Study Guide for Final Exam

ASTR 1020 Stellar and Galactic Astronomy Spring 2012

Final Exam Coverage

The Final Examination is comprehensive. Content from the following Chapters is included on the Final Exam:
Chapter S2, Space and Time Chapter S3, Spacetime and Gravity Chapter S4, Building Blocks of the Universe Chapter 14, Our Star Chapter 15, Surveying the Stars Chapter 16, Star Birth Chapter 17, Star Stuff Chapter 18, The Bizarre Stellar Graveyard Chapter 19, Our Galaxy Chapter 20, Galaxies and the Foundation of Modern Cosmology Chapter 21, Galaxy Evolution Chapter 22, Dark Matter, Dark Energy and the Fate of the Universe Chapter 23, The Beginning of Time Chapter 24, Life in the Universe

Study Tips
The Final Exam will consist of 100 multiple choice questions it will very closely resemble the homework sets that you have done in MasteringAstronomy and the exams that you have taken in the course. There will also be a 20 point bonus question. You will have two (2) hours to take the final exam. The best way to study for the Final Exam is to
Quickly run through the PowerPoints for the chapters (posted in GeorgiaView). Note areas where you feel weak. Read the text sections on those topics.

The very best way to practice for Final Exam is to

Redo the examinations that have been given in the course, A excellent final tune up would be to take the Concept quizzes in MasteringAstronomy these are located in the Study Area of each chapter.

Chapter S2 Tips
Know that the laws of nature must be the same for everyone. Know that the speed of light is the same for every observer. Understand the concept of reference frames and that all motion is relative. Be able to explain why an object with mass cannot travel at the speed of light. Understand how time differs in different reference frames. Understand the relativity of simultaneity. Understand the effects of motion on length and mass. Understand velocity addition at high speeds. Understand the tests of the validity of Special Relativity. Understand the effect of Special Relativity on space travel at high speeds.

Chapter S3 Tips
Understand the relationship between gravity and acceleration: the equivalence principle. Understand the concept of spacetime , and be able to describe the properties of the three possible spacetime geometries. Understand that gravity arises from curvature of spacetime. Understand the nature of spacetime produced by a black hole. Know the tests of the theory of general relativity. Understand the origin of gravitational redshifts. Understand the nature of gravitational waves and the evidence for their existence. Understand the possible existence of ways to travel in hyperspace using wormholes.

Chapter S4 Tips
Be able to list the basic properties of subatomic particles. Be able to describe the fundamental building blocks of matter: quarks and leptons. Understand the processes of pair annihilation and pair production. Be able to describe the four fundamental forces of nature. Be able to describe the uncertainty principle. Understand the concept of wave-particle duality. Be able to describe the exclusion principle. Understand degeneracy pressure and its role in white dwarfs and neutron stars. Understand the concept of quantum tunneling and its importance to the fusion reactions in the Sun. Understand the concept of virtual particles and their implications for the lifetimes of black holes.

Chapter 14 Tips
Understand the concept of gravitational equilibrium in stars. Understand the role of gravitational contraction in igniting fusion reactions in stars. Be able to describe the structure of the Sun, and the characteristics of each region. Understand the proton-proton chain in the Sun. Be able to describe the characteristics of the products of the proton-proton chain. Be able to describe how gravitational equilibrium in the Sun regulates the temperature of the core of the Sun.

Chapter 14 Tips (contd)

Be able to explain the gradual brightening of the Sun. Understand how energy is transferred from the fusion process to other regions of the Sun. Understand the methods used to predict what is happening inside the Sun. Understand that solar activity is produced by magnetic files. Be able to describe sunspots, solar prominences, solar flares, and the heating of the chromosphere and corona. Be able to describe the effects of solar activity on humans. Be able to describe the sunspot cycle.

