Answers

1. Explain how sunspots affect the Earth's communication, sky, and weather.  Sunspots seem to correlate with weather, but we don't know exactly WHY.  When sunspots erupt, giving off solar flares, it causes northern lights and can interrupt communication. 
2. List 5 pieces in the life cyle of our sun.  Stellar nursery/protostar/main sequence/red giant/planetary nebula/white dwarf.
   
3. How fast does light travel?
   
   

   the speed of light = 299 792 458 m / s

   
   
4. List 2 rocky and 2 gaseous planets in our solar system. Rocky: Earth and Mars Gaseous: Uranus, Jupiter
   
5. Where do you find each part of the galaxy:  arm, bulge, black hole, our solar system?  arms:  outer part, bulge:  center of the galaxy, black hole:  center of bulge, our solar system, 30000 LY out from the center on an arm
   
6. Compare the big bang and the birth of our universe. Big bang happened and Universe formed.  They are different names for the same thing.
   
7. Compare our star and a blue giant...how long will each live?  Blue giants are much more massive and live shorter lives than our star.
   
8. What kind of stars supernova?  Blue Giants, which means BIG ONES.
   
9. If a star is 75 light years away, what does that mean?  It takes 75 years for the light to travel from the star to Earth, or the light you see from that star tonight is 75 years old.
   
10. How many star are there in our galaxy?  100 million or so
    
11. Explain three things that happened in the first sec. of the big bang.  Gravity split off, protons, neutrons, and electrons formed, the universe inflated, it got light
    
12. Sunspots often come in pairs, which allow magnetic fields to flow between them.  What can happen if a sunspot becomes unstable?  It gives off a solar flare.
    
13. When light reaches us from the sun, how old is it?  almost 9 minutes old
    
14. Where do sunspots occur? the sun surface
    
15. what are the dying phases of the sun as it goes beyond main sequence?  red giant, planetary nebula, white dward
    
16. Is fusion like a campfire, where fuel simply burns?  Explain.  No, campfires simply change the arrangement of atoms, where fusion in the sun melts hydrogen atoms into helium
    
17. What is an AU, and how big is it?  the distance between the sun and the earth, or 93 million miles
    
18. When did stars start to form in our universe after the Big Bang?  about 3 million years after
    
19. What does our sun burn for energy? hydrogen
    
20. Compare a solar system to a galaxy  a solar system is a speck in comparison to a galaxy, as the solar system's sun is only one of millions in a galaxy
    
21. Compare a rocky solar system planet to a gas solar system planet.  Rocky planets have a crust and an iron core.  Gas planets are bigger in diameter, but are mostly made of atmosphere
    
22. analyze the size of the solar system  Our solar system is about 80 AU across if you consider Pluto's orbit, or 150 AU across if you consider the Kuiper Belt.
    
23. Why are stars different colors?  They have different surface temperatures
    
24. List the rocky planets. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
    
25. How many galaxies are there?  millions and millions
    
26. When did the big bang happen? 13-20 billion years ago
    
27. How many different types of stars are there?  lots, but we mostly classify them by mass
    
28. What ahppens to the earth when the sun gets sunspots. We can get northern lights or communication disruptions
    
29. How many different elements is the solar system made of? all the ones on the periodic table
    
30. When we scaled the solar system, what planet was the biggest, and how did it compare to the Sun? Jupiter, and only about 1/10th the size
    
31. When we scaled the solar system, if the Sun was the size of a basketball, how far away would Pluto be?  more than 1/2 mile away
    
32. Do you believe in aliens? Explain.  
33. Even if aliens do exist, would it be easy to communicate with them?  Explain. No, because the closest Galaxy is thousands of light years away.. communication would be highly delayed
    
34. What is a Maunder diagram, and why does it matter? It is a butterfly looking diagram that shows the cycle of where the sunspots were on the sun
    
35. When is our next solar maximum likely to be? 11 years from the last one, or 2011 or 2012
    
36. What is a butterfly diagram? see Maunder Diagram
    
37. What does a spiral galaxy look like from a) the top and b) the side:  a) from top it looks like  starfish, b) from the side it looks a bit like a wide-brimmed hat
    
38. How many AU wide is the solar system (including the Kuiper belt) 80 to 150
    
39. A light year is a measure of what? Distance 
40. The universe is (expanding, collapsing,or staying the same)
    Expanding