Astronomy on the Final
10 Topic Areas to remember from the class this semester:
1. The Moon
a. Five Surface Features
b. Layers of the Moon
c. Origin of the Moon/Moon rocks
d. Tides, Eclipses, Phases and the relationship between them
2. The Solar System
a. Its origin
b. Types of object: 1 Star, 4 Terrestrial planets, 4 Giant
(2 “Gas” 2 Water), Dwarf planets (rocky/icy)
Minor Planets (asteroids), Cometary bodies
Meteoroids, & Moons
c. Location of Objects: Order of planets,
Two minor planet groups (Apollo & A-Belt)
Kuiper belt & Oort Cloud
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3. Terrestrial Planets and their Moons :
a. Mercury – smallest, Solar Day longer than year, Hot/cold
b. Venus – Earth like size and mass, Hot due to Greenhouse effect (Why?)
c. Mars – Two asteroid moons. Smaller,
But like an Earth desert...just cold
Life? Water?
4. Giant Planets and their Moons
a. Jupiter – largest, 4 large Moons, Mostly H
Io: volcanic
Europa: ice over water, life?
Ganymede: largest of all moons
b. Saturn –Jupiter-like but much less dense,
Best rings
Moons:
Titan: Nitrogen atmosphere, clouds, rain,
rivers & lakes, of methane & /ethane
Encelades: Like Europa (much smaller)
c. Uranus & Neptune about the same size
4x Earth Radius, thick water layer
Neptune is a deeper blue due to methane!
5. The Sun
a) Layers and their temperatures
b) Sun storm types
6. Stars: How 3 observations lead to all properties
a. What the properties are.
b. How we find them
7. Stars: HR diagram & Stellar Evolution
a. HR diagram and Spectral/Luminosity Classes
i. Know the Sun’s
b. “Life paths” of different mass stars
8. Nebulae & Star Clusters
Types of nebulae
Types of Clusters
9. Galaxies & Galaxy Groups
a. Size and structure of Milky-Way
b. Types of Galaxies
c. Galactic Clusters & Super Clusters
d. Our “Local Group” … what’s in it
e. Know your address.
10. Cosmology
a. Structure of the Universe
b. Big Bang
c. Dark Matter
d. Dark Energy & accelerated expansion