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• Week 1:
• 1) What is the approximate number of stars in our Milky Way galaxy?
• 2) What is the total mass of the MWG? Assume each star has the same mass as of our Sun.
• 3) What is a light year?
• 4) What is arcdegree, arcminute and arcsecond? How are they related.
• 5) Au = ? miles, Km, meter.
• 6) What is the proper way to write 2494x10^9 and 0.0000012x10^-14.
• 7) Use question 6 and divide the first number by the second number.
• 8) Add 2.9x10^15+.009x10^-14+2000
• 9) Add 2.9x10^11-2555+9x10^5
• 10) What is the approximate diameter of our MWG.
• 11) What kind of force is holding you together?
• 12) What is the speed limit in our universe?
• 13) The nearest star to our sun is ____
• 13) If one could travel near this speed limit, how long would it take you to go our nearest stars.
• 14) One LY= ? AU, ? km.
• 15) Suppose I parked my Martian car in a garage on Mars. How long will it take for the garauge door to open if I click the door opener here on Earth?
• 16) The radius of the Sun is 100 times the radius of the Earth. How many Earth would it take to fill out the Sun.
• 17) A light year does not have half the calories of a regular year. True or False.
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• Week (2,3)
• 1) What is the relation between distance and time?
  2) What is a light year
  3) What is an astronomical unit?
  4) How long does it take for sunlight to reach us?
• 5) What is Latitude and Longitude
• 6) What is the daily motion of the stars?
• 7) What are the apparent daily, monthly and yearly motions of the Sun,Moon, and planets?
  8) What is the relation between the daily motion of the Sun and that of the stars?
  9) What cycles do the solar day and sidereal day refer to?
• 10) What cycle does the month represent?
  11) What does the year signify?
  12) How far apart do eclipse cycles occur?
  13) What is the cycle of precession of the north celestial pole?
• 14) What is the Latitude and the Longitude of the North-Pole.
• 15) What is the celestial coordinates of the star "Aldebaran"?
• 16) When is the best time of the year to observe Aldebaran?
• 17) What is the Celestial Sphere?
• 18) Why did Pythagoras think the heavenly bodies to be spherical?
  19) What did Aristotle deduce about the Earth from eclipses?
  20) Why did Aristotle think that the Earth was stationary in the center of the cosmos?
  21) What might have led Aristarchus to put the Sun at the center of the cosmos?
  22) How did Eratosthenes measure the diameter of the Earth?
  23) How was Hipparchus able to determine the distance to the Moon, discover the precession of the equinoxes, and compile an accurate star catalogue, all without a telescope?
  24) What is parallax, and how did Ptolemy use it to measure the distance to the Moon?
  25) How did Ptolemy construct his geocentric cosmology to model the observed motions of the planets?
  26) What is the difference between astrology, which was also developed by Ptolemy, and astronomy?
• 27) What happened in astronomy from the Fall of Rome until the Renaissance?
  28) In what ways was the heliocentric model of Copernicus better or worse than the geocentric model of Ptolemy?
  29) Why did it take more than 50 years for the Copernican hypothesis to be tested by observation?
  30) How did Copernicus set the scale of the solar system in his model?
  31) What was the importance of the observations that Tycho made at his observatory?
  32) What did Tycho deduce from the observation that the comet of 1577 had no discernable parallax?
• 33) How the stars appear to move for an observer at the North-pole?
• 34) How the stars appear to move for an observer at the Equator?
• 35) How the stars appear to move for an observer at UCI?
• 36) Is the altitude of an observer the same as his Latitude?
• 37) What is the altitude of the star "Aldebaran" at UCI? (class-handout)
• 38) What the RA and Dec of "Aldebaran" (see the handout)
• 39) What kind of star is the "Aldebaran"
• 40) In what Constallation is the "Aldebaran" ?
• Week (4,5)
• 1) Explain Kepler's first law, second law and the third law.
• 2) Explain Newton's first law, second law and the third law.
• 3) Why is Kepler important in the history of astronomy?
  4) What were Kepler's laws based on?
  5) According to Kepler's laws, what is the shape of the orbit of a planet?
  6) How does the speed of a planet along its orbit vary?
  7) How did Kepler explain the retrograde motion of Mars?
