EARTH, MOON & SUN
- EARTH
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Shape & Size
- Oblate spheroid, 13,000 km diameter
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Terms
- - Latitude & Longitude
- - Meridian
- - Poles & Circles
- - Equator & Tropics
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Inside the Earth
- - Crust
- - Mantle
- - Outer core
- - Inner core
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Atmospheric Effects
- - Sky colour
- - Light Pollution
- - Twinkling
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Earth, Moon, Sun System
- - Measuring Size & Distance
- Eratosthenes, Aristarchus
- - Sun: Diameter: 1,400,000km Distance: 150,000,000km
- - Moon: Diameter: 3,500km Distance: 385,000km
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AU (Astronomical Unit)
- - Finding the AU
- - Mean average distance between Earth and Sun
- - 150,000,000 km
MOON
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Shape, Size & Distance
- - Diameter: 3,500km
- - Distance: 385,000km
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Surface Formations
- - Maria & Terrae
- - Craters
- - Mountains
- - Valleys
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Lunar Features
- - Sea of Tranquility
- - Ocean of Storms
- - Sea of Crises
- - Tycho
- - Copernicus
- - Kepler
- - Apennine mountain range
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Rotation & Orbit
- - Far side not visible
- - Synchronous rotation
- - 27.3 days
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The Far Side
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Origins
- - Giant Impact Hypothesis
- Inside the Moon
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Libration
- - Allows viewing of 59% of surface from Earth
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Phases of the Moon
- - Cycle – 29.5 days
- - 2.2 days longer than Orbit period
- - Phases
- - New Moon
- - Waxing Crescent
- - Half Moon (First quarter)
- - Waxing Gibbous
- - Full Moon
- - Waning Gibbous
- - Half Moon (Third Quarter)
- - Waning Crescent
- - New Moon
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Tides
- Facts & Data
SUN
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Safety
- - Projecting
- - Pinhole
- - Welder's glasses
- - Solar Filters
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Structure
- - Core
- - Radiative and Convection Zones
- - Photosphere
- - Chromosphere
- - Corona
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Nuclear Fusion
- - Proton-Proton Cycle
- - Converts Hydrogen to Helium
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Sunspots
- - Measuring Rotation
- - Solar Cycle
- - Umbra / Penumbra
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Rotation
- - 25 days at equator, 36 days at poles
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Wavelengths
- - Electromagnetic Spectrum
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Solar Wind
- - Charged particles from Sun
- - High Velocity – 400km per second
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Eclipses
- - Solar Eclipse
- - Lunar Eclipse
- - Partial (Both)
- - Annular (Solar), Hybrid
- - G2V Spectal Class
TIME
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Ancient Observations
- - Agricultural systems
- - Religious systems
- - Time and calendar systems
- - Alignments of ancient monuments
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The Day
- - Daylight
- - Sidereal (stars)
- - Synodic (solar)
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Apparent & Mean Sun
- - Apparent Solar Time (AST)
- - Mean Solar Time (MST)
- - Local Mean Time (LMT)
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Equation of Time
- - EOT = AST – MST
- - MST = AST – EOT
- - AST = MST + EOT
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Sundial
- - Shadow Stick
- - Fixed to North/South
- - Gnomon correct angle
- - Plate shows hours to enable reading of timings
- - Disavantages
- - Requires Sunlight
- - Not useful at night
- - Need to use Equation of Time for accuracy
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Shadow Stick
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Equinox & Solstice
- - Vernal Equinox
- - Summer Solstice
- - Autumnal Equinox
- - Winter Solstice
- Daylight
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Longitude
- - Longitude = East/West of Prime Meridian
- - 4 minutes = 1 degree, 1 hour = 15° of longitude
- - Measuring
- - Lunar Distance
- - Horological
- Time Zones
PLANETARY SYSTEMS
- SOLAR SYSTEM
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Scale & Size
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Planets
- Characteristics - Data
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
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Dwarf Planets
