1. Where is Ceres located? 2ab. According to the article, Ceres is comparable to what other 2 celestial bodies? 3abc. What are the 3 main ingredients necessary for life (as we know it!)? 4. Why is Ceres thought to have “a lot of water”? 5. If it is a differentiated body as expected, Ceres has what features? 6. What percentage of its volume appears to be water? 7. Ceres has a lot of water, but what factor is “unclear”? 8. In what respect does Ceres have more energy than Europa or Enceladus? 9. Where, however, do Europa and Enceladus get their internal heat from? 10. What discovery on Ceres was recently announced? 11. How could the outgassing (plumes) not be attributable to internal heat? 12. What did DAWN previously orbit? 13. In what way can ALMA probe deeper than DAWN? 14. What factor makes Ceres an “attractive target” for future missions?
Video: End of the Earth (The Universe, Season 1)
The Universe: End of the Earth - Season 1
1. What asteroid got “too close for comfort” in 2004? 2. How big was the 1908 object? 3. How fast was it moving? 4. How many trees were flattened or scorched? 5. At what altitude did the asteroid explode? 6. What does NEO stand for? 7. In what way did an asteroid impact aid the evolution of mammals? 8. How many NEO’s were found in our vicinity? 9. What % of “harmful” NEO’s have been discovered? 10. How hot could the atmosphere get during a major impact? 11. How wide is Apophis? 12. On what date will it approach Earth again? 13. What is meant by the phrase gravitational “key hole”? 14. What are the odds of impact in 2036? 15. The “path of risk” comes closest to which US state? 16. What problem occurs when a 1,000 ft. asteroid hits the ocean?
Article Questions – OSIRIS-REx, A Complete Guide (Space.com - Sept. 2023) 1. What did the spacecraft accomplish with the asteroid Bennu? 2. What is its new target? 3. Name the other 2 missions selected for the New Frontiers program. 4. What orbit record was set by the spacecraft around Bennu? 5. Name another orbit record set by the spacecraft. 6. Together, the instruments OVIRS and OTES mapped Bennus with what goal? 7. What did the laser altimeter on board create? 8. How much speed did the spacecraft gain by doing a slingshot around the Earth? 9. What was nicknamed “Nightingale” and for how long did it touchdown? 10. About how much regolith was collected? 11. How was Bennu named? 12. Bennu was chosen partly because it is rich in what material? 13. What potential protective technique was demonstrated by the DART mission? 14. What did a "reassessment risk" determine about Apophis in 2021?
1. What agency built and operated the Rosetta spacecraft? 2. Which comet did it visit? (Just the number/letter is fine…) 3. Why are comets “primitive cosmic objects”? 4. What “comprehensive history” do comets help complete? 5. Name a “first” for the Rosetta mission. 6. Name another “first”. 7. How much did this mission cost? 8. How long did Rosetta cruise around before finally making its rendezvous with the comet? 9. What surprising event happened with the lander, Philae? 10. How large is the comet 67P? 11. Why did the mission have to come to an end rather than cruise on back toward Jupiter? 12. How fast was Rosetta moving when it crashed into the surface? 13. What might the “goosebumps” on the wall of the pit near its landing site be? 14. Name a surprising discovery thus far. 15. Name another. 16. How many images does the team now have to analyze?
Article: Where Did Earth's Water Come From? (in class article)
1. What makes Earth physically unique (so far)? 2. How much of Earth’s surface is covered in water? 3. Why did the Earth lose its “original” water? 4. What is meant by “snow line”? 5. What discovery seemed to rule out comets as the main source of Earth’s water? 6. What alternative is suggested? 7. What is the evidence for a water-ice mantle inside Ceres? 8. What spectroscopic evidence exists for ice on asteroid Themis 24? 9. Why can’t astronomers match asteroid ice with Earth’s water? 10. Where is DAWN heading? 11. What event may have played a “key role” in sending icy asteroids toward Earth? _______ 12. What evidence is found from the chemistry of zircons and the minerals they contain? 13. Other than when water came to Earth, what other basic question remains? 14. What is the range of estimates to this question? ________________ 15. Which statement best describes the main idea of this article? 16. Comets were the source of Earth’s oceans 17. It is now clear that Earth’s oceans came from asteroids, not comets. 18. Earth’s water is leftover from its original formation 4.6 billion years ago. 19. There may be more sources of water in the solar system than previously thought.
