Active Learning Tutorials

for Astronomy & the

Planetary Sciences

Preliminary
Field-Test
Edition

CAPER Center for Astronomy & Physics Education Research

Copyright © 2018 by CAPER Center for Astronomy & Physics Education Research

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any
manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the copyright holder, except for the
use of brief quotations in a book review.

Cover Art by: Amber Lynn Richard

Copy Edited by: Megan Parker, Editor, www.calliopeandquill.com, and Inge Heyer

CAPER Center for Astronomy &

Physics Education Research
604 South 26th Street
Laramie, WY 82070 USA
http://www.PonoPubs.com

Second Printing, July 23, 2019

First Printing, June 2018
ISBN-13: 978-1721633517
ISBN-10: 1721633510

Pono Publishing
Laramie, Wyoming  Hilo, Hawai’i
Preface for Students

You might think astronomy is about looking through a telescope on a chilly night high atop some
lonely mountain summit. Or you might think instead that astronomy is about sitting in front of a
super-fast computer using complicated mathematical formulas to make predictions about the fate
of our Universe. Certainly, the study of astronomy can involve many different things, but at its
core, astronomy is about wonder. Wondering about what the surface of distant planets are like,
wondering about why some stars shine bright while others are dim, wondering how galaxies of
stars first formed, and wondering if humans can live on planets orbiting other stars.
When you take an astronomy class, there will be many new names to learn and ideas to
wrestle with. This book is designed to help you practice using those names and ideas in most
effectively learning to wonder about how the Universe works. Each of the ACTIVE LEARNING
TUTORIALS—or ALTs for short—challenges you to take the notions you are learning in class and
from your readings, and to develop more meaningful and deeper understandings by applying
those ideas in novel contexts. In other words, using ALTs will help you be a better “wonder-er”
about astronomy.
These ALTs have been carefully designed to help you understand topics better instead of as
an introduction. As it turns out, because these ALTs often use new vocabulary terms and
representations, they are often difficult to do before you’ve had at least some introduction to the
topic. In other words, if you’ve skipped the readings or didn’t see the accompanying lectures, you
might find these quite challenging to complete. On the other hand, these ALTs work great at
enhancing your learning during reading breaks or during lecture breaks. Moreover, we’ve found
that ALTs work best if you complete them with a classmate—not just comparing answers and
checking each other’s work, but actually working collaboratively on each and every question to be
sure you understand and agree on both what the question is asking and what the more correct
answer is. When you can, lean on the collective brains of a social group as learning can often best
be done in small groups.
With this short introduction, we welcome you to wonder with us about the nature and
inner workings of the Universe.
Preface for Instructors

Building on discipline-based astronomy education research on how people learn, each included
ACTIVE LEARNING TUTORIAL—or ALT for short—takes into account and targets common
misconceptions students have about astronomy and space science. Astronomy is the study of the
entire Universe after all, and novice learners need guidance on how to make sense of it all.
These ALTs support students’ thinking by providing the supportive cognitive frameworks
they need to most effectively wrestle with new ideas while helping students keep from getting
overwhelmed. Each ALT is short, requiring only 5-7 minutes of time, and focusing on a single
aspect of an overarching idea. At the same time, these ALTs rely heavily on illustrations and are
written to be effective with students who haven’t yet become strong textbook readers and those
who may not yet be completely fluent in English as their first language.
In order for students to “think,” they first have to know something. These ALTs are not
designed to be used in the absence of lecture or reading; rather, they are best used as a
supplement to your teaching. They provide students with extended experiences and engagement
in astronomy so that they can deepen their understanding and retain the ideas longer
When used in a supportive learning environment, these ALTs will help the widest possible
diversity of students learn astronomy. Most instructors use the ALTs during class time to break
up their lecture by asking students to come to consensus answers while working in small learning
groups.
We have had great success using ALTs with students and fellow faculty in helping break up
lectures to better and more actively engage students in the doing of astronomy. We hope you will
too! Within this text, errors most certainly exist, and we would very much appreciate knowing
about them so we can fix them in future printings. The science of astronomy is, after all, a
collective human enterprise, and our greatest wish for our community of astronomy educators is
to join together and help each of us do a better job of sharing the wonders of the Universe with our
students.
Table of Contents

MOTIONS IN THE SKY 1

1 Nightly Motion of Stars 3
2 Stars Change with Seasons 5
3 Follow the Setting Sun 7
4 Moon’s Phases 9
5 Frequency of Eclipses 11
6 Earth’s Tides 13

PHYSICS OF THE UNIVERSE 15

7 Measuring Earth 17
8 Translating from Earth-Based Views 19
9 Planetary Motion 21
10 Gravitational Attraction 23
11 Light and Temperature 25
12 Nature of Light 27
13 Kirchoff’s Rules 29
14 Telescopes 31
15 Angular Size 33

PLANETARY SCIENCE 35
16 Scale of the Solar System 37
17 Characteristics of Planetary Systems 39
18 Formation of Solar System 41
19 Radioactive Dating 43
20 Plate Tectonics 45
21 Earth’s Winds 47
22 Cratering 49
23 Mercury’s Rotation 51
24 The Planetary Greenhouse Effect 53
25 Rotation of Jupiter 55
26 Saturn’s Rings 57
27 Seasons on Uranus 59
28 Brightness of the Sun at Planets 61
29 Communicating with Pluto 63
30 Searching for Asteroids 65
31 Tale of a Tail 67
 THE SUN & STARS 69
32 The Sun 71
33 Predicting Solar Cycles 73
34 Parallax 75
35 Color of Stars 77
36 Binary Stars 79
37 Stellar Masses 81
38 Magnitude Scales 83
39 Brightness and Distance 85
40 Formation of Stars 87
41 HR Diagram 89
42 Number of Stars in the Universe 91
43 Fusion Reaction Chains 93
44 Variable Stars 95
45 Mass and Lifetime 97
46 Type I vs Type II Supernova 99
47 Pulsar Time Curves 101

GALAXIES 103
48 Pop I vs Pop II Stars 105
49 Location of the Galactic Center 107
50 Sun’s Location in Milky Way 109
51 Classifying Galaxies 111
52 Hubble Deep Field 113
53 Evidence for Dark matter 115

STRUCTURE AND EVOLUTION OF THE UNIVERSE 117

54 Quasars 119
55 Cosmic Distance Ladder 121
56 Size and Scale 123
57 Hubble’s Law 125
58 Early Universe 127

ASTROBIOLOGY 129
59 Finding ExoPlanets Using Transit Method 131
60 Finding ExoPlanets Using Doppler Method 133
 Motions in the Sky

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 1

 Nightly Movement of the Stars 1
As Earth spins on its axis, the Sun, Moon, stars and everything beyond Earth appears to move
across the sky. When thinking about observing the sky from a spinning Earth, it usually easiest to
imagine a counter-clockwise spinning Earth as seen from above its North Pole.

The Figure at right illustrates an

observer at the equator at noon as
seen from above. Noon

1. Sketch and label the position of the

observerat 6pm, midnight, and
6am.

2. The brightest star in the constellation of Orion is the star called Rigel. On the Figure above label
where the very distant star Rigel must be when it is seen high in the sky at midnight.

3. Sketch and label the position of the Moon, when it is high above an observer’s head, at sunrise.

4. Objects in the sky appear to rise and set because Earth spins on its axis. If a star rises in the East
on at 8:00 P.M. on a Monday night, how many hours must pass before it rises again?
Circle One: About 6 hours About 12 hours About 24 hours

5. If Earth was spinning two times faster, only taking about 12 hours to spin once, how long would
it take for a star to appear to move across the sky from Eastern to Western horizon?
Circle One: About 6 hours About 12 hours About 24 hours

6. In the space below, redraw the TOP-VIEW Figure instead as a SIDE-VEW to show why an
observer on the equator can only see the Sun during the day, but a different observer at the North
Pole can sometimes see the Sun anytime. Use arrows and labels to help explain your drawing.

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 3

Although the spinning Earth causes the Sun and stars to appear to move, the brain tends to find it
easier to imagine that the Earth is not moving at all, and that it is the Sun and stars that are moving,
drifting across the sky from East to West.

7. As seen from Earth’s surface, most objects in the sky seem to move from East to West. In the
third frame of the figure below, draw how the constellation of Orion would appear about 6pm.

Looking East about 6pm Looking South about Midnight Looking West about 6am

8. The brightest star in the constellation of Orion is called Rigel. It is the brightest star on the right
hand side. Label Rigel in the Figure above.

9. From the mid-latitudes of the Northern hemisphere, the seven stars of the Big Dipper never
appear to rise and set, but move around the North Star (Polaris) counter-clockwise. Below, label
the North Star (Polaris), and draw how the Big and Little Dippers appear in the middle frame.

Looking North about 6pm Looking North about Midnight Looking North about 6am

4 Preliminary Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2018

 Stars Change With Seasons 2
When looking toward the southern horizon, different stars are seen at different times of the year.
For example, Gemini and Cancer are prominent constellations in the winter sky, while Scorpio and
Sagittarius dominate the summer’s midnight sky.

Aquarius

Pisces
Capricorn
Aries
Sagittarius

Taurus
Scorpio

Libra
Gemini
Virgo
Cancer Leo

1. Taurus is a constellation often seen in the winter night sky. Draw a stick figure observer  on
Earth, where Taurus can be seen overhead in the midnight sky.

2. One month later, Gemini is most easily seen at midnight. Then a month after that, Cancer is
most easily seen at midnight. Which constellation is most easily seen at midnight one month later,
in early March?
Circle One: Taurus Gemini Leo Scorpio Aquarius

3. On the figure, draw arrows indicating which direction Earth is orbiting around the Sun AND
which way Earth is spinning.

4. Which constellation can NOT be seen in early March, because the brilliantly shining Sun is
blocking it from view?
Circle One: Taurus Gemini Leo Scorpio Aquarius

5. Imagine three astronomers are arguing about

how to correctly sketch an overhead view
showing the position of an observer at SUNSET
for Earth’s position in March for the above Figure. Astronomer Astronomer Astronomer
Which proposed position at right do you agree Pat Chris Dana
with, and why? Explain.

6. The North Star can be seen any time of the year. Mark is the position of the North Star (Polaris)
on the top figure?
Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 5
For each of the 12 months of a year, there is a constellation that is the primary midnight
constellation, and a constellation that is overhead at noon, and entirely blocked from our view by
the brilliantly shining Sun.

Over 2000 years ago, the “sun-blocked” constellations were arranged into a calendar based upon
when they are overhead at noon, and are still known today as the “signs of the zodiac.” Sometimes
people have heard about zodiac horoscope constellation signs being assigned to them by the date
of one’s birth. The zodiac calendar of 160 B.C. is listed in the table below.

Dates Horoscope Sign Sun-Blocked in 160 BC Sun-Blocked in 2016 AD

January 20 – Feb. 18 Aquarius Aquarius Capricorn
February 19 – March 20 Pisces Pisces Aquarius
March 21 – April 19 Aries Aries Pisces
April 20 – May 20 Taurus Taurus Aries
May 21 – June 20 Gemini Gemini Taurus
June 21 – July 22 Cancer Cancer Gemini
July 21 – August 22 Leo Leo Cancer
August 23 – Sept. 22 Virgo Virgo Leo
September 23 – Oct. 22 Libra Libra Virgo
October 21 – Nov. 21 Scorpio Scorpio Libra
November 22 – Dec. 21 Sagittarius Sagittarius Scorpio
November 29 – Dec. 18 Sagittarius Sagittarius Ophiuchus
December 22 – Jan. 19 Capricorn Capricorn Sagittarius

There are two interesting things to notice. One is that the constellation blocked by the Sun for any
given date has changed over the past 2000 years. The second interesting thing is that there is a
thirteenth constellation. Between the dates of November 19th and December 18th, the
constellation Ophiuchus is hidden by the noon Sun. These changes have occurred because Earth’s
orbit around the Sun has drifted slightly over the last several thousand years. The real location of
the constellations and the original zodiac calendar have been out of alignment for many years.

7. Which constellation was blocked by the Sun on your birthdate, in 160 B.C.? In 2016 A.D.?

8. On the figure below, label the Earth’s position on September 5, 2016 AND label the position of
Ophiuchus.
Aquarius

Pisces Capricorn
Aries
Sagittarius

Taurus
Scorpio

Libra
Gemini
Virgo
Cancer Leo

6 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Follow the Setting Sun 3
Some people think that the Sun always rises directly in the East and NorthWest
North
sets directly in the West. With more careful observation, we can see 315°
0°
that the Sun’s precise rising and setting position changes
dramatically over the course of a year. East
West
270° 90°
Precisely Measuring Directions: In astronomy, we pin-point specific 90°
directions as if the horizon were a giant 360° circle where the
South
direction North is 0°, East is 90°, South is 180°, and West is 270°. 180°

1. The following table gives the direction of the setting Sun and the angle that
the Sun’s path makes with the horizon. Complete the table showing the direction the Sun is setting,
the angle the Sun’s pathway makes with the horizon, and sketch an arrow indicating it’s pathway.

Date Direction Horizon Angle

December 21 235° 45°
March 21 270° 45°
June 21 305° 45°
September 21 270° 45°

Portland, Oregon (Latitude 45°)

Date Direction Horizon Angle

December 21 240° 51°
March 21 270° 51°
June 21 300° 51°
September 21 270° 51°

Washington, DC (Latitude 39°)

Date Direction Horizon Angle

December 21 240° 66°
March 21 270° 66°
June 21 300° 66°
September 21 270° 57°

Atlanta, Georgia (Latitude 33°)

Date Direction Horizon Angle

December 21 247° 90°
March 21 270° 90°
June 21 293° 90°
September 21 270° 90°

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Latitude about 0°)

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 7

2. What angle does the Sun’s pathway make with the horizon, for cities along Earth’s equator?

3. How does the angle of the Sun’s pathway with the horizon change as one observes from
latitudes farther and farther north?

4. How many degrees along the horizon does the Sun move for a city at 39° latitude over a six
month period?

5. Predict the Sun’s position and setting angle with the horizon, at sunset for your birthday, for the
city closest to your latitude.