  8) How do the speeds of two planets at different distances from the Sun compare?
  9) Why do planets that are further from the Sun take longer to complete their orbit?
• 10) Does it follow from Kepler's laws that the orbits of the planets are in the same plane?
  11) How does a body move if no force is acting on it?
  12) When two objects of different mass collide, is their motion equally affected?
  13) When a baseball falls toward the Earth, does the Earth fall toward the baseball?
  14) Is the weight of a baseball the same kind of force that attacts the Moon to the Earth?
  15) Is the Sun's motion affected by a gravitational pull from the Earth?
  16) Does the gravitational force between two bodies depend on their distance?
  17) What is the shape of the orbit of an object under the influence of the Sun's gravity?
  18) Can an object feel the Sun's gravitational pull but not orbit in an ellipse around it?
  19) To what situations would you apply Newton's law of gravitation?
  20) What does the term escape velocity mean?
• Week (6,7)
• 1) What is interference?
  2) What evidence do we have that light is made of waves?
  3) What evidence do we have that light behaves like particles?
  4) Is light made of waves or particles?
  5) What is a photon?
  6) What happens to a photon's energy if we double its frequency?
  7) Which kind of photons have the highest/lowest energy?
• 8) What is the wavelength of a wave?
  9) What is the frequency of a wave?
  10) Are the wavelength, frequency, and speed of a wave related?
  11) Is sound made of waves?
  12) Which of the colors of light has the longest/shortest wavelength?
  13) Which kind of electromagnetic waves have the longest/shortest wavelength?
• 14) What is the difference between radio waves and light waves?
  15) What is the difference between red light and blue light?
  16) What is the difference between sound waves and light waves?
  17) At what speed do visible light and radio waves move?
  18) Which types of radiation move at 300,000 km/s?
  19) Which types of waves can easily penetrate the atmosphere?
  20) If the Earth were always completely blanketed with clouds,
  could we get any information about other planets and stars?
  21) What kind of electromagnetic waves can our bodies detect?
  22) What is the lowest possible temperature that can be reached?
  23) How does the radiation from two identical solid objects
  with temperatures of 1000 K and 2000 K compare?
  24) What happens to the radiation emitted by an object if its temperature rises?
  25) When a glowing coal cools down, what happens to its radiation?
  26) If we were at three times our present distance from the Sun,
  27) how would the amount of solar energy we receive change?
  28) To make the Sun appear 9 times fainter than it does now, how would you change our distance from it?
  29) What is the Doppler effect?
  30) If a source of light moves toward you, how do you perceive the light?
  31) If a source of light moves sideways, maintaining its distance from you,
  is there any change in the light you receive from it?
• 32) What is the main purpose of a telescope?
  33) What is a reflecting/refracting telescope?
  34) What are the advantages of reflecting/refracting telescopes?
  35) What are some reasons for building large telescopes?
  36) What determines the light-gathering power of a telescope?
  37) What is the angular resolution of a telescope?
  38) How can the angular resolution of a telescope be improved?
  39) What are the consequences of increasing the surface area of a telescope mirror?
  40) What is the main factor affecting a telescope's magnification?
  41) How can the effects of atmospheric turbulence be minimized?
  42) Why is a mountaintop a good location for telescopes?
  43) What is the main advantage of the Hubble Space Telescope over other telescopes?
  44) What do we mean by active and adaptive optics?
  45) What are CCD's?
  46) What are some advantages of CCD's?
  47) Why do radio telescopes have to be very large?
  48) What is radio interferometry?
  50) What are some differences between radio and visible astronomy?
  51) What are some differences between IR and visible astronomy?
  52) What are some differences between UV and visible astronomy? 53) What are some differences between X-ray/gamma-ray and visible astronomy?
  54) Why do we want to study objects using different wavelengths?
  55) Are gravitational waves used in astronomy?
• 56) How is the weight of a gas column balanced by a pressure gradient?
• 57) What is the ideal gas law?
• 58) Why is the atmospheric pressure per unit area just equal to the weight of the column of air above it? How does this depend on the distribution or composition?
  59) What is the pressure scale height of the atmosphere?
  60) How might we expect the atmospheric composition to vary with height?