From the section “Water and Technological Civilizations: 20. What inventions couldn’t work on a water world? 21. What fraction of planets acquire just the right amount of water?
1. What 2 possible outcomes await meteoroids that collide with Earth? 2. What do the names Stone, Bronze, and Iron Age represent, specifically 3. Why did the discovery of iron require a lot more thought than, say, copper? 4. How was the actual name for iron in various early civilizations a clue to its origin? 5. Describe the "Iron Mountain" which led Greenland into the Iron Age despite its lack of mineral resources. 6. Where does 27% of the world's nickel come from? 7. Briefly summarize what happened to a 1,635 lb. meteorite found in Texas in 1808? 8. What use did some Ugandans find for meteorite fragments in 1992? 9. What is the Black Stone of the Kaaba? 10. What is an impactite? 11. What evidence did Luis Alavarez find to support his idea that a meteorite killed off the dinos? 12. What final discovery proved his theory? 13. What percentage of the world's species survived? 14. Since all old, solid surfaces in the solar system are heavily cratered, why isn't Earth? 15. How many impact craters have been found on Earth? 16. How powerful was Tunguska event of 1908? 17. How might we defend ourselves from an incoming meteorite?
1. What made Caltech astronomer Mike Brown a self-professed Pluto killer? 2. According to the article, how many “would-be” planets are in the Kuiper Belt? 3. What do its icy peaks rival? 4. What geologic features have carved up its surface recently? 5. Describe the part of the IAU does Pluto (and Eris, Makemake, etc…) fail? 6. What argument is made using Earth in the position of Pluto? 7. Compare Pluto to Earth and Earth to the gas giants in size. 8. In what important way is the IAU definition limited? 9. How was Ceres classified upon its discovery in 1801? 10. What is Pluto’s current “title”?
1. Who has devised a formula that hurts Pluto’s chances of being reinstated as a planet? 2. What is mentioned as a “key criterion” for being defined as a planet? 3. What other bodies “skim” Pluto’s orbit? 4. Who is Mike Brown? 5. What questions did Margot ask to the American Astronomical Association? 6. Our methods for discovering exoplanets don’t allow astronomers to know what properties? 7. In Margot’s formula, what relationship is represented by pi? 8. Cite 2 of the 3 parameters needed to know pi. 9. What is the key value of pi for a planet to clear its area and be roughly round? 10. What percentage of exoplanets meet or exceed this pi value? 11. What is Pluto’s pi value? 12. What is Earth’s pi value?
1. What did Newton do with sunlight in the 1600’s? 2. What 1860 paper was the equivalent of the Rosetta Stone? 3. What did William Wollaston observe in 1802? 4. How many lines did Joseph Fraunhofer observe? 5. How did he label the most prominent lines?
6. Why was the “D” line of note to him? 7. What other celestial object’s lines did he study? 8. What tool did Kirchoff & Bunsen develop? 9. What was causing the “ever-present” D-line? 10. How, then, did K & B next use their “prowess in the lab”?
11. By the late 1800’s, how many elements had been detected in the Sun? 12. Which element had not yet been detected on Earth? 13. What observation by William Huggins confirmed Fraunhofer? 14. What did the 1920’s Henry Draper Catalogue contain? 15. Which way do spectral lines shift when a star is receding from Earth?
16. What conclusion was made at Lick Observatory in the 1890’s? 17. The shift of spectral lines in a star may reveal what?