6. Below is the skyline for Sydney, Australia at 33° South latitude. Predict the horizon position and
pathway for the setting Sun.

You might have noticed that the cities at 45° and above start to experience more extreme changes.
Above 45° North—and below 45° South—the seasonal changes make these position estimates
difficult to do without a calculator. These changes become so extreme that North of the Artic circle—
and South of the Antarctic Circle—there are winter days where the Sun never actually sets.

8 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Our Moon’s Phases 4
The Moon appears differently each night because we are seeing differing amounts of its ½
illuminated side. The time it appears in the sky, and where in the sky it is, depends on the relative
positions between the Sun, Earth, and Moon.

The Figure at right illustrates an

observer at the equator at noon as
seen from above. Noon

1. Sketch and label the position of an

observerat sunset, midnight, and
sunrise on the figure below (not the
one at right).

Position A D

3. Refer to the figure above to answer the following questions. If the Sun and Moon are on
opposite sides of Earth (position D), what time does the Moon appear highest in the sky?
Circle one: Noon Sunset Midnight Sunrise

4. If the Moon is at position D, what time can an observer on the spinning Earth first see the Moon
rising above the horizon?
Circle one: Noon Sunset Midnight Sunrise

5. If the Moon is at position D, what time can an observer on the spinning Earth see the Moon
setting below the western horizon?
Circle one: Noon Sunset Midnight Sunrise

6. The moon is visible in the sky for about 12 hours as the Earth turns underneath it. If the Moon
is first visible at Noon (position B), then what time will it be highest in the sky (over the
observer)?
Circle one: Noon Sunset Midnight Sunrise
Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 9
7. If the Moon is first visible at Noon (position B), then what time will it disappear from view (set)?
Circle one: Noon Sunset Midnight Sunrise

When wondering about the Moon at position D—with the Earth between the Sun and Moon—our
brain naturally jumps to the conclusion that we won’t be able to see the Moon because it is in Earth’s
shadow. Your brain is right; however, only rarely is the Earth DIRECTLY between. Most often, the
Moon at position D is slightly above or below Earth’s shadow.

8. How much Moon’s Position Fraction of Moon’s Surface Sketch Appearance of What time does
(what fraction) of Illuminated by Sun Moon from Earth the Moon rise?
the Moon’s
surface is A
illuminated when
it is at each
position?
B

8. Two astronomers are arguing about what time the full moon can be seen.
Astronomer Pat: The full moon occurs when the Moon is on the opposite side of Earth from
the Sun. The full moon rises when the Sun sets and then sets with the Sun becomes visible.
Astronomer Chris: That doesn’t make any sense. Each night, the Moon starts out as a thin
sliver on the Eastern horizon and is full by the time it sets.
With which astronomer do you agree with and why? Explain.

10 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Frequency of Eclipses 5
Eclipses are rare events where the shining Sun is blocked by our Moon for a few minutes or when
Earth blocks sunlight from illuminating the full moon for a few hours. Let’s consider which
positions of the Sun, Moon, and Earth allow for eclipses from an overhead, top-view perspective.

1. The figure below shows various positions of the Moon orbiting Earth as seen from above, called
a top-view. LABEL the positions where (i) a FULL MOON occurs (when people on Earth can see the
entire sunlit half) and where (ii) a NEW MOON occurs (where we cannot see any of the sunlit half).

2. The table below lists the dates of the moons for 2015. Why does the full moon look different on
April 4 and September 28, when a lunar eclipse is occurring?

Feb Mar Apr 4 May June July July Aug Sep28 Oct Nov Dec
Full 18 5 Eclipse 4 2 2 31 29 Eclipse 27 25 25
Moon
Dates

3. Describe what is happening with the Sun, Moon, and Earth on these other dates, that is NOT
happening April 4, 2015 and September 28, 2015?

Your brain really wants monthly moon phases to be caused by Earth blocking sunlight from
hitting the Moon, but moon phases are instead caused by how much of the lit side of the Moon
we can see from Earth. HOWEVER, in this rare case of eclipses, the blocking of sunlight really is
what is happening, and you should congratulate your brain for its correct thinking!

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 11

The figure below shows how the plane of the Moon’s orbit around Earth is tilted with respect to
the plane of Earth’s orbit. This causes the Moon to sometimes be above the plane of Earth’s
orbit—and sometimes below. The Moon’s orbit is tilted about 5° from Earth’s orbit.

4. In the space at below, describe how the position of the Full Moon is different on June 2, 2015
compared to its different position three months later on September 28, 2015?
September
2015

June
2015

Eclipse not possible,

Moon not on line of nodes
Eclipse possible, Moon above Earth’s shadow
Moon on line of nodes
Full Moon in Earth’s Shadow

April
2015

5. The figure below shows side-view (cross-section) sketches of the Moon’s position on March 4,
2015. In the space provided, draw the Moon’s position on July 2 and December 25, 2015.

March 4, 2015 July 2, 2015 December 25, 2015

  
   

Side-View

6. Consider the discussion between two astronomers.

Astronomer Pat: Eclipses occur every month when Earth gets between the Sun and Moon,
but we can’t often see it because it happens on the other side of the Earth from where we
are.
Astronomer Chris: I disagree. I think eclipses only occur in some months because the
Moon’s orbit is inclined and doesn’t often perfectly line up with Earth’s orbit.
With which astronomer do you agree with? (Circle one) Pat Chris

7. What is the likelihood of getting a lunar eclipse on the Full Moon of March 23, 2016? Explain
your reasoning by referring to the Figure in Question 4 above. Make sketches if necessary.

12 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Earth’s Tides 6
Most coast lines on Earth experience two high tide periods every day, about
12 ½ hours apart. A high tide period is where the ocean reaches its highest
level on to the land. This is followed by the ocean level falling to lower and
lower levels until it barely comes on to the land at all, called low tide. Low
tide occurs about 6 ¼ hours after high tide. Then, the process reverses itself
and the ocean moves toward a high tide period.
 High Tide


If you think that this might have something to do with the Moon, which
passes overhead about every 12 hours and 51 minutes, you’d be right!

Low Tide

1. The figure at right shows a truck carrying a giant fishbowl full of water. If the truck is driving in
a straight line then suddenly stops, which of the two people will get wet when the water sloshes
out? (circle the person)

2. The next figure shows an overhead view of another truck quickly turning a corner. This truck
also carries a giant fish bowl of water, and four people stand around the bowl on spots marked
with an “×”. Of the four people shown standing around the water-filled bowl, who gets wet? (circle
the person)

3. The general principle used to figure out where the water goes is called INERTIA. Create a
definition of INERTIA in your own words in the space below.

Let’s consider our Earth and Moon. As it turns out, gravitational attraction causes the Moon to pull
on Earth, just like Earth pulls on the Moon. The end result is that Earth swings back and forth with
the Moon’s orbit, as illustrated on the next page, around a common center of mass.

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 13

4. On the figure below showing a top-view of the Moon orbiting Earth, sketch a small bulge where
Earth’s water is sloshed outward by inertia as the Moon and Earth twirl around.

5. At the same time on the other side of Earth, the gravitational attraction between the Moon and
water on Earth nearest the Moon causes another bulge of water to lift upward away from Earth’s
surface. Sketch in this second bulge on the figure above.

6. Two astronomers are discussing the frequency of high tides on Earth.

Astronomer Pat: If there are two tidal bulges on Earth—one on the side nearest the Moon
and one on the opposite side farthest from the Moon—that means that everywhere on
Earth experiences two high tides each month as the Moon orbits Earth.
Astronomer Chris: I disagree. The Moon takes an entire month to orbit Earth, but while this
is going on, Earth is very quickly spinning on its axis every day, spinning about 30 times in
one month. That means that Earth spins underneath the tidal water bulges, passing
through one about every 12 hours—or twice a day.
With which astronomer do you agree with? Circle one: Pat Chris

7. The high-tide-to-low-tide-to-high-tide cycle takes about 12 hours and 25 minutes. Why isn’t
this cycle precisely 12-hours long?

8. Pluto spins about once every 6 days and has a large moon that orbits also in about 6 days. What
would tides be like on Pluto if it had them? Use sketches to illustrate your answer.

14 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Physics of the Universe

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 15

 Measuring Earth 7
The first person credited with a reasonable measurement of Earth’s size is
the Greek mathematician Eratosthenes, in the 3rd Century B.C. His strategy
was to measure the difference between two shadows cast at the same
moment, but at different locations on Earth.

1. Imagine two flagpoles at opposite

ends of a football field. Draw the two
shadows cast by the poles if the distant
Sun is at an altitude of 45°.

2. If you noticed a friend drawing the shadow for the

right-side post much longer than the left-side pole,
how would you correct their drawing?
100 yards Circle One:
(i) No change, the right-side shadow should be much
longer
(ii) Make both shadows the same size as the pole

3. Imagine, these flagpoles were instead positioned on a hill.

Sketch the shadows the two flagpoles would make in this new situation.

4. Now, let’s consider water wells dug into the ground, instead of flagpoles.
Sketch how sunlight would penetrate into the wells, lighting portions of the well, and
leaving other parts in shadow.

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 17

5. On a particular day in the 3rd Century BC, Eratosthenes knew that a
well in Syene held no shadow whereas at the same time, a well in
Alexandria did. Draw shadows for identical flagpoles on three
different sized planets, if they exist. Notice that the difference in angles
is the same, but the distance between flagpoles is very different.

6. Eratosthenes could have estimated the distance between the two cities to
be about 500 miles (800 km) based on how long it took camels to travel
between them. Draw the shadow in the northern well. (There is no shadow
in the southern well).

To calculate the circumference of Earth,

he used a ratio

𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏 𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤

=
360° 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸ℎ

or
𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏 𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤 × 360°
𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶 =
𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎

7.  Eratosthenes’ estimated the angle at 7.2°, and the distance to be 500 miles (800 km). Use a
calculator and determine Earth’s circumference and compare with the size of Earth we know
today, 7,918 miles (12,742 km)?

8. How would his measurement have been different if he mistakenly thought the two cities were
much farther apart? Explain.

18 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Translating from Earth-Based Views 8
The specific positions of Solar System objects in their orbits around the Sun determines where and
when they are seen in the sky. Objects located in the same direction as the Sun will be seen in
roughly the same direction as the Sun, whereas objects that are observed to be opposite part of
the sky are most easily seen at midnight.

1. The Earth-based horizon figure at right shows the

position of the Moon as seen high in the southern sky at sunset
sunset. Where is it in its orbit as seen from high above
the Solar System in the figure below?
East South West
Circle one: A B C D E

D
Position A

2. Where would the Moon be if it were visible high in the sky at midnight?
Circle one: A B C D E

3. At what position would the full Moon be if it was rising in the East at sunset?
Circle one: A B C D E

4. Where would the full Moon be if it was setting in the West at sunrise?
Circle one: A B C D E

5. If the planet Jupiter appeared in the sky near the Full Moon, where would it be on the above
diagram? Circle one:
(i) Off to the right hand side, opposite the Sun
(ii) On the top portion of the figure, beyond position E
(iii) On the left hand side, beyond the Sun
(iv) On the lower portion of the figure, beyond position B

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 19

Consider this Earth-based horizon view of the sky at sunrise (about 6am) showing Mercury,
Venus, Mars, Saturn, and the Full Moon.
Mars

Saturn

Venus Full
Mercury Moon

East South West

6. On the Sun-centered figure below, sketch a stick figure observer at the 6am
position.

7. Place and label small dots to represent the positions of Solar System objects Mercury, Venus,
Earth’s Moon, Mars, and Saturn as they orbit the Sun that matches the horizon view above. (Figure
is not to scale.)

20 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Planetary Motion 9
During the Renaissance, many astronomers tried to come up with strategies for accurately
predicting the positions of the planets in the sky. After many years, Kepler was able to sum up the
motions in the Solar System with three rules.

• Planets orbit the Sun not in perfectly circular orbits, but in elliptical orbits.
• Planets orbit fastest when closest to the Sun, and slowest when they are farthest away.
• Planets with orbits closer to the Sun move faster than planets with orbits farther from the Sun.

1. Rank order these illustrations of planet speeds, from slowest to fastest.

C
A B

Slowest | ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ | Fastest

2. Highlight or darken the part(s) of each planet’s orbit, where it is traveling at its fastest.

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 21

The planet Jupiter has four large moons. From smallest orbit to largest orbit, they are: Io, Europa,
Ganymede, and Calisto, as shown below. Use the rules of planetary motion to answer the
following questions. (Figure not to scale.)

Io Ganymede
Europa Callisto

Jupiter

3. Which moon has the highest orbital speed?

Circle one: Io Europa Ganymede Callisto

4. Which moon takes the longest to orbit once?

Circle one: Io Europa Ganymede Callisto

5. Which moon has the shortest orbital period?

Circle one: Io Europa Ganymede Callisto

6. Which moon is moving slowest, when most distant from Jupiter?

Circle one: Io Europa Ganymede Callisto

7. If Io is the smallest moon, and Ganymede is the largest, which of the four moons moves slowest?
Circle one: Io Europa Ganymede Callisto

22 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Gravitational Attraction 10
Isaac Newton proposed that the GRAVITATIONAL ATTRACTION between two objects is made up
of two parts: (i) how much mass the two objects have and (ii) how far apart they are, with the
distance between usually being more important because gravitational attraction follows the
inverse square distance law.

1. Image two space ships are separated by 10,000 m. If you had a calculator, you could calculate
the gravitational attraction between them. Instead, suppose that one ship ejects ½ of its fuel, so
that it is holding less fuel. How does the gravitational attraction between them change?
Circle one: it increases it decreases it is unchanged

2. Instead of one ship ejecting its fuel, suppose that the distance between them is doubled to
20,000 m. How does the gravitational attraction between them change?
Circle one: it doubles it becomes ½ it becomes ¼ it becomes 1/16

3. Suppose instead that the distance between them is quadrupled to be 40,000 m (becomes four
times bigger). How does the gravitational attraction between them change?
Circle one: it doubles it becomes ½ it becomes ¼ it becomes 1/16

Two situations are given in the table rows below. In the middle column below, circle the ARROW
pointing toward the scenario where there is GREATER gravitational attraction.