  61) What is the pressure at sea level in Pascals? In bars? In tons/m^2?
  62) How much ocean depth is this equivalent to?
  63) What is the pressure at the bottom of the (average) ocean depth of 3000 m?
  64) What would our atmosphere be like if all the water boiled away? 10) How many bars of CO2 are contained in the Earth's crust?
  65) Is there enough CO2 in the Earth's crust to cause runaway boiling of the oceans?
• Week (8)
• 1) What are the mean densities of the Earth's crust, mantle, and core?
  2) What type of minerals make up the bulk of the crust and mantle?
  3) How thick is the crust? The mantle?
  4) What is the pressure at the base of the crust?
  5) What happens when the crustal plates move on the upper mantle?
  6) What are rifts, faults, and subduction zones?
  7) Where do volcanoes commonly form?
  8) Where does basalt come from? Where can it be found?
  9) Did the Earth's water come from impacts from comets?
  10) How can you use interferometry of astronomical objects to measure the crustal dynamics on of the Earth?
• 11) Click on the San Andreas Fault.
• 12) How far is the Earth from the Sun?
  13) How large is the Earth's radius?
  14) How old are the oldest rocks on Earth dated to be?
  15) What does the Earth's average density of 5500 kg/m^3 tell us?
  16) How do we find out the structure and density of the Earth's core and mantle?
  17) If there were no Earthquakes, would it make a difference to our knowledge
• of the Earth's interior?
• 18) What does the fact that a planet's core is made of heavier materials than its crust tell us?
  19) How thick is the Earth's crust?
  20) What are continental drift, volcanoes, earthquakes, mountain building due to?
  21) What happens when two tectonic plates collide?]
  22) Does the Earth's surface have large meteorite impact craters?
  23) What are tides in the Earth's oceans due to?
  24) Does the Earth's crust have tides, or only the oceans?
  25) How often are tides observed at a seashore location?
  26) Are all tides at coastal locations on the Earth equally high?
  27) Do tides on Earth have any effect on its motion?
  28) What is the Earth's atmosphere mostly made of?
  30) Which types of waves can penetrate the Earth's atmosphere?
  31) What effect does the Earth's atmosphere have on the Earth's temperature?
  32) What is the sunlight energy absorbed by the Earth mostly reemitted as?
  33) What is convection?
  34) What traps the charged particles from the solar wind far from Earth's surface?
  35) What protects the Earth's surface from radiation/charged particles?
  36) What is an aurora (Northern Lights) due to?
  37) What are the Van Allen belts? .
• Week (9): Moon
• 1) How large is the Moon?
  2) How far is the Moon from the Earth?
  3) How fast does the Moon rotate?
  4) If you were standing on the Moon, how would you see the Earth?
  5) Is any active spacecraft from Earth on or orbiting the Moon now?
  6) What are the "maria" on the Moon?
  7) How were the "maria" formed on the Moon?
  8) Why do we think that the "maria" are younger than the highlands on the Moon?
  9) Are features like craters on the Moon being eroded?
  10) Why are the impact craters on the Moon's surface all circular?
  11) Why is the average rate of erosion on the Moon far less than on Earth?
  12) What kind of atmosphere does Mercury have?
  13) Why does the Moon undergo extremes in temperature?
  14) Why doesn't the Moon have an atmosphere?
  15) How does the dark side of the Moon differ from the one we see?
  16) Do we have evidence of water on the Moon?
  17) How old do we think the Moon is?
  18) How do we think the Moon was formed?
  19) Why don't we believe in the capture theory for the Moon?
• Mercury:
• 1) Where did Mercury get its name from?
  2) What are the best times for viewing Mercury from Earth?
• 3) Why don't we ever see Mercury directly overhead at midnight?
  4) How big is Mercury, in terms of Earth radii?
  4) How fast does Mercury rotate?
  5) Why does Mercury rotate three times on its axis for every two revolutions around the Sun?
  6) To what extent have we explored Mercury?
  7) Which object in the solar system has a surface that most resembles that of Mercury?
  8) What are the differences/similarities between the Moon and Mercury?
  9) What is a special feature of Mercury's surface?
  10) What kind of atmosphere does Mercury have?
