    2. Rationale for preferring a sun-centered universe
    3. Signficant planetary alignments and determination of planetary distances
  9. Understanding of synodic and sidereal periods
  10. Observations and historical significance of Tycho Brahe
  11. Johannes Kepler and the laws of planetary motion (practice problems 70kB pdf)
  12. Galileo's telescopic observations of 1609-10 and later experiments on motion and inertia (movie of rotating sun 205 kB Quicktime mov)
  13. Definitions of speed, velocity, acceleration and mass
  14. Newton's laws of motion
  15. Newton's law of universal gravitation
  16. Einstein's theory of special relativity (Special Relativty presentation 1.8 MB pdf)
    1. Postulates
    2. Length contraction, mass and time dilation
    3. The twin paradox
    4. Concept of spacetime
  17. Nine Things You Need to Know About Special Relativity (3.2 MB pdf)
  18. The Doppler Effect (Amtrak Texas Eagle on YouTube)
  19. Blackbody Radiation
    1. Wien's displacement law
    2. The Stefan-Boltzmann law
    3. Luminosity

There will be some math on this test since we have discussed Kepler's laws of planetary mtion. You do not need to memorize equations or constants and numerical values since I’ll provide them. You should be generally familiar with the chronology of history and the order in which the people we've discussed lived and approximately when different discoveries were made. Memorized exact dates of births and deaths is unnecessary.

Sample Exam Questions

To help you prepare for the style of questions I often ask, here are a few sample questions to solve:

  1. Give a brief definition of the Vernal equinox.
  2. Why did Aristarchus' theory that the earth moves around the Sun fail to gain acceptance?
  3. What is the group of constellations the Sun moves through during the year?
    1. The zodiac
    2. The precession of the equinoces
    3. The ecliptic
    4. The autumnal equinox
  4. Why do seasonal variations in the amount of daylight occur?
  5. At what time of year is Earth closest to the Sun?
    1. Winter
    2. Spring
    3. Summer
    4. Fall

Solutions to Sample Questions