Circle the arrow pointing to the

GREATEST gravitational attraction

4. 
<- 5m ->  <- 10m ->

5. 
<- 5m ->  <- 10m ->

6. 
<- 50m ->  <- 50m ->

7.
<- 50m ->


<- 50,000m -> 
8.
 <- 150 x 106 km ->  
  <- 150 x 106 km -> 
Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 23
9. Two astronomers are arguing about the nature of gravity for moving spacecraft.
Astronomer Pat: If I’ve got a spacecraft traveling toward Pluto at 35,000 mph and it runs
out of fuel too quickly, it will slowly drift to a stop before it reaches Pluto.
Astronomer Chris: I disagree. A moving spacecraft will maintain its speed without its
engines, unless it is acted upon by Pluto’s gravitational attraction, then it will start to speed
up as it moves closer to Pluto.
With which astronomer do you agree with and why? Explain

24 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Light and Temperature 11
Stars, and most glowing objects, emit light at many different wavelengths; however, usually in not
in equal amounts. Astronomers often describe the energy output of stars using a graph of
intensity versus wavelength. This is similar to how we could describe the music output of a
marching band, where some instruments put out more volume than others.

Marching Band Music Output Intensity Graph

Intensity
(volume)

High High Medium Low Medium Low

(flutes & clarinets) (Trumpets) (Saxophones & Trombones) (Tubas)

Instrument Pitch

1. Using the information in the Marching Band Intensity graph above, which types of instruments
are providing most of the band’s greatest intensity?
Circle one: Flutes & Clarinets Trumpets Saxophones& Trombones Tubas

2. If you were to consider the total amount of sound emitted of the marching band, not just which
instrument is loudest, which of the instrument types are providing most of the sound (area
contained by the graph)?
Circle one: Flutes & Clarinets Trumpets Saxophones & Trombones Tubas

Instead, consider the wide spectrum of light waves emitted by glowing stars. One Starlight
Spectrum Intensity graph might look like this:
(relative flux)
Intensity

Short Visible Light Infrared Long

Wavelengths Wavelengths Wavelengths Wavelengths

3. For this star, which wavelengths of light have the maximum intensity?
Circle one: Short Visible Infrared Long

4. For this star, which wavelengths account for most of the star’s total energy output?
Circle one: Short Visible Infrared Long

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 25

The three most important characteristics of an output spectrum are:
(i) how high is the maximum wavelength peak’s intensity
(ii) which wavelength is being most intensely emitted, and
(iii) how much total energy (total area captured under the line) is being emitted

At right is a rough sketch of a star’s spectrum

of energy emissions, describing the range and

Intensity
(relative flux)
intensities of different wavelengths a star
might emit (sometimes called a blackbody
curve).

Short Wavelengths Long Wavelengths

(High Energy) (Low Energy)

5. If higher temperature stars emit more

energy overall, and have an even higher
Intensity
maximum intensity peak occurring at shorter (relative flux)
wavelengths, sketch a higher-temperature
star’s spectrum.

Short Wavelengths Long Wavelengths

(High Energy) (Low Energy)

6. If lower temperature stars emit less energy

overall, and have a relatively lower maximum
Intensity
(relative flux)

intensity peak occurring at longer wavelengths,

sketch a lower-temperature star’s spectrum.

Short Wavelengths Long Wavelengths

(High Energy) (Low Energy)

7. Stars that are moving away from us through

Intensity
(relative flux)

outer space have spectra that are the same size

and shape, but are shifted toward longer
wavelengths (called a Doppler red-shift).
Sketch a star moving away from us.

Short Wavelengths Long Wavelengths

(High Energy) (Low Energy)

26 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Nature of Light 12
All objects in the Universe give off energy in some form of light. Let’s first consider the spectrum
of different forms of light, by circling the correct relative values in the table below.

Electromagnetic Spectrum of Light Chart

Visible
Ultra Micro- Radio
Gamma rays X-rays Infrared
Violet waves Waves

Circle one: Circle one:

1. Shorter or  Wavelength  Shorter or
Longer Longer
Higher or Higher or
2.  Frequency 
Lower Lower
Higher or Higher or
3.  Energy 
Lower Lower
Bigger or Bigger or
4.  Changes in Electron State 
Smaller Smaller

Your brain might hiccup when talking about light because it seems like there are two
different kinds of energy being emitted: rays of photon particles and waves of light. They are
both the same thing, even though astronomers use different terms to talk about different
parts of the spectrum. They are all forms of electromagnetic radiation. Don’t let the words
cause you confusion.

One mental cartoon about how light is emitted from an atom has to do with electrons releasing
energy as light when they naturally move from higher-than normal outer positions around the
center to closer, lower energy positions.

5. Compared to a small change in an electron’s state, a large change results in emission at:
(Circle one) higher energy lower energy no difference

6. Compared to a small change in an electron’s state, a large change results in emission at:
(Circle one) longer wavelength shorter wavelength no difference

7. Compared to a small change in an electron’s state, a large change results in emission at:
(Circle one) higher frequency lower frequency no difference

8. Compared to a small change in an electron’s state, a large change results in emission at:
(Circle one) higher speeds lower speeds no difference

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 27

Below are illustrations showing other ways that light can be generated besides electrons changing
their distance from an atom’s center. In almost every case, light is emitted when an electron
changes its path.

(A) Light emitted when an electron passes (B) Light emitted when an electron spirals
by a positively charged atom through a magnetic field

(C) Light emitted when an electron in an (D) Light emitted when atoms with
atom flips upside down electrons vibrate

10. Use the illustrated wavelength shown, or your best guess about how much an electron is
changing its position, to rank order these four light producing processes (A, B, C and D).

_____ _____ _____ _____

Rank Order:
Highest  Energy of Light Given Off  Lowest

Match the illustrations with an astronomical event in the table below.

Energy Process
example Supernova explosion of star Very High A
12. Warm dust heated by young stars Medium-Low

13. Cold gas & dust between stars Low

Super heated gas pulled rapidly
14. Medium-High
toward a black hole

28 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Kirchoff’s Rules 13
Because stars are so far away, it is unlikely that we will ever visit them. Instead, astronomers
must study the detailed characteristics of light to uncover the way the Universe works. The best
way to study the light we receive is to spread it apart into its component spectrum of colors using
a prism or spectroscope. As we study the spectrum of an object we have to think about the
environment that the light has passed through.

1. With a full, colorful rainbow, what kind of spectrum is graph “A” ?

Circle one: continuous emission absorption

2. A rainbow with certain characteristic colors removed is what kind of spectrum?

Circle one: continuous emission absorption

3. A spectrum having just a few characteristic colored lines is what kind?

Circle one: continuous emission absorption

4. Sketch the spectral curve for the emission spectrum. For this imaginary situation, the thickest
line is slightly to the left of what is normally the peak, maximum intensity.

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 29

5. On the previous page, sketch the spectral curve for the absorption spectrum. For this imaginary
situation, the thickest line is slightly to the left of what is normally the peak, maximum intensity.

Use arrows in the space below to match the following Kirchoff’s Rules for Spectroscopy with their
name:
A: Spectrum resulting from viewing
6. Continuous spectrum a hot, dense glowing object through
a cloud of intervening gas or dust

B: Spectrum resulting from viewing

7. Emission spectrum light received from a glowing cloud
of gas or dust

C: Spectrum resulting from viewing

8. Absorption spectrum light received from a hot, dense,
glowing object

9. When observing the Sun’s spectrum from the nearly atmosphere-free Moon’s surface, we
observe an absorption spectrum with many lines. Propose why certain wavelengths of light might
be missing from the spectrum.

10. When observing the Sun’s spectrum from the Earth’s surface, we observe an absorption
spectrum with even many more lines than were observed from the Moon. Propose why there are
even more missing wavelengths when the Sun’s spectrum is observed from Earth’s surface.

30 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Telescopes 14
It is difficult to image doing astronomy without a telescope. The three main tasks of a telescope
are to: (i) gather and focus light from distant objects; (ii) see fine details; and (iii) magnify nearby
objects

LIGHT GATHERING POWER: The ability of a telescope to gather and focus light from distant
objects is closely related to its diameter.

Telescope A Telescope B Telescope C

1. Rank order these telescopes (A, B, and C) from greatest to lowest light gathering power.

Greatest Light Lowest Light

Gathering Power
______ ______ ______ Gathering Power

2. A telescope’s light gathering power is largely based on its total collecting area, which can be
calculated with the simple formula, πr2, where “r” is the radius. How much more light gathering
power does an 8-m telescope compared to a 2-m telescope?

SEEING FINE DETAIL: Better telescopes are able to resolve fine detail.

Picture from Tiger Telescope Picture from Canary Telescope Picture from Gomez Telescope

3. These three pictures are of the same galaxy of stars, taken by three different telescopes. Circle
the one with the greatest ability to resolve fine detail.

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 31

4. Below is a sketch of how a binary star system looks through a telescope—where two stars are
found very close together. On the left, sketch what a lower resolution would look like, and on the
right, a higher resolution.

Picture from Picture from Picture from

Green Telescope Red Telescope Blue Telescope
(low resolution) (medium resolution) (high resolution)

MAGNIFICATION: The least valuable part of a telescope is its ability to magnify. This is because
even the largest stars are so far away, that most stars will still look like the same tiny pinpoints of
light, regardless of the telescope.

5. Here is a sketch of a star as seen in a low magnification telescope. In the remaining two circles,
first sketch what a medium magnification would look like, and then on the right, a higher
magnification would look like.

Sketch from a low Sketch from a medium Sketch from a high

magnification telescope magnification telescope magnification telescope

Your brain normally wants to think that bigger—more magnification—must be better. In many
cases that is true. However, in astronomy, we’re usually looking at very distant objects whose size
is too small to expand. Worse, by using magnification we can actually spread out the little light
that is being captured, making the star harder to see.

32 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Angular Size 15
When talking about how big objects appear in the sky, it doesn’t make sense to say that the Moon
is 2-in across or 6-m above the horizon. Instead, astronomers use angular sizes, measuring in
degrees. Something that takes up the whole sky would be 180°, and something that takes up half
the sky is 90°.


1/2°

15°

5°

45°

What is the apparent angular size or height for each of the items shown in the Figure above?

1. Altitude of the Full Moon above horizon? SMALL SIZES: In astronomy,

many sizes and distances are
Circle one: ½° 5° 15° 45° smaller, and can be fractions
of a degree.
2. Apparent angular size of Full Moon?
Circle one: ½° 5° 15° 45° In using angular measures,
we often subdivide a degree
3. Apparent angular size of nearby 5-story tall, hot air balloon? of arc into 60 minutes, and
subdivide a minute of arc
Circle one: ½° 5° 15° 45° into 60 seconds of arc.
4. Apparent angular size of 5-story tall, hot air balloon off in the distance?
Circle one: ½° 5° 15° 45°

5. If the Full Moon extends about ½ of arc, how many minutes of arc is this?
Circle one: 30’ 50’ 3600”

6. The 20-m (60-ft) long airplane flying in the distance appears to be about ½ the size of the much
larger 3,500 km (2,000 mile) diameter Moon. What is this airplane’s apparent angular size?

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 33

Stretching out your arm as far as it will go, you can make angular size estimates using your hand
as a sort of angular ruler. (You can also do this with the Big Dipper, as shown at right.)

20°

2° 25°
15°
10°
5°

7. What is the angular size of a cell phone at arm’s length? (measure the longest side)

8. How big does that that same cell phone appear from about 5 feet away?

9. How big does the cell phone appear 10 feet away?

10. What is the angular size of the nearest window or door?

34 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Planetary Science

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 35

 Scale of Solar System 16
Our Solar System of planets stretches more than four billion miles from the Sun. Let’s see if we
can build a better mental model on the distribution of the objects orbiting our Sun.

1. List the eight planets, in order of increasing distance from the Sun.

2. Write the names of each of the eight planets in the appropriate place in the Venn Diagram.

Inner planets
Outer planets

3. Imagine making an accurately scaled model of the Solar System on a 100-yard long football
field, with the Sun on one end, and Pluto on the other.

Without using a book, or the Internet, or any resource, place and label a dot for your best guess
orbital distance for each of the eights planets orbiting from the Sun.

10 20 30 40 50 40 30 20 10

Let’s now consider the known average distances of our Solar System’s planets.

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 37

A convenient unit to use for planetary distances is the astronomical unit, or AU, which is the
average distance between Earth and the Sun.

Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto *

40% AU 70% AU 1 AU 1 ½ AU 5 AU 10 AU 20 AU 30 AU 40 AU
*Pluto is a dwarf planet

4. Using the above table, notice that Pluto is about 40 AU from the Sun. Which planet is about half
way between the Sun and Pluto? Label it on the football field figure below.

5. Which planet is half way between the Sun and the mid-point planet? Label it on the football
field figure below.

6. Which planet is about half way between the Sun and the planet identified in the previous
question? Label it on the football field figure below.

7. Earth is 1/5 the distance between the Sun and Jupiter (or 1/40 the distance between the Sun and
Pluto). Label Earth on the football field figure below.

8. Using the information in the table above, insert and label the remaining planets.

9. Should Mars be considered an inner planet, an outer planet, or neither/both?

11. How is your new sketch of the Solar System different on this page than on the previous page?

10 20 30 40 50 40 30 20 10
10.
If a radio signal can get to Saturn in 1 hour and 11 minutes, about how long would one take to get
to Uranus? Explain how you came up with your answer.

38 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Characteristics of Planetary Systems 17
There are thousands of other planetary systems with planets orbiting stars other than our Sun.
Because of the consistent way planetary systems are formed, there seem to be some
characteristics common to many—but not all—planetary systems.

1. In the Table below, use the given list to write object names that are examples of the planetary
system object categories. Answers can be used more than once.

Stars
1.

Planets
1. 2. 3. 4.

5. 6. 7. 8.

Dwarf Planets
1. 2. 3.

Moons
1. 2. 3.

Asteroids
1. 2. 3.

Kuiper Belt Objects

1. 2. 3.

Comets
1. 2. 3.