  11) Why does Mercury undergo extremes in temperature?
  12) Why doesn't Mercury have an atmosphere?
  13) How many moons does Mercury have?
• Venus:
• 1) Where did Venus get its name from?
  2) Which objects in the sky are brighter than Venus?
  3) Why does Venus appear so bright to the eye?
  4) How far is Venus from the Sun?
  5) How large is Venus in terms of Earth sizes?
  6) Why is Venus called Earth's sister planet?
  7) Which of the terrestrial planets is most similar to Earth in size and mass?
  8) What is unusual about the rotation of Venus?
  9) Why do pictures of Venus taken from Earth tell us nothing about its surface?
  10) Is there any active spacecraft from Earth on or around Venus?
  12) How can an orbiting probe map the surface of Venus?
  13) What kind of atmosphere does Venus have?
  14) What do we mean by the greenhouse effect on Venus?
  15) What consequences has the greenhouse effect had on Venus?
  16) What is the surface temperature of Venus?
  19) Why is the surface of Venus so hot?
  20) What features on Venus' surface make it hostile to human life?
  21) How does the surface of Venus look like, as seen from close by?
  23) Why does the surface of Venus appear reddish?
  24) Is there, or has there been, water on Venus?
  25) How many moons does Venus have?
  
• Mars:
• 1) Where did the planet Mars get its name from?
  2) How far is Mars from the Sun?
  How large is Mars, in terms of Earth sizes?
  Does Mars have seasons like Earth? What are they due to?
  How long is a day on Mars?
  Are there active spacecraft from Earth currently on or around Mars?
  Why is the surface of Mars red?
  How can we estimate the age of a planet's surface using spacecraft photos?
  Does Mars have (active) volcanoes?
  Which of the terrestrial planets has the highest known volcanoes?
  How can a smaller planet like Mars have taller volcanoes than the Earth?
  What is the difference between the North and South hemispheres on Mars?
  How can we compare the ages of different parts of a planet's surface?
  Is there, or has there been, water on Mars?
  What kind of atmosphere does Mars have?
  Why couldn't you breathe on Mars?
  How many moons does Mars have?
  What is the origin of Mars' moons?
  What are the canals on Mars?
  What is the current opinion on the meteorites from Mars?
  Have we proved or disproved that life exists/existed on Mars?
• ? Week 10: Jupiter.
• 1) Where did Jupiter get its name from?
  2) Can Jupiter be seen with the naked eye?
  When and where can Jupiter be seen these days?
  How far is Jupiter from the Sun?
  How does Jupiter compare in size with the terrestrial planets?
  Is Jupiter a dense planet?
  How does Jupiter's composition differ from that of the terrestrial planets?
  How does Jupiter look like from outside?
  What does it mean to say that Jupiter has a "differential rotation"?
  Is Jupiter exactly spherical?
  Have spacecraft from Earth orbited Jupiter?
  Have spacecraft from Earth landed on Jupiter?
  Are there any active spacecraft on or around Jupiter? (Which ones?)
  What is the Great Red Spot?
  How big is the Great Red Spot on Jupiter?
  What is thought to be at the center of Jupiter?
  Where does Jupiter get most of its energy from?
  Does Jupiter emit radiation?
  Why might we say that Jupiter was nearly a star?
  Does Jupiter have moons?
  Which is the largest moon of Jupiter?
  What are the Galilean moons?
  What is remarkable about Jupiter's moon Io?
  What is the cause of Io's active volcanoes?
  What is interesting about Jupiter's moon Europa?
  Does Jupiter have rings?
  How did Jupiter's ring form?
• Saturn:
• 1) How far is Saturn from the Sun?
  2) Is Saturn visible with the naked eye?
  Why are Saturn's rings sometimes very bright, other times barely visible?
  How large is Saturn compared to the Earth?
  How does Saturn's density compare to that of other planets?
  Are there spacecraft from Earth on or around Saturn?
  Why isn't it easy to see Saturn's rotation rate by looking at its surface?
  In what does Saturn's appearance differ from Jupiter's?
  Why does Saturn have a less varied appearance than Jupiter?
  Which other planet is Saturn's structure and atmosphere most similar to?
  Does the energy that Saturn radiates come from the Sun?
