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Okay, this is my first year in Division C Astronomy(although I've been doing related topics since 5th grade) and I won first place; my school managed to be able to go to states: I've never been to states. So, I was wondering what type of questions do they ask at states? Is it any different than the regional tests - just a little more advanced? Or, do they focus more on the DSO's?

dreaminghigh wrote:Okay, this is my first year in Division C Astronomy(although I've been doing related topics since 5th grade) and I won first place; my school managed to be able to go to states: I've never been to states. So, I was wondering what type of questions do they ask at states? Is it any different than the regional tests - just a little more advanced? Or, do they focus more on the DSO's?

Unfortunately, I can't tell you from personal experience, since this is my first year on my school's state\regional team. My brother\partner won state Astronomy last year, though, and he told me a bit about what's on the test. It was a PowerPoint with a heavy focus on physics questions (calculating a period or distance, for example). He and his partner only got between about 30 seconds to two minutes per slide (there were about 30 slides). There were also quite a few questions about spectra, I think.

Congrats on making state, too.

I took the PA Central Astronomy test yesterday, and I thought it was a very good test for the Regional level. It had a little bit of everything: identifying DSOs, answering questions about the DSOs, supernovae, AGNs, and the obligatory math (recessional velocity, absolute mag of a Cepheid, Hubble's constant, and mass of a binary system, if I remember correctly).

My partner and I confused ourselves with one question that said "Which DSO pictures are composite images?" because we saw 3 composite images, but the question was worth 2 points. We ended up just writing down two of the three we thought were composites.

AlphaTauri wrote:My partner and I confused ourselves with one question that said "Which DSO pictures are composite images?" because we saw 3 composite images, but the question was worth 2 points. We ended up just writing down two of the three we thought were composites.

On my regional test, we had a question about image types, too, but our choices were much more complicated. Somehow, though, we got them correct... maybe the best thing to do in that situation is go by instinct.

I'm so excited for states!! but does anyone have any idea what the test will be like for this (so I can have some idea what to study) please and thanks!

Must... resist urge... to help Stroudsburg person....

Oh well. If you were one of the people on your team that took the regional test (and 8th is pretty decent, good job), something like that should be about what you would expect at states. Probably more advanced, with more calculations and in-depth stuff about AGN's and quasars, but other than that, it was a well-written test. Check the Astronomy Wiki for the basis of what you might expect if you're still a little confused.

EASTstroudsburg13 wrote:Must... resist urge... to help Stroudsburg person....

Oh well. If you were one of the people on your team that took the regional test (and 8th is pretty decent, good job), something like that should be about what you would expect at states. Probably more advanced, with more calculations and in-depth stuff about AGN's and quasars, but other than that, it was a well-written test. Check the Astronomy Wiki for the basis of what you might expect if you're still a little confused.

that's hilarious but thanks! and hi east stroudsburg person! nice second place! Try again next year maybe you'll make it, you're so close this year!

Thanks. It's just those blasted Athens people I can't seem to overcome. And after looking over the results, I've started to realize exactly how close we were. I'm hoping next year we get to the point where we beat Lehighton.

What sort of calculations might involve AGNS and quasars? So far all of the questions I've come across for those have been theoretical, no-math questions.
Also, same question for spectra; are there any equations for determining what spectral lines would be most prominent in types of stars and if so what sort of equations/formulas do you need to know for this?

Thanks

Different classes of stars (O, B, A, F, G, K, M) have different spectral "patterns" depending on their class: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_classification