This is not an exhaustive list; other objects exist and some names should be listed in more than one category.

List of names to include in Table above:

 Mercury  Uranus  Saturn  Neptune

 Shoemaker Levy-9  Sun  Venus  Halley
 Jupiter  Eris  Ceres  Haumea
 Makemake  Earth  Juno  Moon
 Titan  Swift-Tuttle  Pluto  Mars
 Vesta  Tritan  Sedna

2. On the next page, complete each of the three sets of Venn Diagrams describing the eight planets
of our Solar System by writing planets’ names inside the correct circles.

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 39

 Planets with Planets with an
Solid Surfaces Atmosphere

Planets with Planets with

Craters Atmospheres

Planets with Planets with Rings

Moons

Planets without Rings or Moons

40 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Formation of Solar System 18
Our Solar System formed in much the same
way as all we think most planetary systems
form—from the materials remaining from
the formation of stars.

1. Drawing arrows, MATCH each description

with its corresponding sketch.

CLOUD PHASE: Giant clouds of dust and

gas—often light-years across in size—exist in
the interstellar space between stars.

SPINNING & COLLAPSE: Perhaps

because of a nearby supernova
shock wave or because of
gravitational attraction, parts of a
giant cloud will begin to collapse
due to gravitational or electrical
attraction between particles of
the cloud. When it shrinks, it
begins to spin and flatten.

CLUMPING OF PLANETOIDS: Many

small clumps begin to form through
repeated collisions where the materials
stick together. At the same time, to
early beginnings of a star occur at the
center.

CLEARING OUT THE LEFT-OVERS: As

the central star becomes brighter and
emits a stable wind of energy, the
smallest materials are blown out of the
system, and the few remaining orbiting
objects become the planets, dwarf
planets, asteroids, and frozen comets
we observe today.

Figures not to scale

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 41

42 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019
 Radioactive Dating 19
Part of astronomy is figuring out how long things have been around. You probably know how
many years you’ve been alive, and you might know that you can determine the age of trees by
counting the number of growth rings they have. But, how do we know the age of really ancient
things, like rocks, or even the Earth itself?

We can determine the age of rocks—whether they are from Earth, the Moon, or some other Solar
System object—using a strategy known as RADIOACTIVE DATING. Radioactive dating is based on
the idea that:

Certain radioactive elements change into different elements over time at a very specific
rate. We can use the ratio of the two elements to determine how old the object is.

1. Radioactive potassium (40K ) turns into argon (40Ar ) when it decays. Imagine a rock is formed
with 64 gazillion 40K atoms and no 40Ar atoms. Use the fact that one-half of all 40K atoms turn into
40Ar atoms every 1 ¼ billion years to complete the table below.

1¼ 2½ 3¾ 5 6¼
0
years old
billion billion billion billion billion
years old years old years old years old years old

Number of 40K 64 32 16 gazillion 8 gazillion 4 gazillion 2 gazillion

Potassium atoms gazillion gazillion

Number of 40Ar 0
Argon atoms
gazillion gazillion gazillion gazillion gazillion gazillion

2. Imagine these radioactive atoms could be captured in a glass tube. Sketch the relative amounts
of 40K and 40Ar for containers with 2 ½ billion, 3 3/4 , 5, and 6 ¼ year old samples.

1¼ 2½ 3¾ 5 6¼
0
years old
billion billion billion billion billion
years old years old years old years old years old
(Note: Figures might imply this only happens at one end of the sample; but the conversion happens randomly throughout)

3. If a rock has 12 gazillion 40K and 52 40Ar atoms, about how many years old is it?
Circle one: 3 billion 4 ¼ billion 5 2/3 billion 12 billion

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 43

4. Astronomers carefully analyzed the lunar rocks brought back from the Moon by Apollo
astronauts. One of the things they discovered is the Moon rocks have both 235U Uranium atoms
and 207Pb Lead atoms. Radioactive 235U atoms have a 700 million year half life—it takes about 700
million years for 50% of 235U atoms to become 207Pb atoms.

How old is a rock with the same number of 235U and 207Pb atoms if it started out with no Lead
atoms inside?

5. Two astronomers are arguing about the atoms found in an initially Lead-free rock that is about
1.4 billion years old.
Astronomer Pat: 235U has a half-life of 700 million years, so after 1,400 million years, it
would have twice as many Lead atoms as Uranium atoms.
Astronomer Chris: I disagree. The rock would be 50:50 after its first half-life, but then 75:25
after a second half-life, making 3 Lead atoms for each Uranium atom.
With which astronomer do you agree with and why? Explain.

44 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Plate Tectonics 20
Earth’s surface is dynamic. In certain parts of the world, earthquakes shake the ground every day.
In other places, volcanoes eject ash into the air, and liquid rock across the ground. Mountains
change too—some once tall mountains get smaller every year as wind and water constantly pick
off little pieces whereas other mountains get taller every year, being pushed up by the
surrounding land or constructed from upwelling magma. Some oceans get wider, while others get
smaller. All of this is driven by the mechanisms of plate tectonics.

For the following questions, use the Figure at the bottom of the page.

1. Which crust is thin?

Circle one: denser, ocean crust less-dense, continental crust

2. Use your pencil (or lightly use ink) to shade the dense oceanic crust.

3. When ocean crust and continental crust collide, which gets pushed deeper into Earth’s hot
interior?
Circle one: denser, ocean crust less-dense, continental crust

4. What are plates doing at a convergent plate boundary?

Circle one: colliding moving apart

5. Label the convergent plate boundry and the divergent plate boundry.

6. Label the deep ocean trentch, the volcano, and the underwater mountain ridge.

Many people think that places where Earth is spreading apart—like the center of the Atlantic
Ocean—should be places where there would be a deep gap. As it turns out, when Earth’s plates
spread apart, magma moves upward into the space creating an underwater mountain range, not a
deep cavern.

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 45

About 300 million years ago, the largest landmass on Earth was a supercontinent we call Pangea.
The surrounding ocean is called Panthalassa. (Because Earth is 4 ½ billion years old, there have
been many, many earlier continents and oceans.)

300 million years ago 200 million years ago 100 million years ago

8. Dinosaurs became extinct about 65 million years ago. Which panel above most closely
resembles what Earth would have looked like then?
Circle one: 300 million 200 million 100 million

9. The oldest homosapien (modern human) fossils are about 200,000 years old. Which panel
above resembles what Earth would have looked like then?
Circle one: 300 million 200 million 100 million

10. The maximum extent of the most recent ice age occurred about 22,000 years ago. Which panel
above resembles what Earth would have looked like then?
Circle one: 300 million 200 million 100 million

46 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Earth’s Surface Winds 21
Earth is surrounded by a relatively thin layer of air that presses down on the surface because of
Earth’s gravitational attraction. Wind is the rapid movement of air from one place to another and
is caused by differences in how the Sun heats our spinning Earth.
_____________
We often think about wind as something that blows across Pressure

the surface of the Earth’s lands and oceans, but air can also
move up and down.
____________
1. When air is moving up and pressing less on Earth’s Pressure

surface, we call it “low pressure.” Alternatively, when air

is moving downward and pressing more on Earth’s
surface, we call it “high pressure.” On the figure above,
label which is high pressure and which is low pressure by
filling in the blanks.

2. Sunlight most directly heats Earth at the equator. On the figure below, sketch in a dark line
indicating Earth’s equator.
sunlight

3. At the equator, the heated air expands and rises far above the surface. The air splits and moves
about 1/3 of the way toward each of the poles. On both the right and left sides, draw curved arrows
showing how air moves up and away from the equator to about 30° north and 30° south latitude.

4. What type of pressure does Earth’s surface experience at the equator?

Circle one: High Low

5. Once the air gets to about 30° latitude, it cools and contracts and moves toward the ground.
What type of pressure does Earth’s surface experience at 30°?
Circle one: High Low

6. When the air reaches the surface again, it moves back to the equator thus completing a circular
loop. Add these circular cells to your sketch using arrows.

7. The falling air at 30° latitude causes a similar circular cell to form between 30° and 60°, but in
the opposite direction. Add these mid-latitude cells to your sketch.

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 47

If Earth did not spin on its axis, the moving cells of air would look
like (A) in the figure at right. However, Earth spins on its axis,
which has the odd effect of causing the air currents to bend, or
curve, to the right in the northern hemisphere, and the left in the
southern hemisphere, as shown in (B).
(A) Non-Spinning Planet (B) Spinning Planet
8. Two astronomers are drawing sketches about the direction of Upper Level (non-surface) Winds

winds across Earth’s surface.

Astronomer Pat Astronomer Chris

With which of these two astronomers do you agree and why? Explain.

9. Sailing ships often have difficult crossing the equator because a constant low pressure system
exists there. From which direction does the wind generally blow near the equator?
Circle one: northeast northwest southeast southwest upward downward

10. The Islands of Hawai’i are located about 21°N latitude and 158°W longitude. The dominant
winds there are called the TRADE WINDS. From which direction would you predict the wind
generally blows in Hawai’i?
Circle one: northeast northwest southeast southwest upward downward

48 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Cratering 22

Earth’s Moon is not a smooth sphere. Close inspection of Earth’s Moon reveals jagged, lighter-
colored areas, known as the highlands. There are also large dark-colored areas, called maria, that
are curiously smooth in comparison. The entire landscape is marked by circular craters.

The image below is of the Van de Graff Crater. This crater is actually composed of two, giant,
overlapping craters, that take up most of the image. This figure-8 shape is about 240 km (150
miles) long and 140 km (85 miles) across. Inside are smaller craters that occurred after much
more recently. In addition, there is a large 60 km (35 mi) diameter crater on the bottom right that
collapsed some of the Van de Graff crater’s much older walls.

20 km
(12 miles)

60 km (30 miles)

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 49

The majority of these craters were formed billions of years ago, although some are much more
recent. Because of limited erosion across our Moon’s surface, craters remain largely unchanged
over the millennia, except when catastrophically changed by being hit by another impactor.

1. How many craters in the image are more than 50 km (30 mi) across?
Circle one: 1 2 3 5 10 100 1,000

2. How many craters in the image are about 20 km (12 mi) across? (Hint: include the faint ones
around the rims and around the edges)
Circle one: 1 2 3 5 10 100 1,000

3. How many craters in the image are about 5 km (3 mi) across?

Circle one: 1 2 3 5 10 100 1,000

4. How many craters in the image are only a few kilometers (miles across) or smaller?
Circle one: 1 2 3 5 10 100 1,000

5. Write a general “rule” about the relationship among the size of craters and how many there
are?

Image Information:
Van De Graaf Crater, Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University,
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?Category=Planets&IM_ID=15590

50 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Mercury’s Rotation 23
Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun, moves very quickly, taking only about 90 days to orbit once.
It spins on its axis much slower, taking about 60 days to rotate once. This is known as a 3:2 spin-
orbit resonance. (The precise values are 87.969 and 58.7 days respectively.)

On the Figure at right, a person is shown at Day 0

Day 30
at the noon position as seen from above the Solar ½ rotation
System. Mercury is both spinning and orbiting
counter-clockwise.

1. Draw the correct location of a person standing

on Mercury on Day #30, where Mercury has
made ½ of its 60-day spin. Assume the observer / Day 0
has not moved to a different location on the
planet’s surface.

2. Draw a person standing on Mercury on Day

#60, where Mercury has made one complete
spin.
Day 60
1 complete rotation
3. Imagine a student places their figure at the
“noon-position” with the Sun overhead. Explain why their sketch is incorrect.

The figure at left now shows Mercury’s orbit at

Day 120
a much later time than the figure above.

4. Draw the position of an observer at after 90

days and 1½ rotations.

5. Draw an observer at the 120-day position.

/ Day 90
(1½ rotations)
6. How many times has Mercury spun on its
axis after 120 days?
Circle one: 1 1½ 2 2½ 3 3½

7. Label the 150-day position and draw an

observer.

8. How many days between an observer standing at noon, as shown at the beginning at Day #0,
and when the observer returns to the same orientation and position?
Circle one: 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270

9. Why do astronomers describe Mercury as having a 3:2 spin-orbit resonance? Explain.

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 51

52 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019
 Runaway Greenhouse 24
1. Which of the following planets is closest to the Sun?
Circle one: Mercury Venus Earth Mars

2. Which planet has the highest average temperature at the surface?

Circle one: Mercury Venus Earth Mars

3. Which planet has the thickest atmosphere?

Circle one: Mercury Venus Earth Mars

4. Which planet has the most water?

Circle one: Mercury Venus Earth Mars

5. Image two cars parked on a sunny day. One car has open windows, and the other car’s windows
are closed. Which car has the greater internal temperature at the end of the day? Explain.

Car with windows closed Car with windows open

6. Two astronomers are arguing about why one car is hotter than the other.
Astronomer Pat: Visible wavelengths of sunlight comes in through the windows and heats
up the dashboard, the steering wheel, the seats, and the warmed air can’t get out.
Astronomer Chris: I disagree. The Sun puts off a tremendous amount of heat, which gets
shoved into the car by the Sun’s energy; but, when it bounces off the car’s interior, it
doesn’t have enough energy to get back out and gets stuck.
With which astronomer do you agree and why? Explain.

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 53

 IMPORTANT IDEA: The physical process by which a .
car or a greenhouse heats up and stays warm is NOT
precisely the same as the process that globally
warms planets.

Planet 1

Planet 2

7. On Planet #1 (WITHOUT an atmosphere), what happens to the Sun’s energy that hits the
surface?
Circle one: heats the surface bounces off some bounces & some heats surface

8. On Planet #2 (WITH an atmosphere), what happens to the Sun’s energy that hits the planet?
Circle one: heats the surface bounces off some bounces, some heats surface
& some heats the atmosphere

9. Each planet receives the same amount of solar energy. Compare the amount of solar energy
that escapes each planet.

Circle one: More energy escapes More energy escapes There is no difference
from Planet #1 from Planet #2

10. Which Planet is going to have a higher surface temperature?

Circle one:
Planet #1 Planet #2 There is no difference

11. When objects are heated, their temperatures increase by different amounts, based upon the
materials that make them up. This is also true for gases in the atmosphere. Rank the following
imaginary planets, from the planet that would gain have the greatest temperature gain to the
planet that would experience the smallest temperature increase.
A. Planet with a carbon dioxide atmosphere
B. Planet with a nitrogen atmosphere
C. Planet with a methane atmosphere
Greatest Smallest
Temperature ______ ______ ______ Temperature
Increase Increase

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 Rotation of Jupiter 25
1. Below are 12 images of Jupiter taken on different dates and different times. As precisely as you
can, determine the number of hours and minutes Jupiter takes to spin once.

