Study Guide for Astronomy & Astrophysics I Final Exam (Fall 2017)

1. Make sure you understand Kepler's Third Law in all of its forms, what the constant k = 4p²/G(m₁ + m₂), and what the third law implies for relative speeds of planets with distance.
2. Be able to identify the key orbital positions of planets (conjunctions, oppositions, greatest elongations) and what planets would look like as viewed from Earth.
3. Review ellipses, relationships between semi-major axis, semi-minor axis, eccentricity, and perihelion/aphelion distances.
4. Review the four conic sections, how they relate to orbit types, and what eccentricities and energies correspond to them.
5. Recall the definitions of potential, kinetic, and total energies for orbits, and how they are related. Check the Virial Theorem in relation to this.
6. Know the different layers of the Sun's interior and atmosphere. Be able to say something about how we know about the interior structure of the Sun.
7. Be familiar with the basic steps in formation of the solar system.
8. Review meteor showers, where meteorites come from, and how they are related to their parent bodies.
9. Review the asteroid distributions in the asteroid belt, and Kirkwood Gaps.
10. Be familiar with the two tails of comets, and what causes them.
11. Be familiar with the different ways that ring systems form around planets.
12. Be familiar with the calculation of equilibrium temperature of planets vs. their distance from a star. Be careful to study the variables and their units in these calculations (i.e. r_p is in AU). Be able to use albedo. Be familiar with how the luminosity of the Sun is related to this subject.
13. Review the process of nuclear energy generation in the Sun, and the conversion of mass difference of 4 protons and a He nucleus into energy.