Test 1
Date of Exam: 6 August 2009
Review Version: 4 August 2009

In the following, I list the topics covered in class and information which I consider important to know. I tried to make the list as complete as possible, but there may be things which I have inadvertently failed to list. Also, the precise amount of material to be tested is determined by how far I get through the notes by the end of Tuesday, August 4, 2009. I will adjust the review sheet after class tomorrow.

Reading: First, read and study your class notes and then the Web notes. If you wish, the text may be used rather than the web notes. There is no replacement for the class notes. Your class notes will help you to focus on things which I consider to be the most important and note that the introduction was drawn from various parts of the text and from other independent sources. There are also sometimes things said in class which may not appear in the Web notes and/or the text for which you are responsible.

Old Test

Inverse Square Law: Flux (brightness) depends on the distance from the star as:

Flux is proportional to 1/D²

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Topics:

Introduction

• Why do we study stars? What makes the understanding of stars interesting, beyond the intrinsic value of having knowledge for knowledge's sake?
• What are the things which make astronomy a difficult experimental science?
• What is the luminosity of the Sun? What is the Solar Constant? What is meant by Albedo?
• In what ways do stars serve as high energy physics laboratories? What are neutrinos? What did Ray Davis do? What are the Super-K and SNO experiments? Ten years ago, we thought that there was a lack of Solar neutrinos, how has our viewpoint changed? What have we learned about neutrinos as a result of the Solar Neutrino Experiment?
• What is nucleosynthesis (element production)? What does it have to do with stars and the Earth?
• How does the Sun generate energy? What are the documented Solar-Terrestrial Connections? What is the Solar Activity Cycle? What is the Maunder Minimum? When was the Maunder Minimum? What is the significance of the Little Ice Age which struck Europe in the mid 1600s (in terms of Solar variability)? Roughly, how large is the variation of the Solar power (Solar constant) over a Sunspot cycle? Are there noticeable effects of this variation on the climate of the Earth?
• What is the Faint Young Sun Problem? What is meant by the Equilibrium Temperature in the context of the Faint Young Sun Problem? What is the Greenhouse Effect?
• What are the ways we study stars?
• What are the most important ways which we use to study stars (e.g., light, particles, ...)? Historically, what has been the most useful method to study stars? Why? Has this changed (and continues to change?)
• What is electromagnetic radiation? Physically, what is EM radiation? How did we define energy in class? What is meant by electromagnetic spectrum? What are the parts of the electromagnetic spectrum in order of increasing frequency? What are the parts of the electromagnetic spectrum in order of increasing wavelength? What parts of the electromagnetic spectrum penetrate the atmosphere of the Earth?
• Define wavelength and frequency. How are they related to the energy of light? Which has the longer wavelength, blue or red light? How do the propagation speeds of blue light and red light compare?
• What is seeing? What were the principle advantages of the Hubble Space Telescope? That is, what were the advantages gained by placing a telescope into orbit about the Earth?
• What is gravitational radiation? How did Einstein view the gravitational force? What is meant by space-time? Is space-time rigid? What does it mean to say space-time is not rigid? How is gravitational radiation produced?

Stellar Properties:

• What are the properites we listed in class? What are th ranges for the properties of stars? (what is the most important property of stars we mentioned in class?) What is the signifiance of the sizes of the ranges of the properties of stars?
• What is meant by temperature? WHat is meant by absolute zero? What scale is most commonly used by astronomers and other scientists?
• How do we determine the masses of stars? Explain how orbital motion works. Roughly how many stars are in binary (multiple) star systems?