- - Ceres
- - Pluto
- - Haumea
- - Makemake
- - Eris
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Small Solar System Objects
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Asteroids
- - Asteroid Belt
- - Planet Crossing
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Meteor...Types
- - Meteoroid - In Space
- - Meteor - In Atmosphere
- - Meteorite - Landed on surface
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Meteor Showers
- - Comets
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Composition
- - Coma
- - Nucleus
- - Tail - Ion, Dust
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Comet Orbits
- - Eccentricity / Retrograde
- - Kuiper Belt
- - Oort Cloud
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Belts & Clouds
- - Kuiper Belt
- - Oort Cloud
- - Heliosphere
- Satellites
- Rings
MOTION
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Geocentric & Heliocentric Model
- - Ptolemy & epicycles
- - Brahe
- - Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo
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Aphelion and Perihelion
- - APHELION = Body FURTHER from Sun
- - PERIHELION = Body NEARER to Sun
- - APOGEE = Body FURTHER from orbiting body
- - PERIGEE = Body NEARER to orbiting body
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Ecliptic
- - Sun, Most bodies, appear to move across plane
- - Zodiacal Band
- - First Point of Aries & Libra
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Precession
- - Archaeoastronomy
- - Earth's axial wobble
- - Change of apparent position of stars
- - Axial tilt = 23.436°
- - Circle of Precession = 25,772 years
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Planet Motion
- - Direct Motion
- - Stationary Point
- - Retrograde Motion
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Terms
- - Inferior / Superior Planets
- - Conjunction & Opposition
- - Transit & Occultation
- - Elongation
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Kepler's Laws
- - 1st Law - Elliptical orbits
- - 2nd Law - Movement faster nearer larger body
- - 3rd Law - Relationship between orbital period and radius
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Gravity & Inverse Square Law
- - Stable Orbits
- - Product of Masses inverse to square of distance
- - Brightness / Intensity
PLANETARY FORMATIONS
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Tidal & Gravity Factors
- - Attraction
- - Gravitational attraction
- - Multiple Bodies
- - Orbits changes, Chaotic motion, Resonances, Lagrangian Points
- - Tidal Effects
- - Ring systems, Asteroid belts & Internal heating
- - Roche Limit
- - Tidal gravitational and elastic forces
- - Accidents
- - Impact Craters, Orbital motion changes, Planetary orientations
- - Body Shape
- - Spherical / Irregular shape
- - Atmospheres
- - Gravitational & Thermal factors
- - Solar Wind Effects
- - Comets, planetary atmospheres & Heliosphere
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Gas Giants
- - Composition
- - Orbit / Distances
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Water
- - Condensation
- - Comet Delivery
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Finding Exoplanets
- - Transit Methods
- - Astrometry
- - Radial velocity
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Life Elsewhere
- - Requirements
- - Candidates
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Goldilocks Zone
- - Area surrounding a star in which a planet can have liquid water at its surface
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The Drake Equation
- - Estimate number of civilisations in galaxy
- - N = R* x fp x ne x fl x fi x fc x L
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Aliens Introductions
- - Benefits
- - Forms of Life to cure illness
- - Share of knowledge
- - Advances in technology
- - Drawbacks
- - New Bacteria to destroy life
- - Dependence
- - Aggressive invaders
MISSIONS
- Space Probes
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Fly By
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- Sensors measure & image features
- - Speed means not all areas observed
- - e.g. New Horizons (Outer Solar System)
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Orbiter
- - Can repeatedly observe the whole body
- - Some changes can occur
- - Limited amount can be told about surface
- - Extensive manoeuvres needed
- - e.g. Juno (Jupiter) or Dawn (asteroids Vesta and Ceres)
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Impactor
- - Can disturb internal materials for analysis
- - Target observed en route
- - Observation craft usually needed
- - Difficulties in measuring
- - e.g. Deep Impact (comet Tempel 1)
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Lander
- - Study immediate environment & take precise readings / experiments.
