Astronomy Unit 1 Study Notes

These are for you to use as you prepare for your unit test. You do not turn this
study guide in to me. If you do use it as you study for your test and you know
the answers, you will be well prepared for the unit assessment.
1. The size of the gravitational force between 2 objects is determined by what two parameters?
2. Early astronomers like Ptolemy watched the sun move across the sky each day and determined the Sun
and other heavenly bodies revolved around the Earth. What is another name for this Earth centered
model?
3. A later model described the Sun as the center of the solar system. What is this model called? Who is
credited with developing it?
4. In which direction did Ptolemy (and all of us today, too) see the sun rise? Set?
5. What is peculiar about the length of daylight hours in the summer time at the North Pole? Length of
daylight hours in the winter at the North Pole?
6. What is the summer solstice? Winter solstice? How often do solstices occur each year?
7. What is an equinox? When do they occur?
8. Why does the Moon appear red during an eclipse?
9. Where does the word astronomy come from?
10. Which is the most accepted theory about the formation of the Moon?
11. When the sun, moon, and Earth are in this configuration, what is the name of the tide we experience?
Describe high and low tides during this type tide.

12. When the sun, moon, and Earth are in this configuration, what is the name of the tide we experience?
Describe high and low tides during this type tide.

13. What is the halo around the sun during total eclipse called?
13. What causes a solar eclipse? A lunar eclipse?
14. The Moon looks round to us. What is its actual shape?
15. How much of the moon is illuminated by the Sun?
16. About how long is a lunar month (in whole numbers). What defines a lunar month?
17. Why do we see only one side of the Moon?
18. What is the shape of the orbit of the planets around the Sun? the Moon around the Earth?
19. What event signals the beginning of spring? Summer? Fall? Winter?
20. How long does it take for the Earth to orbit the Sun (in days)?
21. What is perihelion? Aphelion? Perigee? Apogee?
22. What causes the seasons? In what direction does the northern hemisphere point between the months
of April Sept?
23. What is a hemisphere?
24. What creates night and day?
25. Why does the Sun and why do stars appear to move across the sky?
26. We dont go flying off the Earth because of gravity. How fast is the Earth rotating, approximately?
27. Define satellite. Is the Earth a satellite based on this definition?