Images from NASA/JPL Solar System Simulator, http:// http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/, Credit: NASA/JPL/CalTech

July 6 @ 4am July 6 @ 5am July 6 @ 6am July 6 @ 7am

July 6 @ 8am July 6 @ 9am July 6 @ 10am July 6 @ 11am

July 6 @ 12pm July 6 @ 1pm July 6 @ 2pm July 6 @ 3pm

2. Explain how you came up with your rotational period. Provide enough detail so that someone else
could use your strategy.

3. Find at least two other people/groups who came up with a rotation period (hours and minutes)
and compare your answer with theirs.

Alternate Answer #1: ____________ Alternate Answer #2: ____________

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 55

The Figure at right shows Jupiter and the
day to day changing positions of Jupiter’s E I G C June 1
moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and
Callisto.
I E G C June 2

4. Looking first at Calisto, how long does it GI E C June 3

take to orbit all the way around Jupiter

once?
G I E C June 4

Callisto’s orbital period: _____________

G E I C June 5
5. Drawing a smooth line dot-to-dot for
the positions for Ganymede, determine its
orbital period. G I C E June 6

Ganymede’s orbital period: _____________

C IG E June 7
6. Drawing a smooth line dot-to-dot for
the positions for Europa, determine its
orbital period. C E I G June 8

Europa’s orbital period: _____________ C IE G June 9

7. Drawing a smooth line dot-to-dot for

the positions for Io, determine its orbital C GIE June 10
period.

Io’s orbital period: _____________ C GI E June 11

8. Why are less than four moons visible

on some days? C G E I June 12

CG I E June 13

56 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Saturn’s Rings 26
Saturn’s majestic ring system has fascinated astronomers since they were first observed hundreds
of years ago. It’s a complex system, in which the planet’s motion cause changes in its appearance.

1. Saturn’s wide rings are incredibly

thin, so much so that they can seem to
disappear. In which years were
Saturn’s rings nearly invisible as seen
from Earth?

2. For the observations listed, in which

year were Saturn’s rings most easily
visible?

3. How many years between Saturn’s

ring’s disappearances.

5. Saturn takes about 29 years to orbit

the Sun once. How long does it take
Saturn to go ½ way around?

6. How long does it take Saturn to go ¼ (Saturn 2001-2029 adapted from simulations by Tom Ruen for public domain
under CC BY-SA 3.0)
of the way around in its orbit?

7. What do Saturn’s rings look like at Position A?

Circle one: Broadside Nearly invisible Position A

8. What do Saturn’s rings look like at Position B?

Position B
Circle one: Broadside Nearly invisible

9. Why do Saturn’s rings “nearly disappear” regularly?

The following spectra were taken by NASA’s Cassini-Huygens on its mission to explore Saturn and
its moons, including the moon Titan. The observed spectra are on the left side of the page. The
spectra of four elements are given on the right side of the page.
Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 57
 Spectrum of Saturn’s Rings

Spectrum of Titan’s Atmosphere

10. What element(s) can we observe in Saturn’s rings?

11. What element(s) can we observe in Titan’s atmosphere?

12. If you were allowed to take observations to search for one other element in Titan’s
atmosphere, which element would you choose?

58 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Seasons on Uranus 27
Most of the planets spin and orbit in the same direction around the Sun—counterclockwise. There
are, however, some variations. You might already know that Earth’s axis of rotation isn’t straight
up and down, but tilted at 23½°. Uranus is quite odd, seeming to be laying on it’s side, 97° from an
upright position. Venus might be the strangest of all, being titled at 177°, making it almost upside
down.

Image from adapted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axial_tilt#/media/File:Planet_axis_comparison.png under CC BY-SA 3.0

1. Below is a partially completed drawing of Uranus orbiting the Sun with the axis of rotation
shown. Draw and label Uranus’ rotation axes at Positions A & B. Write the correct season on each
blank line.

______________
_______________ at South Pole
in Northern Hemisphere
Winter
at North Pole
Summer
at South Pole _______________
at North Pole
B

_______________
in Northern Hemisphere
A

2. The star directly above Uranus’ north pole is called 15-Ori. Draw an arrow on the figure
pointing toward 15-Ori.

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 59

3. Uranus takes 84 years to orbit the Sun once. How long does summer last?
Circle one: 0 yrs 21 yrs 42 yrs 63 yrs 84 yrs

Often, people think about planets wobbling around erratically like a spinning top running out of
energy. Except over thousands of years, the direction a planet’s axis points doesn’t change much.
Earth’s axis, for example, points toward Polaris, the North Star. Uranus’ points toward 15-Ori.

4. Two astronomers are arguing about how Uranus moves in its orbit.
Astronomer Pat: Uranus seems to be rolling through space as it moves around the Sun. The
northern pole is always pointed at the Sun so one side is always shining in daylight and the
other always in permanent darkness.
Astronomer Chris: That can’t be true. I think on Uranus experience 21years of permanent
daylight where the Sun doesn’t set, 21 years of day/night cycles, and then 21 years of
permanent nighttime, so its rotational axis must point at a different star.

With which astronomer do you agree and why? Explain.

60 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Brightness of the Sun at Planets 28
How bright is a sun-shiny day on planets other than Earth? The size of the Sun looks smaller the
farther away you observe it, following a 1-to-1 rule for size. If you are at Jupiter, five times farther
away from the Sun as Earth, it only looks 1/5 as big.

The intensity of light decreases with distance too; however, light follows a different rule because
light spreads out as it moves through outer space. The precise amount of sunlight hitting planets
decreases with the square of the distance, r—this rule is known as a 1/r2 relationship.

1. Complete the table below using the 1-to-1 rule for size and the 1/r2 rule for light intensity. Hint:
Do the outer planets first, then come back to the inner planets.

Approximate Size of Sun Sunlight Intensity

Object Distance in AU (compared to (compared to
(Earth distances) seen at Earth) seen at Earth)

Mercury 0.4

Venus 0.7

Earth 1.0 1x 1x

Mars 1.5

Ceres 3

Jupiter 5

Saturn 10

Uranus 20

Neptune 30

Pluto 40

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 61

2. When standing on Earth, the Sun is about the same size as your thumbnail at arm’s length. How
big would the Sun appear if you were at Saturn?
Circle one: closed fist pencil diameter spaghetti diameter human hair diameter

3. Compare the Sun’s apparent size from Jupiter and from Saturn.

4. How much less bright of a sunny day is it on Saturn as compared to standing on Jupiter?

5. How much brighter is the noontime Sun on Uranus compared to Neptune?

62 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Communicating with Pluto 29
In July of 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft finally made it to Pluto, traveling about 3.6 billion
miles (5.8 billion kilometers) at about 36,000 mph (58,000 kph) for about 9.5 years. That’s a
really long way, at a super high speed, for a very long time.

Messages to and from the spacecraft travel much faster than the spacecraft itself, but they are not
instantaneous. Pictures of Pluto come back from the spacecraft traveling at the speed of light,
about 186 miles per second (300,000 kilometers per second). Even at that high speed, it takes
quite a while for messages to get back and forth between Earth and the spacecraft.

The Sun is 93 million miles away, and at light speed it takes 8.3 minutes (8 minutes and 18
seconds) for sunlight to get to Earth. For the following problems use the approximation that the
light travel time between Earth and the Sun is 10 minutes.

1. Complete the following table without a calculator.

Approximate Light Travel Time Between

Object Distance in AU the Object and the Sun
(Earth distances) (using 10-min for Sun-Earth travel time)

Mercury 0.4

Venus 0.7

Earth 1.0 10 min.

Mars 1.5

Jupiter 5

Saturn 10

Uranus 20

Neptune 30

Pluto 40

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 63

2. About how much longer does it take for a radio signal from Earth take to get to Pluto, as
compared to Jupiter?

3. About how long does it take a radio signal to get from Earth to Mars when they are close
together?

4. If Earth and Mars are on opposite sides of the Sun, about how long does it take a radio signal to
get between the two?

5. When determining about how long it takes to send messages to Pluto, we don’t often worry if
Pluto is on the same, near side of the Sun as Earth is or not. Why is this reasonable?

6. If we send a “take a picture now” message to the New Horizons spacecraft at Pluto, how long
before we get a message back (assuming that there is no processing time).

7. If New Horizon’s sends a very short “help” message back to Earth, how long must it wait to hear
back from us?

64 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Searching for Asteroids 30
A feature of our Solar System is a ring of
asteroids; most asteroids are orbiting between
the orbital paths of Mars and Jupiter. Asteroids
are important because they were mostly formed
at the beginning of our Solar System, and provide
clues to the initial chemistry of formation.

The picture at right is a map showing the

locations of known asteroids. The Sun is at the
center, and the largest dots indicate the locations
of our Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and
Jupiter.

Asteroids are often discovered by taking pictures

of the night sky at different times. The stars will
all appear in essentially same place, but the “dot”
that moves in front of the distant—that’s an
asteroid!

1. Circle the asteroid in the first set of images below.

Observation Pair #1

Star field #1 (before) Star field #2 (after)

2. Circle the asteroid in the second set of images below.

Observation Pair #2

Star field #A (before) Star field #B (after)

3. Using what you’ve learned earlier about the rules of planetary motion developed by Johannes
Kepler, which is the asteroid closer to the Sun? Explain.

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 65

Another strategy for finding asteroids is to take a long-exposure picture of the stars and look for
an object that is moving—it shows up as a streak. The length of the streak indicates how fast the
asteroid is moving and provides an estimate for how far away it is.

4. Rank of the asteroids found in this image from nearest to farthest.

Nearest <- _________ _________ _________ _________ -> Farthest

Asteroid D

Asteroid B

Asteroid A

Asteroid C

66 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Tale of a Tail 31
Whereas shooting stars zip across the sky in a matter of seconds, comets are distant objects that
appear to move quite slowly. In stark contrast to shooting stars, comets can often be observed for
weeks or even months as they slowly make their way toward and away from the Sun. The size of
the comet and its relative position to the Sun and Earth determines how easy it is to see a comet.

The Figure below shows the orbits of two comets and Earth around the Sun, as seen from above.
(As usual, these conceptual illustrations are not to scale.)

Comet
A

Earth

Comet
B

1. When is this Comet A going to best be visible?

Circle one: anytime midnight near sunrise near sunset

2. When is this Comet B going to best be visible?

Circle one: anytime midnight near sunrise near sunset

3. Which comet tail is the longest?

Circle one: Comet A Comet B

4. Which comet tail appears to be the longest as seen from Earth?

Circle one: Comet A Comet B

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 67

5. Two astronomers are arguing about studying comets.
Astronomer Pat: Comets are best observed at midnight when it is dark and they are far
from the Sun’s glare.
Astronomer Chris: I disagree. Comets are best observed when they are closer to the Sun
because their tails are bigger because of the Sun’s energy.
With which astronomer do you agree and why? Explain.

The Figure below shows Earth’s and Comet Halley’s orbits around the Sun as seen from above.

6. Comet Halley reached perihelion (point closest to the Sun) on April 20, 1910. Was it an
impressive appearance with a long tail seen broadside?
Circle one: Yes, tail appeared long No, tail appeared short

7. What time of day was Comet Halley best observed in April of 1910?
Circle one: anytime midnight near sunrise near sunset

8. Comet Halley reached perihelion (point closest to the Sun) on February 9, 1986. Was it an
impressive appearance, with a long tail seen broadside?
Circle one: Yes, tail appeared long No, tail appeared short

9. Comet Halley reached perihelion (point closest to the Sun) on July 28, 2061. Was it an
impressive appearance with a long tail seen broadside?
Circle one: Yes, tail appeared long No, tail appeared short

Earth‘s April Position

Earth‘s July Position Earth‘s

February
Position

68 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 The Sun and Stars

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 69

 The Sun 32

June 14 June 15 June 16 June 17

June 18 June 19 June 20 June 21

June 22 June 23 June 24 June 25

June 26 June 27 June 28 June 29

2015 Images from http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime-images.html

1. The Sun is quite large. If 109 Earths (  ) would fit across the face, about how big are the
sunspots seen on June 22?
Circle one: smaller than Earth about same as Earth larger than Earth

2. Which way does the Sun spin in these images?

Circle one: left to right right to left

3. Seen from above the Solar System, the Sun spins

Circle one: counter-clockwise (same as Earth’s spin) clockwise (opposite of Earth’s spin)

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 71

4. About how many days does it take the sunspots just barely visible along the Sun’s limb on June
16 to move to the middle of the Sun’s face?
Circle one: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

5. On what date do those sunspots disappear from view on the opposite limb of the Sun?
Circle one: June 23 June 27 June 29

6. About how many days do you think it would take those sunspots to come back around to be
visible again—if they survive that long?
Circle one: 7 13 25 365

7. About how many days does it take the Sun to spin on its axis?
Circle one: 7 13 25 365

8. The northern lights (aurora) are created when highly charged particles are released from the
Sun near sunspots. On which date are the sunspots aligned directly with us?
Circle one: June 17 June 22 June 25

9. If a brilliant aurora was reportedly observed on Earth on June 25, about how long did it take the
materials ejected from the Sun to arrive at Earth?
Circle one: 8 minutes 3 days 25 days 1 month 1 year

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 Predicting Solar Cycles 34
The Sun cycles through periods of very little sunspot activity and periods of substantial sunspot
activity. Predicting times of maximum solar activity—called solar maximum—is critical. When
many sunspots on seen on Sun, Earth experiences northern lights (aurora), unpredictable
electrical outages, dangerous conditions for space-walking astronauts, and an inflated atmosphere
that can change the orbital paths of Earth’s satellites.

