Science: Astronomy
FEATURED SET
These cards are fun way to help get you started on the road to learning astronomy. They cover some of the basic facts, terms, and concepts of the subject. Astronomers use these words to describe some of mechanics of the universe. Astronomy has led to some of the most important discoveries of the modern world. When people look up into the sky and wonder about the stars, astronomy has worked to find the answers. With the help of physics, astronomy has given us such insights like Einstein’s theory of relativity, tools like the Hubble Telescope, and even the recent discovery of the Higgs Boson particle. Learning about how the universe works helps us learn more about ourselves. Who knows, you could find the next big discovery.
Cards
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Moon | Satellites that orbit around planets. | |
| Asteroids | Small Rocks and Metal Bodies that orbit around the sun | |
| Comets | Large chunks of ice, dust and rock that orbit the sun (size: 100 m-400 m) | |
| Planets | Large Celestial Objects that orbit around the sun. (8 in our solar system) largest in its orbit | |
| Astronomy | The study of everything that is beyond Earth | |
| Universe | Everything that exists. Made up of billions of galaxies. | |
| Celestial Objects | Anything we see in space | |
| Stars | Massive bodies composed of hot gasses. Radiate large amounts of energy. | |
| Outer Planet | Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. Made up of gas | |
| Meteors | Bright streaks of light associated with meteoroids entering earths atmosphere | |
| Meteoroid | A small piece of metal or rock | |
| Meteorites | A meteor that survives its passage through the earths atmosphere such that part of it strikes the ground. | |
| Constellations | A group of stars that from the earth resemble a recognizable form | |
| Galaxies | A collection of hundreds of billion of stars held together by gravity | |
| Luminous | Generates it's own light | |
| Non-luminous | Does not generate its own light | |
| Inner Planets | Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. All terrestrial planets and made up of rock. | |
| Dwarf Planet | A celestial object that is no longer the largest object in its orbit | |
| Core | 15 000 000 Degrees C. Fusion occurs here. | |
| Fusion | Occurs in the core. Hydrogen atoms collide and join together releasing energy in the form of light and heat. | |
| Radiative Zone | First layer that surrounds the core. Energy released from the core can take up to a million years to pass through te radiative zone | |
| Convection Zone | Layer after radiative zone. Hotter substances rise and colder substances fall. | |
| Photosphere | Sun's surface. 5 500 degrees Celsius. Light and other types of radiation escape here. | |
| Chromosphere | Inner Atmosphere of sun. About 65000 degrees Celsius. | |
| Corona | Outer Atmosphere of sun. Gleaming whit, halo like. Extends millions of kilometers into space. | |
| Sunspots | Dark Spots appearing on the suns surface that are cooler than the area surrounding them. | |
| Solar Flare | Large Quantities of gas and charged particles are released. Produced by rapidly changing magnetic fields around sunspots. Only last a short period of time | |
| Solar Prominences | Slow, low energy ejections of gas that travels through the corona. | |
| Astronomical Unit | Average distance between sun and earth. Approximately 150 000 000 km. | |
| Rotation | Earth makes one full rotation everyday. Goes west to east. | |
| Revolution | Earth revolves around the sun on an elliptical path. Orbits the sun once every 365.25 days. | |
| Seasonal Change | Caused by the earths change in tilt. (ex. When the northern hemisphere is tilted towards the sun it is summer in this hemisphere. | |
| Why do we only see one side of the moon? | The moon and the earth are in synchronized orbits. Only half the moon is luminaries by the sun at all times. | |
| Phases of the moon | New moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, third quarter, waning crescent. | |
| Eclipse | Caused the the position of one celestial body blocking/darkening another | |
| Solar Eclipse | The sun is blocked from earth by the moon | |
| Lunar Eclipse | When the earth is positioned between the sun and the moon. Causing a shadow on the moon. | |
| Elliptic | The path taken by the sun. As it appears to us on earth. | |
| Planetary Motion | The orbit a planet takes around the sun. | |
| Retrograde Motion | When a planet appears to change its direction/path in the sky relative to background stars. They slow, reverse and the loop across the sky. | |
| Polaris | North Star. If earths axis from north pole extends into space it would pass very close to this star. | |
| Azimuth | The distance measured north along the horizon to a point directly below a celestial object. North is 0, East is 90, South is 180, West is 270 | |
| Altitude | The angular height of a celestial object measured from the horizon | |
| Light Year | The distance that light travels in a year. 9.46 x 10^12 km. | |
| Star Brightness | Depends on luminosity, apparent magnitude and absolute magnitude | |
| Luminosity | Total amount of energy produced by a star per second. Sun-1 Sirius-22 | |
| Apparent Magnitude | Brightness of a star as seen from earth, smaller numbers indicate more apparent brightness. | |
| Absolute Magnitude | Indicates apparent magnitude of a star if viewed from 33 light years away. | |
| Star Color and temperature from cold to hot | Red, orange, yellow, white, blue. |