Characteristics and Origins of the Solar System
First
Hour Examination
September
25,2000
Write in complete sentences. Describe what it is you are trying to do, or what idea you are
developing. Walk with Ursus!
- The orbits
of planets around the Sun can be described by a certain mathematical
figure. What is this figure, and
what is the scientific term for the law that says this is so? Make a rough, Cro-Magnon-like cave drawing
representation of this figure, and indicate some of its important features.
- You
have been abducted by space aliens!!! They take you to their secret laboratory in orbit around the
Earth where they keep their time machine.
They put you in and turn on the power. When you come out, you look
out the porthole of the space laboratory and watch the Earth below you for
a while. You soon realize that
they have sent you back 250 million years in the past! How could you know that?
- Define the
terms sidereal day and
mean solar day.
Explain why they are different. Be quantitative.
- A comet has
an orbital period of 127 years. At its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion)
it is at a distance of 0.50 astronomical units. How far from the Sun
is it at aphelion, when it is most distant?
- Explain why
the 5°
inclination of the Moon’s orbit is important in determining the occurrence
of eclipses.
- Define what
is meant by astronomical unit and give its value (at least
roughly).
These might be handy (however inclusion
does not necessitate their use)
(1)
a3 = P2
(2)
N(t) = N0 e-0.693 t/T