18. 19. 20. Name 3 binaries found by spectroscopy:
21. In the 1890’s, observation got ahead of what? 22. What has been the greatest triumph of celestial spectroscopy?
Article Questions: Astronomers Discover Potential Habitable Exoplanet 31 Light Years Away 1. How many of the 5200 confirmed exoplanets are rocky? 2. Name something that makes Wolf 1069b “particularly intriguing”. 3. Name something else. 4. What is the period of its orbit? (how long does it take to orbit its star) 5. How does its host star compare to our Sun? 6. What is the temperature range of this planet? 7. What attribute does this exoplanet have in common with our Moon? 8. How large is the telescope on Calar Alto that made these findings? 9. Kossakowski describes Astronomy as being a ________ effort. 10. How is the “Radial Velocity” method described in the article. 11. What are “biosignatures”? 12. What is the closest Earth-mass planet known? 13. Why can’t this planet’s atmosphere be studied using the James Webb Space Telescope? 14. How long does the astronomer estimate until the technology will exist to study the atmospheres of planets detected using the radial velocity method?
1. What was discovered for the first time? 2. What is the name of the exoplanet and the name of the star? 3. What is the size (radius) and mass of the exoplanet? 4. Why was it compared to Venus? 5. What can researchers use a planet's atmosphere to do? 6. Describe how researchers determined the radius of the planet. 7. What is its orbital period? 8. Why do researchers believe that one particular wavelength produced a larger dip in brightness? 9. What 2 substances were mentioned as possible components of its atmosphere? 10. How common are M-type dwarf stars? 11. Why was it thought that exoplanets around these stars couldn't have atmospheres? 12. 13. 14. Which 3 observatories are mentioned as being used for follow-up studies?
TESS Discovers 'super-Earth' in its star's Goldilocks zone (Space.com - Feb. 2024) 1. What type of “company” might the exoplanet TOI-715b have? 2. Why is this a significant discovery? 3. What is the diameter of TOI-715b? 4. Why is a habitable zone sometimes referred to as a “Goldilocks Zone”? 5a. Distance to the system? 5b. Orbital period? 6. Describe the method used by TESS to find exoplanets. 7. When is the transit method used by TESS “more effective”? 8. What telescope may further investigate this planetary system? 9. Give an example of a planet in the habitable zone of its star that is NOT habitable. 10. What characteristics might be determined by James Webb? 11. If an Earth-sized sibling is confirmed there, what record would it hold?
With a backyard telescope, an amateur made a discovery about what type of pulsar?
Describe the neutron star leftover from a supernova explosion.
How fast might a neutron star in a binary spin?
For a time, a pulsar can begin destroying its companion in the binary system. In what sense, though, might a pulsar go “back to its old ways”?
The largest telescope we use at MSDHS has a 10”, or 25.4 cm, wide mirror. How wide was the mirror used by the amateur astronomer in this article?
From his home in South Africa, what did van Staden begin to record that nobody else had recorded?
How many observations did he make and for how long of a span of time?
What shape is the star in a binary with a pulsar usually?
After collaborating with a professional astronomer, the two realized that the companion star is rotating slightly faster than it orbits the pulsar. But what else did MSP J1723-2837’s companion star seem to have on its surface that decreases its brightness?
What phenomena do sunspots form in response to?
Normally, what is found on the side of the star nearest the pulsar?
Why might MSP J1723-2837 not have such a hot spot? (list at least 1 of the 2 reasons)
When, and by whom, was the term “black hole” first coined?
What did the Event Horizon Telescope release in 2019?
Where was that black hole located?
List the 3 types of black holes.
When a smaller star collapses, what does it become?
In a stellar black hole, at least 3 times the mass of our Sun is packed into how much area?
How many black holes might the Milky Way house?
How massive are supermassive black holes?
Describe the first theory mentioned as to how supermassive black holes form.