The Figure at right shows how

sunspot numbers vary year after year.

1. When was the most recent solar

maximum? Circle one:
2014 2008 2000 1996 1989

2. When was the solar maximum

before that? Circle one:
2008 2000 1996 1989 1986

3. A solar cycle is the time from one

minimum to the next. When did the
most recent cycle start? Circle one:
2014 2008 2000 1996 1989

4. On average, the time between

minima is about 11-years. When do
you predict the next minima will be?

5. Over the last 300 years, which year

had the largest sunspot count?
Circle one:
2014 1960 1840 1780

6. Was the most recent cycle a strong one, compared to the typical solar maximum?
Circle one: strong average weak

7. What was solar activity like in the year you were born?

8. Make a prediction about the sunspot number for next year.

Circle one: higher about the same lower

Credit: SILSO data/image, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels. Updates available from http://www.sidc.be/silso/datafiles
Updated minimum and maximum solar cycle dates available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_cycles

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 73

74 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019
 Parallax 35
When looking into the night sky, it might appear as if all stars are the same distance from us. As it
turns out, some stars are close but most are far away. The distances to nearby stars can be
measured using the strategy of parallax.

car

tree

Point Point Point

A C B

Overhead, top-view View from Point A View from Point B

The figure above shows a car and a tree as seen from several vantage points.

1. If viewed from Point C in the center, the car appears

Circle one: in front of tree behind the tree to one side of the tree

2. When viewed from Point A, the car appears

Circle one: to the right of the tree behind the tree (hidden) to the left of the tree

3. Draw the car and tree as seen from Point B in the figure above.

4. Imagine instead that the distance between the car and the tree is large. How does your view
from Point B change?

5. Two astronomers are arguing about parallax.

Astronomer Pat: I think that the only difference in the View from Point B when the tree and
car are farther apart is that the car would appear smaller, because it is farther away.
Astronomer Chris: I agree, the car would be a little smaller, but the two objects would
appear farther apart too, and have a wider angle between them.
With which astronomer do you agree? Circle one: Pat Chris

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 75

 Star Gamma
A very distant
background star

Star Beta

Star Alpha

Point Point Point Point

A B A B

6. In the space below, draw and label what nearby Star Alpha and very distant Star Gamma (shown
above on the left) would look from Points A and B

View from Point A View from Point B

7. In the space below, draw and label what farther Star Beta and very distant Star Gamma (shown
above on the right) would look like from Points A and B

View from Point A View from Point B

8. What the general rule about the apparent parallax angle between the nearest stars (like Star
Alpha) and the more distant stars, compared to farther away stars, like Star Beta?

76 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Star Colors 36

Red
Flame

Yellow
Flame

Blue
Flame

FIREWORKS TEMPERATURE CONTROL DIAL FLAME

Circle One Process: Circle One Process: Circle One Process:

A B C A B C A B C

1. The chart above lists colored objects resulting from three very different processes. Complete
the third row of the table by matching the process with the correct drawing.
Process A: When human skin gets hot, the red blood carrying capillaries move toward the
surface causing your skin to appear red
Process B: The hottest part of a fire releases blue-appearing, higher energy light, whereas
the cooler parts of the flame emits red-appearing, lower energy light
Process C: When different chemicals rapidly burn, they emit characteristic colors
(strontium carbonate burns red, barium chloride burns green, and copper chloride burns
blue)

2. Stars shine using NONE of the processes above. Instead, stars shine because the high
temperature substance making up stars glows when heated. Knowing that higher temperature
stars release higher-energy, longer-wavelength light, rank the glowing stars below from hottest to
coolest.

Hottest  ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________  Coolest

Red Star Blue Star Yellow Star Orange Star Yellowish-white

Some stars put out lots of each color because of their medium temperature, overpowering emitted green light
and making them appear yellowish-white.

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 77

When we carefully look around the sky, we see the following rough distribution of star colors. (The
precise values are subject to considerable debate among astronomers.)

Blue stars (0.0003%)

Blue-white stars (0.1%)

White stars (0.5%)

Yellowish-white stars (4%)

Yellow stars (8%)

Orange stars (12%)

Red stars (75%)

3. The Sun is a yellow star. It is similar to about what fraction of stars in the sky?
Circle one: 75% 12% 8% 4% >1%

4. Most of the stars are in the sky are

Circle one: low temperature stars medium temperature high temperature

5. The most rare stars in the sky are

Circle one: blue stars white stars red stars

6. Two astronomers are arguing about the nature of stars.

Astronomer Pat: The Sun is an average star: It is like most of the stars in the sky.
Astronomer Chris: Well, the Sun has an average temperature compared to other stars, but
the Sun is not average in terms of being representative of most of the stars.
Which astronomer do you agree with and why? Explain.

78 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Binary Stars 37

The vast majority of the stars in our galaxy are small, isolated red stars. However, to our great
surprise, when we look at nearby stars like the Sun, we find that about half of them are not
isolated, but instead exist in binary 2-star pairs, triplet 3-star systems, or even larger groups. For
the hottest stars, it might be as many as 85% are members of multiple-stars systems.

Binary star pairs form simultaneously from different areas of the same gigantic parent cloud. The
stars orbit around a common center of mass due to their shared gravitational attraction.

Orbit of high
mass star Orbit of low
mass star

Center of
mass

Time #1 Time #2

1. Draw the position of the low mass star on the right-hand side of the diagram above at Time #2.
A line through the center of mass always connects the two stars.

2. Which star moves fastest in its orbit?

Circle one: the star with the largest orbit the star with the smallest orbit

3. Which star takes the longest amount of time to make one orbit?
Circle one: high mass star low mass star the times are equal

4. Two astronomers are arguing about the orbits of binary stars.

Astronomer Pat: I think that stars are moving slowest and spending most of their time
widely separated when far from their center of mass because of Kepler’s Laws of Planetary
Motion.
Astronomer Chris: I disagree. I think that the two stars will spend most of their time close
together because of Newton’s Laws of Gravitation.
Which astronomer do you agree with and why? Explain.

4. On the next page, two stars are orbiting a central point. For Years 2 & 3, draw the position of the
smaller star and on the graph at the bottom, draw the total light curve for the three-year period.

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 79

 Overhead Top-View Side-View

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3
Total brightness 

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

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 Stellar Masses 38
Astronomers have painstakingly observed stars many years to construct a database comparing
stars’ masses, colors, and brightnesses. A sample are listed in the table below.

Luminosity, L Mass, M Radius, R Lifetime

Example Stars Color
(in Sun’s) (in Sun’s) (in Sun’s) (Est. Years)
Proxima 100’s of
0.002 (0.2%) Dark Red 0.12 (12%) 0.14 (14%)
Centauri billions
Epsilon
.22 (22%) Orange .76 (76%) .73 (73%) 30 billion
Indi
Sun
1.0 Yellow 1.0 1.0 10 billion
(Sol)
Gamma
6½ Yellow-White 1½ 1½ 3 billion
Virgo
Vega
40 White 2 2½ 400 million
(Alpha Lyra)
Tau White-ish
18,000 15 10 30 million
Scorpius Blue
Blue-ish
Rigel 120,000 20 15 15 million
White
Zeta
750,000 Blue 50 25 3 million
Pupis
* These numbers are highly simplified

1. Sketch graphs for the following: L vs color; L vs m; and Lifetime vs m

2. The stars emitting the most energy are

Circle one: blue stars yellow stars red stars not-related to color

3. The stars emitting the most energy are

Circle one: high mass stars medium mass stars low mass stars

4. The stars with the longest lifetimes are the

Circle one: high mass stars medium mass stars low mass stars
Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science 81
5. The stars with the longest lifetimes are the
Circle one: blue stars yellow stars red stars not-related to color

6. A star that has ten times more mass than another star mass lives
Circle one: 10x longer about the same 1/10 as long much less than 1/10 as long

7. In general, the more massive stars emit

Circle one: less energy more energy energy amounts unrelated to mass

8. In general, the more massive stars have

Circle one: shorter lifespans longer lifespans lifespans unrelated to mass

9. In general, the more massive stars are

Circle one: higher temperature lower temperature temperature independent

10. In general, stars that emit more blue light than other stars are
Circle one: more massive less massive found in a variety of masses

Adapted from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dwarf_Stars.png | Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

82 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Magnitude Scales 39

There are both bright stars and

dim stars scattered across the
night sky. Astronomers use a
ranking system to describe the
brightness of stars, much like
sports teams might be ranked by
how many wins they have.

The first group of brightest stars

are ranked as #1, the next as #2,
then #3, and so on until you get
to magnitude #6—the dimmest
stars you can see without a
telescope.

Astronomers represent how

bright a star appears—apparent
visual magnitude—on a map
using circles of different sizes.
This illustration does NOT relate
to how large or how close the
stars are.

1. How many magnitude ONE

stars are in the constellation of
Ursa Minor where we find the
‘Little Dipper’?
Circle one: zero one two three more than three

2. How many magnitude TWO stars are in the constellation of Ursa Minor?
Circle one: zero one two three more than three

3. How many magnitude FOUR stars are in the constellation of Ursa Minor?
Circle one: zero one two three more than three

4. Looking at the star map, what inference can you make about the number of stars at different
brightnesses?
Circle one: There are more apparently bright stars than dim stars.
There are about an equal number of bright star and dim stars.
There are many more dim stars than bright stars.

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 Apparent Visual Approximate Common
Another way to think of the apparent visual Magnitude Number of Stars Examples
magnitude system is to imagine sitting 1 20 Betelgeuse
outside as the Sun is setting and watching the
2 50 Polaris
stars slowly start to appear in the darkening
3 200 Algenubi
sky. The first group of stars appearing are
4 500
the magnitude-1 stars. The next group of So dim,
5 1500
stars are magntitude-2, and so on. rarely named
6 7000

5. If there is a bright moon or you live close to glaring city lights, you might not see any stars
dimmer than magnitude-3. How many visible stars are you missing?

6. Most objects in the sky are so dim, you can’t see them unless you have a telescope to help you
gather the very little light being emitted and focus it so you can observe it. Using this system, what
would the apparent visual magnitude numbers be like for those objects (e.g., Pluto)?
Circle one: negative numbers fractional or decimal numbers large numbers

7. Based on the generalization you created earlier, how many stars across the sky might there be
that are too dim to be seen without using a telescope?
Circle one: hundreds thousands millions or more

8. Some objects in the sky are much brighter than the stars, like the planet Venus. Using this
system, what would the apparent visual magnitude numbers be like for those objects (e.g., Moon)?
Circle one: negative numbers fractional or decimal numbers large numbers

9. Use the
nearby stars of
known
magnitudes to
estimate the
apparent visual
magnitude of
Pluto to at least
one decimal
place.

Credit: Kevin Heider, CC BY-SA (phys.org/news/2015-07-plutothe-planet.html)

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 Brightness and Distance 40
Starlight can be described in at least two ways. One is how bright it looks when you go outside
and look up into the sky—brightness is sometimes called apparent magnitude. Another way is
how much energy it is emitting—luminosity, sometimes called absolute magnitude—and is
independent of how far away you are from the Star.

1. Imagine you are looking at two unknown stars, one bright and one
dim. Based on how they look through the telescope, which one is closer?
Circle one: Brighter one Dimmer one Can’t tell B
D
2. If you knew by looking at the details of their spectra that the two
stars were identical twins in size and total energy output (luminosity
and absolute magnitude), which one is closer?
Circle one: Brighter one Dimmer one Can’t tell

3. The apparent brightness of glowing objects depends on distance following the 1/d2 rule. If the
bright star B is 5 times closer to us than identical star D, how much brighter does it look?
Circle one: 5x brighter 10x brighter 25x brighter

4. If instead, bright star B appears to be only 4 times brighter than its identical twin star D, how
much closer is B to us?
Circle one: ½ as close ¼ as close 2x closer 4x closer 16x closer

5. If instead these two stars were at the same distance from us, how would they appear in the
telescope?
Circle one: B would appear brighter D would appear brighter B & D would be same

6. Imagine Earth between two identical stars. How many times brighter is the nearby star?
Circle one: 3x 6x 9x 10x 30x 90x 100x

10 30
light years light years


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The Hubble Space Telescope image at right shows
Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, and its tiny
companion, Sirius-B (in the lower left hand corner).
The two stars are orbiting very close to one another.
(The spikes are caused by the telescope’s imaging
system.)

Sirius is 8.6 light-years away from Earth and shines

about 10,000 x brighter than Sirius-B.

7. How far away is the much dimmer Sirius-B?

Credit: NASA, ESA, H. Bond (STScI) & M. Barstow (Univ. of Leicester)

http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/html/heic0516a.html

8. How many times farther away from Sirius would you need to travel for Sirius to appear as
bright as Sirius-B does now?
Circle one: 8.6x 74x 10,000x 100,000x 100,000,000x

9. How long would it take light to travel that far?

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 Formation of Stars 41
Stars form from interstellar clouds of dust and gas.
The figure at right shows a cluster of hundreds of
stars as seen through a telescope.

1. Sketch how a large, butterfly-shaped dark

nebula existing between Earth and the stars
shown at right would change the figure.

2. The size of clouds like the one you’ve drawn

are similar in size to a:
Circle one:
Large-city
Planet
Sun-like star
Solar System
A volume many light-years across

3. About how many new stars will form out of the cloud you drew?
Circle one: one several tens hundreds or more

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Below are two stars clusters. Each cluster is about the same distance from Earth.

