Some Formulas:

a) Powers of Ten:

10 = 10⁰ ; 1,000 = 10³ ; one million = 1,000,000 = 10⁶ ; one billion = 10⁹ ;

0.001 = 10^-3 ; 0.000001 = 10^-6 ; ... etc

"nano-"(n) = 10^-9 "micro-"(m)= 10^-6 "milli-"(m) = 10^-3

"kilo-"(k) = 10³ "mega-"(M) = 10⁶.

b) Geometry:

Circles: Area=pr², Perimeter=2pr; Spheres: Volume = 4/3pr³, Surface Area = 4pr²

c) Laws of Motion:

Time=Distance/Speed or Distance = Rate x Time; 1 Year = 3.16 x 10⁷ sec;

1 AU = 1.5 x 108 km; 1pc = 3.26 ly = 206265 AU ;

d) Kepler's and Newton's Laws: P²(yr) = a³(AU) ; F = ma ; F_G = Gm₁ m₂ / r²

e) Light, Waves: Speed of light c = 3 x 10⁵ km/sec = 300,000 km/sec = 186,000 miles/sec

f) Telescopes: Light Gathering Power -> Area

g) Magnification = (focal length of the objective) / (focal length of the eyepiece)

h) Black-body radiation laws: F=s T⁴ ; l_max (meters)=2.9x10^-3 / T(Kelvin)

i) Kepler's Third Law for stars: (M₁+M₂) P² = a³

i) Parallax equation: d=1/p

General Knowledge: COVER ALL THE TOPICS IN THE SYLLABUS !
 

* Who were Aristotle, Ptolemy, Galileo, Kepler and Newton and what were their main contributions to science ?

* Constellation, the celestial equator, the ecliptic, the celestial poles, right ascension and declination.

* The synchronous motion of the Moon, the tides

* Kepler's three laws: elliptical orbits, law of equal areas

* Newton's four laws: Inertia; Action and Reaction; Motion and Gravity.

* Basic properties of light (speed, frequency, wavelength) (Gamma rays, x-rays, ultraviolet rays, light, infrared, radio).

* Black-body radiation laws: temperature vs. radiation

* Emission, absorption spectra, spectral line

* Origin, formation, structure of the Solar System; inner vs. outer planets

* Origin of the Earth's atmosphere, its structure, properties

* Plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanoes

* The surface of the Moon, lunar maria, highlands, craters

* Venus, Mars, Jupiter: motion, composition, atmosphere, temperature

* Asteroids, meteoroids, meteors, meteorites, comets, catastrophic impacts

* Chemical composition of matter in the Universe, the Sun, planets

* Parallax, apparent magnitude scale, absolute magnitude, luminosity

* Temperature of stars, spectral lines

* Types of stars, H-R diagram

* Main sequence stars, white dwarfs, red giants, supergiants

* Binary stars, stellar mass determination, mass-luminosity relation

* Star formation, giant molecular clouds, nebulae

* Age of star cluster - position on H-R diagram