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GEG 1007
PLANETARY & SPACE SCIENCE

STUDY GUIDE

The television series COSMOS is a spectacular voyage through space and time, exploring our past, present, and future relationship with the universe. To guide you through the course, the following list of key terms and names, along with the questions, should be reviewed as you read the text and view the tapes. This will enable you to gain a better understanding of the ideas and concepts you will encounter.

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13

Ch. 1 - THE SHORES OF THE COSMIC OCEAN

Alexandrian Library, Eratosthenes, nebula, Big Bang, galaxies, pulsars, blue stars, light year, red giants, cosmos, Local Group, yellow dwarfs, contact binaries, Milky Way
Glossary of Terms and Names

  1. Define the term cosmos.
  2. What is a light year?
  3. What are the different constituent objects in the universe and how are they distributed?
  4. What is the Local Group of galaxies?
  5. What type of structure does the Milky Way have?
  6. What is the difference between blue stars, yellow stars, red stars, and white or black stars?
  7. How did Eratosthenes prove that the earth was round?
  8. Where is Alexandria and what was the historical and scientific significance of its library?
  9. What is the Big Bang theory and when did it happen?
  10. Which planet is noted for its volcanoes, rift valleys, and sandstorms?

Ch. 2 - ONE VOICE IN THE COSMIC FUGUE  (1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13)

amino acids, Stanley Miller, photosynthesis, artificial selection, mitochondria, trilobites, Cambrian explosion, mutation, Harold Urey, chloroplasts, natural selection, viroids, Charles Darwin, nucleotides, Alfred Wallace, DNA
Glossary of Terms and Names

  1. What are the basic requirements for life?
  2. What is the difference between natural selection and artificial selection?
  3. What discovery is associated with the names of Darwin and Wallace?
  4. What causes mutations?
  5. What is the significance of Miller-Urey experiments on the origin of life?
  6. What is the smallest living thing and how small is it?
  7. What is DNA and what are its characteristics?
  8. When was the earth first formed?
  9. What is the chronological order in which various lifeforms evolved on our planets?

Ch. 3 - HARMONY OF THE WORLDS  (1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13)

Tycho Brahe, Big Dipper, Isaac Newton, Nicholas Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, Claudius Ptolemy,    epicycle, law of universal gravitation,  inverse square law, Kepler's Cosmic Mystery
Glossary of Terms and Names

  1. What are the differences between astronomy and astrology?
  2. What were the Ptolemy's major contributions to astronomy?
  3. Compare and contrast the Ptolemaic and Copernican models of the solar systems.
  4. Who was Tycho Brahe and what were his contributions to the science of astronomy?
  5. What was Kepler's Cosmic Mystery?
  6. Which planets motion was most responsible for Kepler's Laws?
  7. Describe Kepler's three laws of planetary motion.
  8. Define Newton's theory of universal gravitation.
  9. Explain the relationship between Kepler's laws and Newton's laws.

Ch. 4 - HEAVEN AND HELL  (1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13)

Optional: Watch "Venus Unveiled" a Nova Video at the IVCC Library.

asteroid, greenhouse effect, Galileo Galilei, Tycho Brahe, Edmond Halley, gamma ray, Giordano Bruno, William Huggins, gradualism, catastrophism, Johannes Kepler, Pioneer, Venus, comet, meteor Soviet Venera, crater, Isaac Newton, rays
Glossary of Terms and Names

  1. What is the Tunguska Event? Where and when did it occur? What is the probable cause?
  2. What are comets? What are they composed of?
  3. Where do most comets originate according to common theory?
  4. What is the history of Halley's comet and when will it appear again?
  5. What are asteroids and where are they located?
  6. What is the origin of most lunar craters? Why do we not find as many craters on the Earth?
  7. Describe the surface, atmosphere, and other properties of the planet Venus.
  8. Who was the first person to view Venus through a telescope and what did he see?
  9. Name the Soviet spacecraft that landed on Venus.
  10. What is the greenhouse effect and what type of gases cause it on both Venus and Earth?

Ch. 5 - BLUES FOR A RED PLANET  (1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13)

Optional: Visit Mars Pathfinder site on the Internet at: http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov/

Chryse, Mariner 9, terraforming, Cydonia, Mars 3 and 6, Konstantin Tsiolovsky, Robert Goddard,    Mars Jar, Viking 1 and 2, Percival Lowell, Giovanni Schiaparelli, Alfred Wallace
Glossary of Terms and Names

  1. Who is the planet Pluto named after?
  2. Using a telescope, what did Percival Lowell think he saw on Mars?
  3. Who were the early pioneers in rocketry?
  4. What is the name of the largest volcano on Mars and its longest and deepest canyon?
  5. What is the Martian atmosphere like, its surface and subsurface?
  6. Which US spacecraft landed on Mars? Where did they land and what did their experiments about life reveal?
  7. What are the two moons of Mars called?
  8. How would Sagan terraform the Martian landscape?
  9. Was there water on Mars at one time? If so, what happened to it?

Ch. 6 - TRAVELERS' TALES  (1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13)

Amalthea, Christian Huygens, particulate rings, asthenosphere, Io, radiation belt, Callisto, red spot, Saturn, Europa, Jupiter, Titan, Galilean satellites, lithosphere, Uranus, Ganymede, heliopause, Voyager 2, Galileo Galilei, solar wind, Neptune
Glossary of Terms and Names

  1. What characteristics of the Dutch Republic of the 17th century made it a particularly good place for scientists to work?
  2. Who invented the microscope?
  3. What were the probes to Jupiter called and how are they powered (source of electricity)?
  4. List the major properties of the planet Jupiter.
  5. What are the Galilean satellites of Jupiter called, their order, and their characteristics?
  6. Describe the planet Saturn and compare its properties with those of Jupiter.
  7. Which planets have rings? What are the rings composed of?
  8. Which galilean moon is noted for its active volcanoes?