  What are Saturn's rings made of?
  What is the Cassini division?
  How were Saturn's rings formed?
  How many moons does Saturn have?
  What effect does the moon Mimas have on Saturn's rings?
  What is the Roche limit?
  Why are all of Saturn's major moons outside the rings?
  What is special about Saturn's moon Titan?
• Comets, Asteroids and Meteoroids:
• 1) What are comets? What are asteroids?
  2) What is the main difference between comets and asteroids?
  3) How many asteroids are there?
  4) How large are the largest asteroids?
  5) Where are the asteroids located?
  6) What is the asteroid belt?
  7) What are the Lagrange points of Jupiter's orbit?
  8) Can asteroids have their own moons/satellites?
  9) What is the Kuiper belt?
• 10) What is the Oort cloud?
  11) How far out from the Sun does the Oort cloud extend?
  12) Which are the farthest confirmed objects in the solar system?
  13) How large are the largest comets?
  14) In what direction does the tail of a comet point?
  15) How often does Halley's comet come close to the Earth?
  16) What was the Tunguska event?
  17) What type of meteoroid impacts are astronomers most concerned about?
  18) Where did all the water on Earth come from?
  19) What are meteoroids?
  20) What are most small meteoroids remnants of?
  21) What is the difference between meteoroids and meteorites?
  22) What causes a shooting star?
  23) What causes a meteor shower?
  24) What kind of material from space arrives on Earth?
• Uranus, Neptune and Pluto:
• 1) Where does Uranus get its name from?
  2) Is Uranus visible to the naked eye?
  3) How far is Uranus from the Sun?
  4) How large is Uranus compared to the Earth?
  5) What does Uranus' surface look like?
  6) Why does Uranus appear bluer than Jupiter and Saturn?
  7) What is unusual about Uranus' rotation?
  8) Is any spacecraft from Earth on or near Uranus?
  9) Does Uranus have moons?
  10) Does Uranus have rings?
  11) What is stellar occultation?
  12) What does it have to do with Uranus' rings?
  13) Did astronomers predict the existence of a planet beyond Uranus?
  14) Where does Neptune get its name from?
  15) Is Neptune visible to the naked eye?
  16) How far is Neptune from the Sun?
  17) How large is Neptune compared to the Earth?
  18) What does Neptune look like?
  19) Why does Neptune appear bluer than Jupiter and Saturn?
  20) Is any spacecraft from Earth on or near Neptune?
  21) Does Neptune have moons?
  22) Does Neptune have rings?
  23) Where does Pluto get its name from?
  24) How far is Pluto from the Sun?
  25) Is Pluto visible to the naked eye?
  26) What is unusual about Pluto's orbit?
  27) What type of planet is Pluto? What is it mostly made of?
  28) Why can't Pluto be called a Jovian planet?
  29) Why has Pluto's status as a planet been questioned?
  30) What was the subject of a recent announcement regarding Pluto?
  31) How large is Pluto compared to the Earth?
  32) To what extent have we explored Pluto?
  33) Is any spacecraft from Earth on or near Pluto?
  34) How many moons does Pluto have?
  35) What is Charon? How big is Charon compared to Pluto?
  36) Does Pluto have rings?
•  
• Week 11:
• Monday June 12 :Final exam.Zero points for no show.
•  

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•  
• Where did Venus get its name from?
  Which objects in the sky are brighter than Venus?
  Why does Venus appear so bright to the eye?
  How far is Venus from the Sun?
  How large is Venus in terms of Earth sizes?
  Why is Venus called Earth's sister planet?
  Which of the terrestrial planets is most similar to Earth in size and mass?
  What is unusual about the rotation of Venus?
  Why do pictures of Venus taken from Earth tell us nothing about its surface?
  Is there any active spacecraft from Earth on or around Venus?
  How can an orbiting probe map the surface of Venus?
  What kind of atmosphere does Venus have?
  What do we mean by the greenhouse effect on Venus?
  What consequences has the greenhouse effect had on Venus?
  What is the surface temperature of Venus?
  Why is the surface of Venus so hot?
  What features on Venus' surface make it hostile to human life?
  How does the surface of Venus look like, as seen from close by?
  Why does the surface of Venus appear re