Chapter 15 Tips
Understand that the apparent brightness of a star depends upon its luminosity and its distance. Understand the use of stellar parallax to measure distance to a star. Understand the magnitude system. Understand how stellar temperatures are measured and the classification of stars by spectral type. Understand how masses of stars are determined from binary star systems. Be able to describe the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and identify the locations of the main sequence, giants and supergiants, and white dwarfs on it. Understand the significance of the main sequence, and the relationship between stellar mass and lifetime. Understand the nature of giants and supergiants, and white dwarfs. Understand why the luminosity of certain stars varies periodically in time. Be able to describe the two type of star clusters. Be able to describe how the age of a star cluster can be determined.

Chapter 16 Tips
Know the composition of the interstellar medium. Know that stars are born in cold, dense molecular clouds. Know what interstellar dust is and how it causes interstellar reddening. Understand the role of radio emission in detecting molecular clouds and infrared light in seeing through molecular clouds. Be able to describe the process of star formation with particular attention to the roles of gravity and thermal pressure. Understand how a contracting molecular cloud rids its self of thermal pressure to allow gravity to dominate. Be able to describe the formation of stars in clusters, as isolated stars, and in the first generation of stars.

Chapter 16 Tips (contd)

Understand the process by which thermal pressure is trapped as a protostar begins to form, and the growth of the protostar by gas in fall. Be able to describe the formation of a protostellar disk, protostellar jets, and the reason many stars belong to binary systems. Understand how nuclear fusion begins in a newborn star. Be able to describe the life track from the assembly of a protostar to self-sustaining fusion. Understand the role of degeneracy pressure in determining the minimum mass for a star, and the characteristics of brown dwarfs Understand the role of radiation pressure in determining the maximum mass of a star. Be able to describe the distribution of masses of new born stars.

Chapter 17 Tips
Be able to explain how the mass of a star affects the fusion process. Be able to describe the life and death stages of a low-mass star: proton-proton cycle on main sequence, hydrogen shell burning to red giant, triple helium burning and helium flash, double shell burning, thermal pulses, and planetary nebula and white dwarf. Be able to describe the characteristics of a planetary nebula and white dwarf, and the fate of terrestrial planets.

Chapter 17 Tips (contd)

Be able to describe the life and death stages of a high mass star: CNO cycle on the main sequence, supergiant phase, advanced nuclear burning by helium capture reactions and fusion of higher mass nuclei. Understand how elements are produced in high mass stars. Be able to describe the role of iron in the death of a high mass star through a supernova explosion. Be able to describe the role of mass exchange in the lives of close binary stars.

Chapter 18 Tips
Be able to describe the composition, density and size of white dwarf star. Be able to explain the reason for the white dwarf limit (Chandrasekhar limit). Know its value. Be able to describe what can happen to a white dwarf star in a close binary system: accretion disk, novae, and white dwarf supernovae. Be able to describe how massive star supernovae and white dwarf supernovae can be distinguished.

Chapter 18 Tips (contd)

Be able to describe the characteristics of a neutron star. Be able to explain what a pulsar is. Be able to describe what can happen to a neutron star in a close binary system. Be able to describe the characteristics of a black hole. Be able to describe meaning of the event horizon and Schwarzschild radius of a black hole. Be able to explain the effects on matter and time near the event horizon of a black hole. Be able to describe evidence for the existence of black holes. Be able to describe the location of gamma-ray bursts.

Chapter 19 Tips
Be able describe the components and sizes of the structure of the Milky Way Galaxy. Be able to describe and contrast the motions of stars in the disk, bulge and halo of the Galaxy. Be able to explain how gas is recycled through the star-gasstar cycle in the Galaxy: gas from dying stars, hot bubbles, atomic hydrogen clouds, molecular clouds, star formation, fusion in stars. Be able to describe the origin of bubbles and superbubbles in the disk of the Galaxy. Be able to explain how galactic fountains could mix recycled gas in the disk.

Chapter 19 Tips (contd)

Be able to explain how different wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum can be used to image the Galaxy and what they reveal. Be able to explain the location within the Galaxy the following 21 cm radio wave from atomic hydrogen, radio emission from carbon monoxide, infrared emission for interstellar dust, infrared emissions that pass through interstellar dust, the visible emissions from stars, x-ray emission from hot bubbles and x-ray binaries, and gamma-ray emission from interstellar clouds. Be able to describe and contrast ionization nebulae and reflection nebulae. Be able to describe the characteristics of stars found in the spiral arms, bulge and halo (disk population and spheroidal population). Be able to describe the nature of the spiral arms. Be able to describe the order of formation of the structures of the Galaxy. Be able to describe the evidence for the existence of a massive black hole at the center of the Galaxy (located at Sgr A*).