Ch. 7 - THE BACKBONE OF NIGHT  (1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13)

Anaxagoras    Chaos     Parmenides    Anaximander    Democritus     Pythagoras    Aristarchus    Empedocles     Thales    Cosmos
Glossary of Terms and Names

  1. What do the King Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert call the Milky Way?
  2. What is the difference between Cosmos and Chaos?
  3. Where did the new scientific awakening take place and why?
  4. What major contributions in science are associated with Thales, Anaximander, Theodous, Empedocles, Democritus, Anaxagoras, Pythagoras, and Aristarchus?
  5. Christian Huygens used a perforated brass plate to measure what property of a star?
  6. What did Harlow Shapley discover about solar clusters and the Milky Way?

Ch. 8 - JOURNEYS IN SPACE AND TIME  (1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13)

aberration of starlight    special theory of relativity    Albert Einstein time dilation    Doppler effect
twin paradox    principle of covariance
Glossary of Terms and Names

  1. What is the relationship between the number of stars in the universe and grains of sand on the earth? With the naked eye, how may stars can we see?
  2. What causes the appearance of constellations to change form?
  3. What is the Orion Nebula?
  4. Which star is nearest to our sun?
  5. What basic ideas are contained in Einstein's special theory of relativity?
  6. What happens during a Gedankenexperiment?
  7. Why is it possible to travel faster than the speed of sound, but not faster than the speed of light?
  8. What is the twin paradox?
  9. What are the Orion, Daedalus, and the Bussard Ramjet?
  10. Can relativity set limits on what humans can ultimately do?

Ch. 9 - THE LIVES OF THE STARS  (1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13)

black hole    googol    proton     atomic number    neutron    pulsar     Carb Nebula    neutron star    quark     cosmic ray    neutrino    radioactivity     Cygnus X-1    nova    red giant     fusion    nucleosynthesis    Ernest Rutherford    electron    nucleus     supernova    element    photon
white dwarf
Glossary of Terms and Names

  1. What element are most stars composed of?
  2. What are the different parts of an atom?
  3. What are quarks?
  4. How many elements occur naturally?
  5. How are stars and their accompanying planets born?
  6. What type of violent activity occurs on the visible surface of the sun?
  7. What is a neutrino?
  8. Describe the phases of evolution of a star like the sun.
  9. What is the difference between a nova and a supernova?
  10. What is a neutron star?
  11. What is a black hole?

Ch. 10 - THE EDGE OF FOREVER  (1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13)

Big Bang    elliptical galaxy     quasar    cosmic, or microwave galaxy     red shift
background radiation     Edwin Hubble     cosmology     Milton Humanson    spiral galaxy
Doppler effect    isotropy     ring galaxy
Glossary of Terms and Names

  1. Is the universe expanding, contracting, or staying the same today?
  2. Describe the evolution of the universe during the first stages of the Big Bang.
  3. What happens within galaxies that collide?
  4. What is a quasar and the possible processes responsible for its vast outpouring of energy?
  5. What type of galaxy is the Milky Way?
  6. Describe the Doppler effect and how it is used to study the universe.
  7. What did Edwin Hubble discover?
  8. What is the Very Large Aaray?
  9. What dimension does a tesseract represent?

Ch. 11 - THE PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY  (1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13)

bit    corpus callosum    limbic system    brainstem    DNA    neuron     cerebral cortex
genetic code    R complex    Voyager
Glossary of Terms and Names

  1. Describe and explain the measurement of intelligence in terms of bits.
  2. What is the largest animal to ever live on our planet?
  3. What is DNA?
  4. What is the oldest part of the brain and which functions does it serve?
  5. What is the language of the brain if it is not DNA?
  6. What is associated with the R-complex?
  7. What are the two hemispheres of the brian and what do they control?
  8. Which space probe contains a recorded message for another advanced civilization and what does the message include?
  9. What kinds of signals might another civilization be detecting from us now?

Ch. 12 - ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA  (1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13)

Arecibo Observatory    quasar     Jean Francois Champollion    radio astronomy    lenticular cloud    Rosetta Stone
Glossary of Terms and Names

  1. What is Dr. Sagan's current position on the existence or appearance of UFO's in the Earth's atmosphere?
  2. Who was champollion and what did he decipher?
  3. What is the common language that all technical civilizations, no matter how different, must have?
  4. What is the Arecibo facility and where is it located?
  5. What does the letter N stand for in the Drake equation?
  6. Explain why Dr. Sagan believes contact between Earth and extraterestrial civilizations will most likely be benevolent and beneficial.

Ch. 13 - WHO SPEAKS FOR EARTH?  (1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13)

Alexandrian Library, mutation, L.F. Richardson, cosmic evolution radiation, Sea of Tranquility, Hypatia
Glossary of Terms and Names

  1. List and describe some of the direct and indirect consequences of a global nuclear war on our planet.
  2. What was L.F. Richardson's theory about war and what would happen to the human race with a magnitude 10 war?
  3. What is the best way, according to Sagan, to avoid nuclear war?
  4. What were the findings of James Prescott studies on violence?
  5. Who was the last scientist to work at the Alexandrian Library before its destruction?
  6. What is the value of space exploration?
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last updated: 06/01/06