Gardenia Star Cluster Plumeria Star Cluster

4. Which star cluster has more bright stars?

Circle one: Gardenia Star Cluster Plumeria Star Cluster

5. Stars that emit the most energy have the shortest lifespans and disappear from view quickly.
Which star cluster has already lost its bright stars?
Circle one: Gardenia Star Cluster Plumeria Star Cluster

6. Which star cluster is probably older?

Circle one: Gardenia Star Cluster Plumeria Star Cluster

7. Explain your reasoning behind your answer to which is probably older.

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 HR Diagram 42
As we look across the many stars in the sky, we can begin to classify them into various categories.
Two of the most fruitful are total energy output (either luminosity or absolute magnitude) and
color (temperature). The graphs shown below are sometimes called color-magnitude diagrams
instead of HR diagrams.
Total Energy Output 

Blue  Color (Temperature)  Red Total Energy Output 

Blue  Color (Temperature)  Red

100 Stars NEAREST to Earth 100 Stars BRIGHTEST in Sky

1. What color are most of the nearby stars in our own stellar neighborhood?
Circle one: red yellow-white blue-white all colors

2. What relative temperature are most of the nearby stars in our own stellar neighborhood?
Circle one: hot medium cool all temperatures

3. What colors are most of the bright stars we see from Earth?
Circle one: red yellow-white blue-white all colors

4. What relative temperatures are most of the bright stars we see from Earth?
Circle one: hot medium cool all temperatures

5. In general, most of the stars in our galaxy are what relative temperature?
Circle one: hot medium cool all temperatures

6. Our Sun appears in the middle of each diagram marked with an “x”. What is its color?
Circle one: red yellow-white blue-white all colors

7. Our Sun appears in the middle of each diagram. What is its relative temperature?
Circle one: hot medium cool all temperatures

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8. Compared to the nearby stars in our local stellar neighborhood, the temperature of our Sun is
relatively
Circle one: hot average cool

8. Compared to the nearby stars in our local stellar neighborhood, the energy output of our Sun is
relatively
Circle one: high average low

10. Compared to most of the bright stars we see in the night sky, our Sun’s energy output is
relatively
Circle one: high average low

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 Stars in the Galaxy 43
The graph below show the color (temperature) and absolute magnitude (luminosity) for several
thousand stars in our galaxy.

Image adapted from CSIRO, http://www.atnf.csiro.au/outreach/education/senior/cosmicengine/stars_hrdiagram.html

1. How are stars distributed across all possible color (temperatures) and magnitude (luminosity)
combinations?
Circle one: equally distributed grouped

2. What are the characteristics of stars around region D?

Circle one: hot & low luminosity cool & low luminosity giant

3. What are the characteristics of stars around region C?

Circle one: hot & high luminosity cool & high luminosity giant

4. Which Spectral Class represents the lowest temperature stars?

Circle one: O A G M

5. Which Spectral Class represents the majority of stars?

Circle one: O A G M

6. Label the diagram with names for the four lettered regions.

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 https://astrofysikk.wikispaces.com/HR-diagram Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 3.0 License

7. What are the relative temperatures of the dimmest stars?

Circle one: low medium high a wide range of temperatures

8. What are the relative sizes of the dimmest stars?

Circle one: small medium large a wide range of diameters

9. The vast majority of stars are relatively

Circle one: hot small

10. Two astronomers are talking about sizes and temperatures of stars.
Astronomer Pat: There is a straightforward relationship when it comes to stars: Small stars
are cool, and big stars are hot.
Astronomer Chris: That is true for stars stably fusing hydrogen into helium; but some giant
stars are cool, but are so big that they emit a tremendous amount of light.
Which astronomer do you agree with and why? Explain.

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 Fusion Reaction Chains 44
Stars shine because lighter atoms are being fused into heavier atoms, releasing energy in the
process. One of the most common fusion processes inside stars is the Proton-Proton Chain.

1. In the spaces below, label each object as Hydrogen, 1H; Deuterium, 2H; Helium-3, 3He; and
Helium, 4He.

2. In which place is energy emitted that eventually causes a star to visibly shine?
Circle one: neutrino release gamma ray release the splitting of atoms

3. Which equation describes what is going on here?

Circle one: E=hν E=mc2 E=mgh E=Gm1m2/d2

https://commons.wiki
media.org/wiki/File:F
usionintheSun.png;
Borb-CC BY-SA 3.0

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94 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019
 Variable Stars 45
As you look up into the night sky, you probably notice that some stars are bright whereas other
stars are dim. For the most part, stars are always seem to be the same brightness. There are some
stars, however, that do vary in brightness.

One category of variable stars are those unstable stars that actually change in size. They are
brightest when they are swollen up to be large in size: they are dimmest when they shrink to be
small in size. Consider these observations of stars through a telescope.

June 1 June 2 June 3 July 1 Aug 2 Dec 1

1. Short-period RR Lyrae variables have a bright-dim-bright period of about 1 day. Circle the short
period RR Lyrae variable in the images above and label it on the Dec 1 observation.

2. Long-period Mira variables have bright-dim-bright periods ranging from 80 to 1,000 days. Circle
the long period Mira variable in the images above and label it on the Dec. 1 observation

3. Medium-length Cepheid variables bright-dim-bright periods averaging about 60 days. Circle the
medium period Cepheid variable in the images above and label it.

Stars are so far away, that they are just tiny pinpoints of light, immeasurably small even with most
telescopes. However, when you take a picture of the stars, the brightest ones take up more space and
smear out in the picture.

When you analyze these pictures, your brain wants to imagine that the brightest stars are always
physically bigger because they take up more space on the picture. Brighter stars are sometimes
actually bigger, but not always; don’t confuse the size of the star’s blob on the picture and it’s actual
size.

4. One way we analyze variable stars is to create a graph of how they change their brightness over
time. The first figure below shows a “light curve” for the Mira variable above. Sketch in the two
“light curves” for the RR Lyrae and Cepheid variables from above.
Brightness

Brightness

Brightness

6/1 8/1 10/1 12/1 6/1 6/2 6/3 6/4 6/1 8/1 10/1 12/1

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5. Two astronomers are discussing the nature of variable stars.
Astronomer Pat: It seems to me that stars that change brightness very quickly must not be
changing their size very much, because big changes in brightness would require big
changes in size, which probably takes a star a long time.
Astronomer Chris: I disagree. The length of a bright-dim-bright cycle depends on how far
away the star is from Earth and how long it takes light to travel from the star to Earth.
Which astronomer do you agree with and why? Explain.

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 Star Lifetimes 46
Luminosity, L Mass, M Radius, R Lifetime
Example Stars Color
(in Sun’s) (in Sun’s) (in Sun’s) (Est. Years)
Proxima Centauri 0.002 (0.2%) Dark Red 0.12 (12%) 0.14 (14%) 100’s of billions
Epsilon Indi .22 (22%) Orange .76 (76%) .73 (73%) 30 billion
Sun (Sol) 1.0 Yellow 1.0 1.0 10 billion
Gamma Virgo 6½ Yellow-White 1½ 1½ 3 billion
Vega 40 White 2 2½ 400 million
Tau Scorpius 18,000 White-ish Blue 15 10 30 million
Rigel 120,000 Blue-ish White 20 15 15 million
Zeta Pupis 750,000 Blue 50 25 3 million
* These numbers are rough estimates.
1. The Sun has enough useable hydrogen fuel so that it can shine as it does now for of about 10
billion years. What about the lifetimes of stars that are about ¾ the Sun’s radius?
Circle one: ¾ as long same lifespan ¾ longer 3x longer much longer

2. What are the lifetimes of stars 50% larger in mass than the Sun’s 10 billion year lifespan?
Circle one: 1/3 as long 50% as long 50% longer 2x longer much longer

3. What are the lifetimes of stars two times (2x) more massive than the Sun?
Circle one: 40% as long ½ as long 50% longer 2x longer much longer

4. What are the lifetimes are stars twenty times (20x) more massive than the Sun?
Circle one: 1/20 as long billions of years millions of years

5. What are the lifetimes of most of the stars in our galaxy?

Circle one: millions of years billions of years 100s of billions of years

6. Draw a graph of star lifetimes versus star masses on the figure below

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7. On the diagram below, draw and label an arrow showing main sequence stars with the longest
hydrogen-fusing lifetimes.

8. On the diagram below, draw and label an arrow showing main sequence stars with the shortest
hydrogen-fusing lifetimes.

Image adapted from CSIRO, http://www.atnf.csiro.au/outreach/education/senior/cosmicengine/stars_hrdiagram.html

98 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019

 Type I and Type II Supernova 47
1. Complete the Venn Diagram with the supernova characteristics listed below:

Type I Type II
Supernova Supernova

Characteristics Examples
 Largest peak luminosity  Close binary system
 Visible longest  Crab Nebula
 Created from two stars  SN 1987A
 Created from a single star  Zeta Pupis, a 50M star
 Leave no remnant
 Creates nebula
 Standard candle
 Visible in distant galaxies
 Occurs one time
 Stimulates nearby star birth
Energy Emitted

Type II
Type I

50
Time (days)
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2. Two astronomers are talking about supernova types.
Astronomer Pat: I don’t know why we talk about type I and type II when seems to me that a
dim one should be a regular-nova, and a really bright one should be a super-nova.
Astronomer Chris: That’s easy. A nova is a completely different situation
Which astronomer do you agree with and why? Explain.

3. Circle the three supernovae in the images captured by a telescope in the panels below (there is
one in each image).

2005 2010 2015

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 Pulsar Time Curves 48

A pulsar is a tiny, quickly spinning neutron star with a particular “hot spot” that emits a
tremendous amount of energy. When observed from Earth, this appears to us as a quick “pulse”
of light from an otherwise dim object, called a pulsating radio star—or pulsar for short.

Crab Nebula Pulsar

Relative Intensity 

0.000 sec 0.033 sec 0.066 sec 0.099 sec 0.132 sec 0.164 sec

1. Using the above graph, determine the time period between pulses of light observed here on
Earth for the Crab Nebula Pulsar.

2. This period you determined from the graph above is the

Circle one: time for pulsar to spin once number of times it spins per second

3. Using the graph below, determine the time period between several pulses of light and then
average to determine the period for PSR B0329+54.

PSR B0329+54
Relative Intensity 

Pulse

0 sec 1 sec 2 sec 3 sec 4 sec 5 sec 6 sec

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4. Over time, pulsars spin slower and slower as they age. Rank order the following pulsars by age
based on their spin rate.

Youngest  __________ __________ __________ __________ __________ __________  Oldest

Number of Spins
Pulsar Formal Designation Period Every Second
(approx.)
A PSR B0329+54 0.714 sec 1½
B PSR J2144-3933 8.51 sec 0.12
C PSR J0058+4950 0.9960 sec 1
D PSR J2111+2106 3.9538 sec 0.25
E PSR J2030+3641 0.20012 sec 5
F PSR B0531+21 0.0335 sec 30
*Many thanks to recycled pulsar specialist Jason Boyles for identifying these comparative pulsars

5. Two astronomers are arguing about neutron star observations.

Astronomer Pat: Any observed neutron star that lacks any pulsed emission is very old and
is no longer spinning.
Astronomer Chris: I disagree. It could be that spinning neutron star’s “hot spot” does not
intersect Earth and is emitting in some other direction.
With which astronomer do you agree and why? Explain.

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 Galaxies

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 Stellar Populations 48
There are many different—and equally valid—ways to categorize stars. One way is stars that are
Sun-like, and those that are not: We unimaginatively call these Population I and Population II
stars, respectively.

1. Complete the Venn diagram with the stellar population characteristics listed below:

Population I Population II
Stars Stars

Characteristics Examples
 Metal-rich  Sun
 Metal-poor  Great Globular in Hercules, M13
 Found in the galactic halo  Alpha Centauri
 Found in the galactic disk  Mu Arae, a nearby metal-rich star
 Found in ultra-dense star clusters
 Found in open, galactic clusters
 Older
 Younger

Perhaps Important Caveat: Stars that try defy this categorization scheme definitely exist. Some
astronomers argue for a third population of supermassive but unmixed stars, temporarily called
Population III stars. Other astronomers break Population I stars into early extreme and
intermediate subcategories.

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106 Field-Test Edition © CAPER 2019
 Below is a map of the entire sky: If you imagine the sky wrapped around Earth, this is what it looks like if you unwrap it
and spread it out as a single map.

1. Mark the following objects on the map using large “x” marks of different colors or dramatically different shapes.


Constellations Containing
Open Clusters: → Gemini, Aurigae, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Taurus, Coma Bernices, Canis Major, Perseus, Orion, and Lyra,


marked with ________ symbol
Active Star Forming Regions: → Orion, Taurus, Cancer, Ophiuchus, Serpens, and Sagittarius, marked with ________


symbol
Dark Nebulae: → Ophiuchus, Orion, Cygnus, Sagittarius, Lupus, Vela, Aurigae, Cassiopeia, and Lacerta, marked with


________ symbol


Supernova Remnants: → Taurus, Aquila, Vela, Cygnus, Centaurus, Lupus, and Ophiuchus, marked with ________ symbol

Active Learning Tutorials for Astronomy & Space Science

Globular Clusters: → Centaurus, Indus, Aquarius, Hercules, Pegasus, and Capricorn, marked with ________ symbol
Galactic Center

107
49
2. Are the open clusters randomly distributed across the sky, or do they fall along a curving line
through the sky?
Circle one: Random Fall roughly along a curved line

3. Are the active star forming regions randomly distributed across the sky, or do they fall along a
curving line?
Circle one: Random Fall roughly along a curved line

3. Are the supernova remnants randomly distributed across the sky, or do they fall along a
curving line?
Circle one: Random Fall roughly along a curved line

4. Do the dark nebulae appear along roughly the same line as the supernova remnants, active star
forming regions, and open clusters through the sky?
Circle one: Random Fall roughly along a curved line

5. Now, consider the globular clusters. Are the globular clusters evenly distributed across the sky?
Circle one: Evenly distributed same curved pattern as the other objects circular

6. Globular clusters are not always found in the disk of the galaxy; instead, they encircle the center
of a galaxy. Draw a line connecting the constellations with globular clusters into a circle pattern to
identify the direction of the galactic center.

7. In which of the following constellations is our galactic center seemingly located?

Circle one: Hercules Sagittarius Orion

8. If the galactic center was in the direction of Gemini, how would the distribution of globular
clusters look different?

9. If Earth were located in the center of the galaxy, how would the distribution of globular clusters
look different?

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 Location of Sun in the Milky Way 50

When looking at a city off in the distance, you can determine where location of city center by
measuring the distances to identifiable buildings and finding the average distance.

