Study Guide for Exam 1

Remember to also look at the weekly study questions.

 

Chapter 1 (week 1) 
  • Celestial coordinates
  • Earth’s orbital motions (solar day, sidereal day, etc)
  • angular size, linear size, distance (also done in lab)
  • units of measure ( AU)
  • sidereal day
  • solar day
  • light year
  • Astronomical Unit
  • synchronous rotation
  • differentiation
  • precession
  • retrograde motion

See also the sheet of celestial coordinate definitions from day 1

Chapter 2 (week 2) 
  • Kepler’s laws 
  • Properties of ellipses
  • Newton’s law of gravity
  • escape speed
  • orbital speed
  • surface gravity
  • aphelion
  • perihelion
  • semi major axis
  • eccentricity

 

Chapter 6 (week 1)
  • general properties of the solar system
  • characteristics of terrestrial planets
  • characteristics of Jovian planets
  • how to calculate density
  • terrestrial planet
  • jovian planet
  • density
  • Bode's Law

 

Chapter 7 (week 3)
  • plate tectonics
  • processes which modify surfaces
  • plate tectonics

 

Chapter 9 and non-text readings on Venus (week 3) 
  • surface characteristics of Venus
  • geologic history 
  • recent models 
  • greenhouse effect
  • characteristics of impact craters on Venus
  • catastrophism
  • uniformitarianism

 

Impact Craters and Dating Surfaces (week4)
  • characteristics and features of impact craters
  • formation of impact craters
  • Crater morphology
  • effect of planetary environment
  • techniques to date surfaces
  • crater density plots
  • crater counting
  • bolide
  • rim
  • ejecta blanket
  • rays
  • secondary crater
  • central peak
  • saturation cratering
  • simple crater
  • complex crater
  • multiring basin