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Conceptual Questions
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1

What do the orbits of planets and satellites tell us about the rotation of the cloud that formed the solar system?
2

Why are radio and infrared radiation more useful than visible light in studying molecular clouds?
3

Describe the structure of a giant molecular cloud.
4

What evidence do we have that stars form in the cores of giant molecular clouds?
5

Suppose there were no magnetic fields in interstellar space. What effect might this have on the number of young stars in the galaxy?
6

Why does a collapsing cloud remain cool as long as it is transparent, but begin to heat up when it becomes opaque?
7

What halts the collapse of a protostar?
8

What happens to the shape of a protostar as it collapses? Why does this change in shape occur?
9

Where in an H-R diagram are young stars located when they first become observable using visible light? Why aren't they visible at an earlier stage of their careers?
10

What evidence do we have that young stars are surrounded by dusty disks rather than complete spherical shells of dust?
11

What role does friction play in determining the distribution of matter and angular momentum within rotating disks about young stars?
12

What is the relationship between Herbig-Haro objects and jets of gas from young stars?
13

How do we know that the formation of the solar system took place in only about 100 million years?
14

How is it possible to estimate the mass of the solar nebula?
15

Describe the steps in the process through which microscopic solid grains accumulated to form objects a few thousand kilometers in diameter.
16

What evidence do we have that the planets formed as a result of collisions of planetesimals?
17

What evidence do we have that the final stage of the formation of the solar system consisted of collisions between planet-sized objects?





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