The exam covers Textbook: p244 - 292, Lecture notes: Extrasolar Planets & SETI p7 - 26
For Multiple Choice Section
Concepts for Essay Section I will ask you exactly ONE of these three sets of
questions from the following topics. You'll need to know them all to be fully
prepared. Full sentences are required, though tabular presentations are fine,
too.
[Extra solar Planets] How many stars have extra solar planets? How
have most of them been discovered? What is the typical characteristics
of these planets? Are these extrasolar planetary systems like ours? How might
their unusual characteristics be explained?
1) When was the first extra-solar planet found? How many are known to date?
2) How does metallicity (fraction of heavy elements) in a star correlated with it forming planets?
3) What is 'Center of Mass' with regard to binary star systems and planets? Where is it?
4) Where is the center of mass between the Earth and our Sun? Between the Sun and Jupiter?
5) Know the definitions of a Star (in terms of both physical description of its interior and mass)
6) What is a Brown Dwarf (in terms of solar mass and Jupiter mass)? A Planet (in Jupiter masses).
7) What is the Doppler Shift (or Effect)? How is it used with star spectra to detect planets?
8) What methods are used to find extra-solar planets? (know at least three different methods)
9) Which method is the most successful (has found the most planets)? Why is there a selection effect?
10) What are the properties of the planets found? (distance/mass) What's wrong with these planets?
11) What kinds of planets have been found around pulsars? Why can small planets be found this way?
12) How did Gas Giants get so near to their Sun's? How might those Suns be different than our Sun?
13) How sensitive are planet search methods? What in our Solar System might we detect now?
14) What is the Sun's Habitable Zone (HZ)? Does it change with time? What is a Continuous HZ?
15) Why is sufficient mass turning out to be an important characteristic for a planet to have life?
16) How have the Carbon-Cycles on Venus and Mars failed? How will Earth's fail in 2 bill. yrs?
17) What is required for a planet to have a magnetic field? How does the field protect a planet?
18) What stellar mass range is optimal for us to search for life-sustaining planetary systems? Why?
19) Why are very low mass stars bad for life? Why are very high mass stars bad for life?
20) What is the intelligent life controversy? What evidence suggests it might not be common?
21) What is the Drake Equation? What does it calculate. What range of values are obtained from it?
22) Which Drake Equation values are the most controversial, leading to great uncertainty?
23) What is Fermi's Paradox (or Question)? Does it prove absolutely (or not?) the existence of ETI?
24) Why use microwave/radio signals (2 reasons)? About what frequency is best and why?
25) Why send signals with prime numbers and binary notation? Is math knowledge universal?
26) What are SERENDIP, BETA and PHOENIX looking for? How do Kepler & Darwin differ?
27) Why does Darwin search for ozone? Where does ozone come from? Why not look for O2?
28) Why are the NASA/ESA missions more likely to succeed than the ETI searches?
[Intelligent Life.] Will natural evolution always create intelligent
species? Does evolution always advanced towards more complex species? Is intelligence
the pinnacle of evolution? Give at least 2 supporting pieces of evidence for your answer.
[Searching for ETI.] What spectral region is best for E.T.I. searches?
Specifically, which wavelengths (or frequencies) and give at least 2
reasons why it is best for searches. What mathematical patterns have been used in
the past? What assumptions are we making about E.T.I. (and math!) that mathematical
patterns should be used for initial contact?