What material that does not emit light could be responsible for supermassive black holes?
Where did scientist find an IMBH in 2014?
In 2018, new research indicated that IMBH’s may be found where?
How many galaxies are being studied by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey?
Define event horizon.
What is concentrated at the black hole’s singularity?
Material that ricochets off the horizon may form what?
Why did it take so long (2 years) to put together the data from the Event Horizon effort?
What has been unexpected about our own black hole, Sagittarius A?
What did LIGO detect in 2015?
According to a 2012 study, what would happen to a person falling into the event horizon?
Why isn’t it correct to say that black holes “suck”?
What was the first object considered to be a black hole?
What can happen to star that passes too close to a black hole?
Article Questions - The Truth About Black Holes (Star Eater) - In class only
1. Being of only average mass, what will happen to the Sun in about 5 billion years? 2. What is the fate of a star 10 times the Sun’s mass? 3. Describe the effect of a marshmallow dropped on a neutron star. 4. 5. 6. List 3 activities that occur during the final moments of a 20 MSUN star’s collapse:
7. What happens to both general relativity and quantum mechanics? 8. How fast is Earth’s escape velocity? 9. How does the article define event horizon:
10. a. Who first mentioned the idea of a “black hole” and in what year? b. First published the idea of a black hole and in what year? c. First coined the term “black hole” and in what year?
11. By using x-rays and radio telescopes, what did scientists find at the center of most galaxies?
12. How many galaxies are there in the universe? 13. How did some black holes become so big? 14. How certain are scientists that black holes exist? 15. What’s the name, and abbreviation, of our black hole? 16. What completely awesome definition of quasars does the article use? 17. What is G2 and what is it doing? 18. Define accretion disk. 19. What happens to 90% of matter falling toward a black hole?
20. Describe the jets leaving a black hole’s vicinity. 21. a. How big of a black hole would the Sun form? b. The Earth?
22. What is meant by the phrase “time is relative”? 23. Which clocks have to be set slightly slower? 24. What happens during the 1 minute you’re close to the event horizon? 25. What did Hawking discover will happen to black holes eventually? 26. What’s the “fire wall” (if it exists)?
27. What term is used if you are stretched by a black hole until torn apart? 28. How small is the singularity? 29. What is the multiverse? 30. What existed a moment before the Big Bang?
Article Questions - GRB in a Galaxy Far, Far Away
Which satellite first recorded gamma rays on Feb. 2nd, 2017?
In what constellation?
What is meant by optical transient?
What type of event was GRB170202?
How long did it take the gamma rays to switch off?
How bright was GRB170202 during its biggest outburst?
How long did it take the VLT in Chile to acquire the spectrum of the visible afterglow?
How far away was the blast?
Specifically, how was the Universe different at that time?
A flash of gamma rays followed by an optical transient is the signature of what event?
How massive of a star is required for such an event?
Why don’t most collapsing stars produce a GRB?
How do stars that produce GRBs differ from stars like our Sun?
What is the rate of black hole formation?
What is the fate of most black holes?
What was discovered by LIGO?
What is the signature of a neutron star merger?
What 2 events will most likely be detected together given the rate of black hole formation?
1. Roughly 80% of the mass of the Universe is made up of what kind of material? 2. What is baryonic matter composed of? 3. - 5. Please list 3 “candidates” for dark matter if it is made of baryonic material. 6. What other type of object might account for some of the “missing” mass? 7. What are WIMPs? 8. Describe neutralinos. 9. What is a “third possibility”? 10. What observation in the 1950s let astronomers know that there was more mass in galaxies than could be seen? 11. What would happen to galaxy clusters if they only contained visible matter? 12. According to Einstein, what do massive objects do to light (actually, to space)? 13. How much of the composition of the whole universe is dark matter? 14. What did studies of distant supernovae reveal? 15. What is the mysterious energy that seems to dominate gravity and the Universe?