Chapter 20 Tips
Know the three types of galaxies and their characteristics. Know the differences between a group of galaxies and a cluster of galaxies, and know which types of galaxies are most prominent in each Know how distances to galaxies are measured; specifically, be able to describe: Radar ranging Parallax Main sequence fitting Cepheid period-luminosity relationship White dwarf supernovae Tully-Fisher relation

Chapter 20 Tips (contd)

Be able to explain how Hubble determined that galaxies were not part of the Milky Way. Be able to describe Hubbles law. Be able to explain how Hubbles law can be used to determine the age of the Universe. Be able to describe the Cosmological Principle. Be able to describe how the expansion of the Universe affects distance measurements. Be able to explain lookback time and Cosmological redshifts.

Chapter 21 Tips
Be able to explain how the evolution of galaxies can be observed. Be able to describe the formation of galaxies from a protogalactic cloud. Be able to explain how the spin and density of a protogalactic cloud might explain differences in galactic structure. Be able to describe the effect of galactic collisions on galactic structure. Be able to discuss the characteristics of starburst galaxies and the resulting supernova driven galactic winds.

Chapter 21 Tips (contd)

Be able to discuss the characteristics of quasars and other active galactic nuclei. Be able to explain the role of supermassive black holes in quasars and other active galactic nuclei. Be able to explain the evidence for the existence of supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies. Be able to explain how quasars allow the study of gas between galaxies.

Chapter 22 Tips
Be able to explain the meaning of the words dark matter and dark energy. Be able to describe the evidence for the existence of dark matter in galaxies (galactic rotation curves). Be able to describe the evidence for the existence of dark matter in clusters of galaxies ( galaxy orbits, xray emission from hot gas, and gravitational lensing. Be able to describe the only possibility if dark matter does not exist.

Chapter 22 Tips (contd)

Be able to describe MACHOs and WIMPs, and explain why WIMPS are favored as the candidate for dark matter. Be able to describe the role of dark matter in galaxy formation. Be able to describe the largest structures in the Universe. Be able to describe the role of critical density on the fate of the Universe. Be able to explain the acceleration of the expansion of the Universe and the role of dark energy.

Chapter 23 Tips
Be able to explain the history of the Universe through the following eras by describing the key characteristics of :
Planck era (all forces behave as one) GUT era (gravity becomes a separate force, inflation) Electroweak era (electromagnetism and weak forces separate) Particle era (particles and antiparticles annihilate) Era of nucleosynthesis (fusion reactions: H and He, plus) Era of nuclei (atoms form at end light) Era of atoms (galaxies form at end) Era of galaxies

Be able to describe and explain the two pieces of observational data that confirm the Big Bang theory: cosmic microwave background and abundances of elements.

Chapter 23 Tips (contd)

Be able to describe three aspects of the Universe not originally explained by the Big Bang theory, and how inflation provides explanations for each:
Density enhancements Smoothness of the Universe Flatness of the Universe

Be able to describe how predictions of temperature variations in the cosmic microwave background support inflation. Be able to describe Oblerss paradox and how it supports the Big Bang theory.

Chapter 24 Tips
Be able to discuss when life arose on Earth. Be able to describe how life arose on Earth. Bea able to describe the conditions necessary for life. Be able to discuss whether there could be life on Mars. Be able to discuss whether there could be life on Europa or other jovian moons. Be able to describe the habitable zone around a star.

Chapter 24 Tips (contd)

Be able to present arguments for and against Earth-like planets being common. Be able to explain the Drake equation and the best estimates/considerations for each of its terms. Be able to explain how SETI works. Be able to explain the difficulties and possible solutions for interstellar travel. Be able to explain the reason for and possible answers to Fermis paradox: where are they?