- - Risk of landing & moving
- - Limited capacity to move
- - High cost of sterile manufacturing
- - e.g. Philae (comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko)
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Rockets
- - Escape Velocity
- - Energy Requirements
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Manned Missions
- - Versatility - ability to perform different tasks in different ways
- - Improvisation - flexible & intelligent. Problem solving
- - Opportunities to explore
- - Resources; air, water and food needed
- - Cost of Training
- - Danger of losing life
- - Long term health issues in space
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Apollo
- - Manned Mission to Moon
- - Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEPS)
TELESCOPES
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What you can see
- - Stars
- - Double stars
- - Binary stars
- - Open clusters
- - Globular clusters
- - Nebulae
- - Galaxies
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Focussing Light
- - Limitations of human eye, aperture, low light
- - Objective: The mirror or lens of a telescope
- - Primary: The main objective
- - Secondary: Usually a smaller eyepiece
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Telescope Types
- - Refractor - Galilean, Keplerian
- - Reflector - Newtonian, Cassegrain
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Telescope Terms
- - Aperture & Light Grasp
- - Aperture = relative to diameter of objective
- - Light Grasp - Proportional to area of objective element and square of diameter of objective
- - Field of View
- - Amount of sky visible in eyepiece
- - Measured in degrees or arcminutes
- - Magnification
- - Focal length of objective divide Focal length of eyepiece
- - Resolution
- - Proportional to diameter of objective
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Digital Processing
- - Sensors convert light into electrical signals
- - Processed and stored as data files
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Electromagnetic Spectrum
- - Visible Light
- - Infra Red
- - Microwave
- - Radio Waves
- - Ultra Violet
- - X-Rays
- - Gamma Rays
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Earth's Atmosphere & Wavelengths
- - Allows Optical, Radio, Some Infrared at high altitudes
- - Blocks most Ultraviolet, All X-rays & Gamma rays
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Observatories
- - Ground / Underground / Airbourne / Space
- - Remote areas - no light pollution
- - Radio - Far from transmitters
- - High, Dry locations
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Radio Telescopes
- - How works
- - Large apertures
- - Array
- - Discoveries
- - Quasars, black holes jets, Milky Way structure, protoplanetary discs
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Infrared
- - High-altitude locations
- - Discoveries
- - Protostars, dust / molecular clouds, hotspots on moons
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UV, X-Ray, Gamma
- - Gamma ray bursts, Black hole accretion discs, Corona and Chromospheres
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Space Telescopes
- - Clearer observations, no distortion
- - Wider wavelengths of electromagnetic spectrum observed
- - No limitations to observing at night time
- - Can image an area over the course of several days
- - Exceptionally expensive to build and position in place
- - Difficult to maintain
- - Sensitive to bright nearby objects
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Galileo
- - Contribution to Heliocentric model
STARS & GALAXIES
- CELESTIAL OBSERVATION
- Constellations
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Constellations
- - 88 official
- - Not usually gravitationally related
- - Cassiopeia, Cygnus, Orion
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Asterisms
- - Pattern of stars not necessarily constellations
- - Plough
- - Orion's Belt
- - Southern Cross
- - Summer Triangle
- - Square of Pegasus
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Pointers
- - Plough to Arcturus & Polaris
- - Orion’s Belt to Sirius, Aldebaran & Pleiades
- - Square of Pegasus to Fomalhaut & Andromeda galaxy
- Motion of the Sky
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Polaris
- - North Celestial Pole
- - Latitude of observer
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Star Trails
- - Length of the sidereal day
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Circumpolarity
- - Stars visible all year are circumpolar
- - Others are seasonal
- - Declination of Star >= 90° - Latitude of Observer
- - Declination > Co-latitude
- - Observer's Latitude ± Co-declination of star
- Celestial Terms
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Cardinal Points
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Culmination
- - Upper Culmination is at its the highest point
- - Lower Culmination is at its the highest point
- - Co-declination (Distance between NCP and Star) = 90° - Declination
- - Upper Culmination takes place when Right Ascension = LST
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Meridian / Hour Angle
- - Imaginary line between north and south poles through the observer's position
- - Hour Angle of star = Local Sidereal Time- Right Ascension of star
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Zenith
- - Zenith is the point directly above the observer's head. 90° perpendicular to the ground
- - Nadir is the point directly below the observers feet
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Co-latitude & Co-declination
- - Difference between 90° and the observers latitude
- - Distance a star is from the celestial pole (polar distance)
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Circumpolar & Seasonal Stars
- - Circumpolar Calculations
- Celestial Sphere
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Equatorial Coordinates
- - Right Ascension / Declination
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Horizon Coordinates
- Planning to Observe
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Visibility & Light Pollution
- - Rising and setting
- - Seeing conditions
- - Weather conditions
- - Landscape
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Viewing Techniques
- - Dark adaptation
- - Averted vision
- - Relaxed eye
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Charts
- - Star Charts
- - Planispheres
- - Computer Programs
- - Apps
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Names
- - Messier / NGC
- - Labelling
STARLIGHT
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Angles
- - Degree ° = 360th of a circle
- - Arcminute ′ = 0th of a degree
- - Arcsecond ″ = 60th of an arcminute
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Light Year / Parsec
- - Distance light travels in an earth year
- - 9 trillion km
- - 3.26 light years based on arc
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Magnitude
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Apparent
- - m
- - How bright an object is to us on Earth
- - Scale moves x 2.5
- - m = M-5+5 log d
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Absolute
- - M
- - How bright a star would appear in space from a certain distance (10 parsecs)
- - M = m + 5 - 5 log D
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Distances - Heliocentric Parallax
- - Measuring star position six months apart from Earth to calculate distance
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Stellar Spectrum
- - Distributed colour and lines tell us:
- - Chemical composition
- - Temperature
- - Radial velocity
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Classification
- - Classified by Colour/Temperature/Composition
- - Main Categories O B A F G K M
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H-R Diagram
- - Absolute magnitude by Temperature
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Life cycle shown by position
- - Main sequence stars
- - The Sun
- - Red and blue giant stars
- - White dwarf stars
- - Supergiant stars
- - Spectroscopic Parallax to determine distance
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Light Curves
- - Variable Periodic
- - how bright an object is over a period of time. variable stars
- - Eclipsing Binaries
- - one star moves in front of another
- - Cepheids
- - star used to calculate distances, period-luminosity relationship
- - Nova / Supernova
STELLAR EVOLUTION
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Gravity & Pressure
- - Main Sequence
- - Radiation Pressure vs. Gravity
- - White Dwarf
- - Electron Pressure vs. Gravity
- - Chandrasekhar Limit (1.4 Solar Masses max.)
