Term
| two types of astronomers divided by approach |
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Definition
The two types of astronomer approaches:
1. observational astronomers- gather data
2. theoretical astronomers -use data to anaylze systems/model how they evolved |
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Term
| five types of astronomers divided by what they study: |
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Definition
five types of astronomers divided by what they study:
1. planetary
2. Solar
3. Stellar
4. Galactic
5. Extragalactic |
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Term
| what is astrometry, and how does it relate to what scientists are trying to do now? |
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Definition
astronmetry is the study of the sun, moon, and planets.
currently it relates to scientists who are trying to model the creation and change of distant plants and stars, as well as predict the occurance of meteor showers, eclipses, and the apperance of comets |
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Term
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Definition
| ptolemy made a mathematical model of the geocentric model using circular orbits |
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Term
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Definition
| Tycho Brahe made really good measurements/observations that allowed other to expand on astronomical theories |
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Term
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Definition
| Kepler created some laws of planetary motion that were the one of the foundations of Newton's theory of universal gravitation |
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Term
| What does the Hertzsprung-Russel plot? |
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Definition
| the Hertzsprung-Rusel diagram plots star luminosity versus magnitude |
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Term
| what is the study of cosmology? |
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Definition
| cosmology is the study of the large-scale structures of the universe and the dynamics of the universe. |
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Term
| what five concepts did we learn about that fall under cosmology? |
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Definition
four concepts that cosmology encompasses:
1. string theory
2. dark matter
3. dark energy
4. # of universes
5. cosmic rays |
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Term
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Definition
| cosmic rays are very high energy particles that originate outside the solar system |
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Term
| what two categories of electro-magnetic radiation do easily pass through the eath's atmosphere? |
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Definition
the elctromagnetic radiation that passes through the earth's atmosphere is
1. visible light which comes in which some distortion
2. radio waves which have no distortion |
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Term
| what type of astronomy deals with visible light? |
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Definition
| the type of astronomy that deal with visible light is optical astronomy |
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Term
| four different ways to approach optical astronomy data collection |
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Definition
optical astronomy data can come in four forms:
1. imaging
2. photometry, which measures the amount of light coming from an object
3. spectroscopy
4. polarimetry, where the polarization state is measured |
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Term
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Definition
| radio astronomy measures celestial bodies by looking at radio wave emr |
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Term
| what are the two ways to approach collecting radio wave data? |
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Definition
the two ways to collect radio wave data:
1. one singular radio wave antennas, called radio telescopes
2. a network of linked radio telescopes |
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Term
| radio telescopes are really _____ |
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Definition
| radio telescopes are really antennae |
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Term
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Definition
| the South Pole InfraRed EXplorer, or SPIREX, is an IR telescope built to test the feasability of IR telescopes operating from earth's surface |
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Term
| project we learned about that had to do with IR astronomy |
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Definition
| the SPIREX project was an IR astronomy project |
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Term
| result of the SPIREX project |
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Definition
| The result of the SPIREX project was that suprisingly good data led to scientists being able to observe star-forming complexes, the environment these compelxes were in, and protostars lying within them |
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Term
| the reason the SPIREX project got observations from AN is that _____ is reduced in the atmosphere above the AN plateau by a factor of 10 to 20. |
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Definition
| the reason the SPIREX telescope was set up in AN is that background IR radiation from the atmosphere is 10 to 20 times lower there |
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Term
| wavefronts from a distant star can be distorted by the a layer of _____ in the atmosphere. how does this relate to AN? |
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Definition
| waves from a distant star can be changed when they hit a layer of turbulent air in the atmosphere. the AN atmosphere has a relatively thin layer of turbulent air |
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Term
| realationship between elevation and astronomy data collection |
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Definition
| the way elevation affects the signal from celestial bodies is that the more atmosphere the singal goes through, the more it gets distorted. thus, the higher up you are, the less atmosphere the wave has to go through, the less distortion |
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Term
| the ice in AN relates to astronomy data collection in what way? |
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Definition
