Astronomy Final Exam Study Guide Part 2 January 2017
All of the exam review materials are online on the Documents page near the bottom. If you would like to participate in the exam review extra credit or just read through the answers, the link to the Google document is there as well. Remember to add your initials or first name for extra credit.
Below is the free response question on the exam. You can research and develop your answer in advance but you can’t bring any notes with you to the exam. You will write the answer in the form of an impromptu. This question will be worth 15% of your exam grade.
The question, "Are we alone in the universe?" has been around since the beginning of civilization.Despite huge leaps with technological advancements and refining scientific knowledge about life on Earth, we may not be much closer to finding an answer than our ancestors were. Programs such as SETI, the Arecibo message, or missions such as Voyager have done very little to prove or disprove the existence of life outside of Earth.
Develop a plausible argument for or against the existence of extraterrestrials and write an essay that supports this argument using evidence and examples you have learned in this class or from external sources. Incorporate at least 3 pieces of explained evidence, and use complete sentences and paragraph structure.
We did not take a test on astrobiology, but here are some things you should know from the unit:
How to interpret exoplanet light curves (the lab we did)
On our Searching for ET Notesheet: #1, 3, 4 and the top 5 places for life in the solar system
The 5 factors for planet habitability (from your handout)
REMEMBER TO RETURN YOUR PLANISPHERE ON WEDNESDAY or pay $2.50 if you lost it or want to keep it. Bring a #2 pencil for the Scantron part of the exam, and your red light or app to take the winter sky quiz. Also, please bring any astronomy magazines or telescope catalogs that I loaned to you.