- - Neutron Star
- - Neutron Pressure vs. Gravity
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Emission & Absorption Nebula
- - Clouds of high temperature gas
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Planetary Nebula
- - Outer shell of former red giant
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Nova & Supernova
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Nova
- - Higher mass star in binary gathers solar material from neighbour and explodes material
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Supernova
- - As nova but destroys star OR Red giant core collapses on itself neutron star or black hole
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Black Holes
- - Accretion Disc
- - Event Horizon
GALAXIES
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The Milky Way
- - Naked eye - appears lighter, thick band
- - Sb (Spiral barred) galaxy
- - Plane 100 to 150,000 light years across, 1,500 light years thick
- - Sun is 30,000 light years, 226 million years a galactic orbit
- - Dust around halo & along spiral arms
- - Globular clusters surround the halo
- - Star clusters near the arms
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Groups
- - Clusters
- - Superclusters
- - Local Group
- - Andromeda Galaxy (M31)
- - Large and Small Magellanic Clouds
- - Triangulum Galaxy (M33)
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Types
- - Tuning Fork Classification
- - Spiral
- - Barred Spiral
- - Elliptical
- - Irregular
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Formation & Evolution
- - Gas and dust gathered & collapsed
- - Lumps of matter left over from the Big Bang grouped together
- - Mergers
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Active Galaxies
- - Emit large quantities of radiation
- - Seyfert galaxies
- - Quasars
- - Blazars
COSMOLOGY
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Expanding Universe
- - Galaxies moving away from each other
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Doppler & Redshift
- - Moving away = Longer Wavelength
- - Redshift observed in galaxies moving away from each other
- - Local Group - moving together, displays slight blueshift
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Velocity
- - How fast a galaxy moves
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- - λ = observed galaxy wavelength
- - λ0 = rest wavelength of the galaxy
- - v = the velocity of a galaxy
- - c = the speed of light (300,000 km/s)
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Hubble's Law & Constant
- - Number used to measure age of universe
- - Relationship between distance & redshift of distant galaxies
- - v = H0d
- - v = recession velocity H0 = Hubble constant D = distance to galaxy (mega parsec - Mpc)
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Origin of the Universe
- - Steady State Theory - Universe always existed and will continue to
- - Big Bang - Widely accepted
- - Inflationary Universe Theory - other universes exist
- - Cyclic / Oscillating Universe - expands, contracts, repeats
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Big Bang Theory
- - Universe created from a singularity
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Arguments
- - Expanding Universe evidence
- - Cosmic Microwave Radiation evidence
- - Hydrogen and helium abundance
- - Causes? What occured?
- - Not enough mass to account for expansion
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Evidence
- - QUAsi StellAR objectS: Galaxies emitting large x-rays
- - Cosmic Microwave Background: Heat left over from the Big Bang
- - Hubble Deep Field: Long exposure image capturing numerous galaxies in area thought devoid of them
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Dark Matter & Energy
- - Dark Matter - Mass (not observed) makes galaxies move faster
- - Dark Energy - (Not observed) force that pushes galaxies away from each other
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Universe Models
- - Big Rip - atoms get torn apart
- - Big Crunch - universe shrinks and collapses
- - Big Freeze - all energy ends, cold universe
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