| the ice in AN serves to absorb particles that make it to the surface |
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Term
| nine major advantages of collecting astronomy data in AN |
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Definition
the nine major advantages of collecting astronomy data in
AN
1. coldest place on earth
2. driest place on earth
3. stable atmosphere, thin surface boundary layer
4. little pollution, dust aersols to get in the way of telescopes
5. few clouds
6. easy to conduct long-duration, continous monitoring
7. magnetic pole brings increased low-energy cosmic ray fluxes
8. few earthquakes
9. ice absorbs particles from celestial bodies |
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Term
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Definition
| because the cold air in AN can't hold much water, relative humidity in AN is generally hight |
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Term
| what does the term astronomically dark mean |
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Definition
| if the sun is below the horizon, it can still light the sky enough to disrupt data collection. once the affect of the sun is totally gone, you as astronomical dark. this occurs when the sun is below 18° |
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Term
the four major disadvantages to AN astronomy data collection
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Definition
there are four disadvantages to collecting astronomy data in AN
1. humidity: the relative humidity is often high
2. sky coverage: you can only ever see one half of the sky
3. the amount of time it is astronomically dark is lower in AN than in spots nearer the equator. Though darkness can last months, if the sun isn't far enough below the horizon, it gets in the way
4. Auroral activity is frequent |
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Term
| sum up the future of astronomy data collection in AN |
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Definition
the future of astronomy data collection in AN: we are gonna get more and more data there in the future. A medium/large aperture telescope has potential to do things we thought we could only do from space
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Term
| Meteorite collection gives a lot of insight to ____ and ____ |
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Definition
| Meteorite collection tells us a lot about geology of the moon and mars |
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Term
| 3 reasons why AN is the best place to look for meteorites |
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Definition
3 reasons why AN is the best place to look for meteorites
1. no background material to make looking for them hard. just flat ice
2. low/no sediment accretion on top of meteors
3. you can't get meteors confused with earthen rocks because there aren't any. to expand on that, there isn't a bias towards meteors that look different from earthen rocks. there also isn't a bias towards larger meteors
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Term
| explain the study of the Aurora with one setence. |
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Definition
| the Aurora is solar wind interacting with earth's magnetic field |
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Term
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Definition
| studying the Aurora gives us insight to solar weather. The affect of solar weather satillites, ground based data collection, and climate/weather aren't well understood |
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Term
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Definition
| the solar flares, solar wind, and plasma that comes from the sun is collectively known as solar weather |
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Term
| where is the PILOT program based? |
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Definition
| the PILOT program is based at Dome C |
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Term
| the PILOT program uses a ____ telescope to look at _____ |
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Definition
| The PILOT program uses a pathfinder telescope to look at astrophysical properties |
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Term
| the PILOT program is paving the way for ____ |
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Definition
| the PILOT program is paving the way for permanent observatories in AN that record IR to sub mm wavelengths |
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Term
| the South Pole Telescope is a 10 meter diameter telescope operating at the NSF south pole research station. what it is looking at? |
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Definition
| the South Pole Telescope looks at faint, low contrast emissions to map anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background |
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Term
| The BOOMERANG project consists of what? |
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Definition
| the BOOMERANG project uses three high-altitude ballons |
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Term
| what question is the BOOMERANG project looking to answer? |
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Definition
| the BOOMERANG project is looking to answer the question: what did the early universe look like? |
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Term
| what phenomenom is the BOOMERANG project examining? |
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Definition
| the BOOMERANG project looks at background cosmic microwave radiation |
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Term
| what phenomenom did the IceCube project observe? |
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Definition
| the IceCube project observed high energy nutrinos |
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Term
| what fundamental question is the IceCube project looking to answer? |
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Definition
| the IceCube project is looking to answer the question: where do the highest energy cosmic rays come from? |
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Term
| the two things we want to know about nuetrinos |
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Definition
we want to know:
1. The mass of nuetrinos
2. the point source of nuetrinos |
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Term
| what is the SOFIA project? |
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Definition
| the SOFIA project is a IR telescope mounted on the top of a modified jet |
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