5 miles
10 miles (8 km)
(16 km)
15 miles
(24 km)
20 miles
(32 km)

1. How far away is the city center based on the four distance measurements to buildings in the
city?

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Finding distances to globular clusters surrounding the galactic center (x) depends on being able to
find Cepheid variables within them. A Cepheid variable with a known brightness cycle indicates
how far away it must be.

A
B

C
x
F

Earth

E
D

2. Complete the table below to determine the distance to the Galactic Center.

Est. Distance to
Globular
Globular Cluster
Cluster
(Light-Years)
A 24,000

B 40,000

C 55,000

D 15,000

E 7,000

F 8,000
Average Distance to Center of
Galaxy =

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 Classifying Galaxies 51
Galaxies are gravitationally bound, isolated islands of hundreds of millions or billions of stars and
interstellar dust. Galaxies don’t come in every possible shape and size; instead, they can be
categorized into particular groups using a variety of strategies. One of the most common
classification scheme is known as the Hubble Tuning Fork.

1. What characteristic makes an elliptical appear distinguishingly different a spiral?

2. What characteristic makes a spiral appear distinguishingly different a barred spiral?

3. Elliptical galaxies are often given a number between E0 and E7 to describe their shape. In the
spaces below, sketch an EO, and E4, and an E7.

E0 Elliptical E4 Elliptical E7 Elliptical

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4. Classify the images of galaxies observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey using the Hubble Tuning
Fork system.

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 Hubble Deep Field 52
One of the most iconic pictures in astronomy is known as the Hubble Deep Field. Covering only a
tiny amount of sky that was previously considered to be empty before being carefully imaged,
astronomers can see that the Universe is has numerous galaxies of stars.

1. When imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope, nearby stars inside our own galaxy—
called foreground stars—appear to have sharp points, as shown at right. How many
stars can you find in this image?
Circle one: none 1 ≈5 ≈10 100s 1,000s millions

2. If we make the broad assumption that most galaxies in this image are about the same actual
size, then are there more galaxies near our or more galaxies that are far away?
Circle one: most galaxies are nearby most galaxies are distant

3. When looking at the galaxies that are largest and easiest to see in this image, are galaxies seen
more often spirals or more often ellipticals?
Circle one: most are spirals most are ellipticals

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4. Two astronomers are arguing about the importance of the Hubble Deep Field image.
Astronomer Pat: The Hubble Deep Field clearly shows that there are many more galaxies
than we thought before.
Astronomer Chris: I don’t think so. We could have just gotten lucky and galaxies are
particularly numerous in that particular direction.
With which astronomer do you agree and why? Explain.

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 Evidence for Dark Matter 53
NOTE: Calculator questions marked with  symbol are optional.
As we look across the Universe, we expect gravity to force objects to move in ways predicted by
Kepler. Newton’s ideas about gravity mean that the most massive objects have the most
gravitational attraction and force things to move most quickly, according to M x p2 = a3

1. According to the Law of Universal Gravitation, the time it takes a planet to orbit a star depends
mostly on how massive the central star is. Figure 1 represents Earth orbiting the Sun (Sol), taking
one year. If Earth, instead, orbited a star that was four times (4x) more massive than our Sun, but
at the same distance, how would its orbital speed be different?
Circle one: Orbit slower No difference Orbit faster

Planetary System #1: Sol Planetary System #2:

MassSTAR= 1Sun Polaris
massplanet = tiny MassSTAR= 4Sun
aOrbit = 1 AUnit massplanet = tiny
aOrbit = 1 AUnit

2.  If orbital period P = √ (adistance3 ÷ Mass) , then calculate how long does it take to orbit the
4MSun star. P = √ (adistance3 ÷ Mass) = √ (1AU3 ÷ 4Sun) = √ (0.25) = __________ year

3. Figure 2 below illustrates two spinning galaxies, one made up of 100 billion stars, and the other
with 1,000 billion stars. If the star Azzula orbits its galaxy at the same distance as star Bezzula,
but its galaxy is (10x) more massive than our Sun, but at the same distance, how would its orbital
speed be different? (circle one)
Orbit slower No difference Orbit faster

Star Star
Azzula Bezzula

Mass: 100 billion star galaxy, 1,000 billion star galaxy

Period: star Azzula orbits every 400 million Period: star Bezzula orbits every _____ Myr
years

4.  If orbital period P = √ (adistance3 ÷ Mass) , then calculate how long does it take to orbit the
10MGalaxy galaxy.

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5. Imagine you were observing a tiny, spinning galaxy, which you carefully count and
find it has 1,000,000 stars. When you measure the speed at which a star at the edge is
orbiting, you find it takes only about half as long to go around as you expect. Two
astronomers are arguing about why this might be.
Astronomer Pat: I think that not all the stars were counted. I mean, with a million stars, one
could easily lose count.
Astronomer Chris: I disagree, the stars’ orbital speeds are directly connected to how much
material is present, then there must be some matter that isn’t shinning and can’t be seen.
With which astronomer do you agree with and why? Explain.

6. The figure below shows two galaxy clusters, orbiting around one another. If the two sets of
stars have the same separation distance and seem to have the same number of stars, which cluster
has more unseen matter? Circle one: Cluster #1 Cluster #2

Galaxy Cluster #1: 900 million year period Galaxy Cluster #2: 300 million year orbital
period

7.  If MassTotal = a3distance ÷ P2OrbitalPeriod, then calculate how many times more mass does one
cluster have than the other.

If your brain likes to think about more massive things causing bigger gravitational effects,
then you should congratulate your brain for thinking correctly in this case! When things in
outer space are moving more rapidly than we expect, we infer the existence of some
mysterious, seemingly invisible, non-glowing material that we call dark matter.

8. Both our planets Jupiter and Saturn have moons orbiting them at about the same distance, but
Jupiter’s moons orbit faster than Saturn’s moons. What can you infer about the difference between
Jupiter and Saturn? Explain your reasoning.

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 Structure and Evolution of the Universe

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 QUASARS: Quasi-Stellar Objects 54
Stars are so far away that most stars appear as infinitely small pin-points of light.
Even with the world’s largest telescopes. One of the most important tools astronomers have to
distinguish one star from another is to look at its “spectrum” – a graph showing the intensity of
light emitted at each wavelength. Let’s look at some dim stars and their spectra

1. The figure above shows four dim stars as seen through a large telescope. How does the
brightness or shape of the stars appear different from one another?

2. The stars spectra are also illustrated, and one is definitely different. Because it looks like a star,
but it has a very different spectrum, it is called a Quasi-Stellar Object, or QUASAR. Precisely how
is its spectrum different (NOTE: On most spectra, shorter wavelengths are on the left and longer
wavelengths are on the right)

3. Using what you know about Edwin Hubble’s observations about galaxies, what does a large red-
shift imply about a galaxy’s motion.

4. What is the Hubble relationship between a galaxy’s recessional velocity and it’s distance?

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 Stationary Hydrogen Gas
434nm (reference rest-frame)
486nm
655.2nm
B2 1128+31

PKS 1217+02

4C 73.18

B2 1208+32

400 500 600 700 800 900

 Blue Wavelength (nm) Red 

5. The first spectra on the top of the illustration above shows the spectrum of glowing hydrogen
gas created in a non-moving laboratory on Earth. What is the wavelength for its largest, most
obvious spectral feature?

6. The remaining four spectra are from Quasars. Complete the table to show the shifted
wavelengths for this same, obvious spectral feature?

 OPTIONAL
Percent Difference from
Feature stationary
QUASAR
Wavelength (nm) Z=(observed – stationary)
÷ (stationary)

B2 1128+31
PKS 1217+02
4C 73.18
B2 1208+32

7. The more the wavelength is shifted, the farther away the object is. 4C 73.18 is about 5 billion
light-years away. How long did it take the light from 4c 73.18 to get to Earth?

8. What can you infer about 4C 73.18’s energy output if it is 5 billion light-years away and we can
still see it?

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 Cosmic Distance Ladder 55
Determining the distance to objects requires comparing how bright something appears (apparent
magnitude) to how much energy it is actually emitting (absolute magnitude or luminosity). The
rule to remember is that the closer you get to a glowing object, the intensity increases rapidly!

1. Imagine observing two stars with identical energy output (luminosity), Alpha and Beta. If
Alpha appears to be 4 times brighter in the sky, which one is closer?
Circle one: Star Alpha Star Beta

2. Using use the 1/d2 rule for brightness & distance, how many times closer is this star?
Circle one: 1/4 closer 2x closer 4x closer 16x closer

Astronomers are always excited

when they find a variable star in a

10,000 LSun
faraway cluster because there is a
direct relationship between a
variable star’s period and its actual
Luminosity (LSun)

energy output. This is shown in the

graph, known widely as the Leavitt
1000 LSun

Law, which allows astronomers to

determine the actual energy output
of a star (its luminosity).

3. Imagine observing two variable

100 LSun

stars at the edges of two different

galaxies. Star Li has a period of 8
days and Star Olanna has a period of
30 days. Using the Leavitt Law
1 day 3 days 10 days 30 days 100 days
shown in the graph, approximately
how many times brighter is each star Period
compared to the Sun?

Approx. Luminosity Star Li = _______________ Approx. Luminosity Star Olanna = _______________

4. Using your best guess, about how many times more luminous is Star Reed than Star Li?
Circle one: 9x 90x 900x 9,000x

5. If these two stars appear to have the same apparent brightness, which one is closer?
Circle one: Star Li Star Reed

6. How many times closer is this star you selected in Question #5?
Circle one: 3x 9x 27x 81x

7. How many times farther away is the galaxy in which this star resides?
Circle one: 3x 9x 27x 81x

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8. Rank order these five astronomical distance measuring techniques from closest objects to most
distant objects.

Closest Objects  ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________  Farthest Objects

A) Supernovae
B) Bouncing radar beams
C) Parallax
D) Tully-Fisher Relation
E) Variable Stars

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 Size and Scale 56
Astronomers use a variety of units to describe distances to objects: kilometers, astronomical units,
light-years, parsecs, z-factor, among others, depending on what is most convenient.

1. Rank order the distance of these objects from Earth

Nearest to Earth  ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________ ________  Farthest from Earth

 Population I stars (Pop I)

 Large Magellenic Cloud (LMC)
 Andromeda Galaxy (Andromeda)
 Quasar
 Sun
 Virgo Galaxy Cluster (Virgo)
 Population II stars (Pop II)

2. Use arrows  to match each of these seven items with their distances.

Object Distance Away

Population I stars (Pop I) 65 million light-years
Large Magellenic Cloud (LMC) 25 light-years
Andromeda Galaxy (Andromeda) 1/3 of a galaxy
Quasar 2 million light-years
Sun 8 min 20 sec
Virgo Galaxy Cluster (Virgo) ½ a local group
Population II stars (Pop II) 780 kiloparsecs

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 Hubble’s Law 57
Several astronomers are arguing about their measurements of the Hubble constant. Their graphs
are shown below.

1. What two things did these astronomers measure about each galaxy they were studying?

2. Rank order them from highest rate of expansion of the Universe to lowest rate of expansion.

High expansion rate  __________ __________ __________  Low expansion rate

3. Rank order them from oldest age of the Universe to the youngest age of the Universe.

Old Universe  __________ __________ __________  Young Universe

4. Rank order them from largest value of the Hubble constant to the smallest value of the Hubble
constant.

Large Hubble constant  __________ __________ __________  Small Hubble constant

Astronomer Pat Astronomer Chris Astronomer Carroll

Velocity (away) 
Velocity (away) 
Velocity (away) 

Distance  Distance  Distance 

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 Early Universe 58
In the early Universe, the four fundamental forces played different roles in creating the Universe
we see today.

1. The force between galaxies is

Circle one: attractive repulsive

2. The force between galaxies is

Circle one: strong weak electromagnetic gravitational

3. The force between protons and electrons is

Circle one: attractive repulsive
proton electron

4. The force between protons and electrons is

Circle one: strong weak electromagnetic gravitational

5. The force between protons and neutrons is

Circle one: attractive repulsive
proton neutron
6. The force between protons and neutrons is
Circle one: strong weak electromagnetic gravitational

7. The force that controls radioactive decay of elements is

Circle one: strong weak electromagnetic gravitational

8. The force that acts over the longest distances is

Circle one: strong weak electromagnetic gravitational

9. Two astronomers are arguing about fundamental forces.

Astronomer Pat: There is no force between positively charged protons and non-charged
neutrons in the nucleus of an atom because they must be “opposites to attract.”
Astronomer Chris: I disagree. There must be some force that holds the nucleus of an atom
together, but it cannot be electromagnetic.
With which astronomer do you agree and why? Explain.

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 Astrobiology

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 Finding ExoPlanets Using the Transit Method 59
The most efficient strategy to find initial candidates for exoplanets orbiting other stars is the
transit method. The goal is to carefully monitor the brightness of stars to see if a star dims ever so
slightly when a planet passes between us and that star, blocking a tiny amount of its light.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech; http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/6082-ssc2015-02b-Infrared-Light-Curve-for-Transiting-Exoplanet-HD-219134b

1. For the star named HD219134b, by what percentage does its light ‘dim’ when its orbiting planet
gets between Earth and the star?

2. In this case, for how long does the star appear to ‘dim’?

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3. Which explanation better accounts for why the planet only moves across the edge of the star’s
face?
Circle one: explanation A explanation B

4. Sketch how the graph on the first page would look different if the exoplanet’s orbit was aligned
perfectly ‘edge-on’ as shown below.
Brightness 

Time (days) 

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 Finding ExoPlanets Using Doppler Method 60

The best strategy for confirming the existence of an exoplanet and measuring its properties is to
use the Doppler Method of studying the host star’s changing spectra.

1. On the left-hand panels, sketch the new position of the host star due to its orbiting exoplanet’s
motion. (Hint: Extend a line between the planets that goes through the system’s center of mass.)

2. On the right-hand panels, indicate if the host star’s spectra will be red-shifted, blue-shifted, or
not shifted.

Overhead Top-View Side-View (from Earth)

Time 1

Circle one: Red-shifted Blue-shifted Not shifted

Time 2

Circle one: Red-shifted Blue-shifted Not shifted

Time 3

Circle one: Red-shifted Blue-shifted Not shifted

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