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Astronomy Part 2
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Photosphere | a sphere of light or radiance |
Chromospere | a scarlet, gaseous envelope surrounding the sun outside the photosphere, from which enormous quantities of hydrogen and other gases are erupted |
Corona | a white or colored circle or set of concentric circles of light seen around a luminous body, especially around the sun or moon |
Solar Wind | an emanation from the sun's corona consisting of a flow of charged particles, mainly electrons and protons, that interacts with the magnetic field of the earth and other planetary bodies |
Sunspot | one of the relatively dark patches that appear periodically on the surface of the sun and affect terrestrial magnetism and certain other terrestrial phenomena |
Prominence | an eruption of a flamelike tongue of relatively cool, high-density gas from the solar chromosphere into the corona where it can be seen during a solar eclipse or by observing strong spectral lines in its emission spectrum |
Solar Flare | to burn with an unsteady, swaying flame, as a torch or candle in the wind |
Aurora | a radiant emission from the upper atmosphere that occurs sporadically over the middle and high latitudes of both hemispheres in the form of luminous bands |
Nuclear Fusion | a thermonuclear reaction in which nuclei of light atoms join to form nuclei of heavier atoms, as the combination of deuterium atoms to form helium atoms |
Constellation | any of various groups of stars to which definite names have been given, as Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Boötes, Cancer, Orion |
Binary Star | a system of two stars that revolve about their common center of mass |
Light-Year | the distance traversed by light in one mean solar year |
Apparant Magnitude | the magnitude of a star as it appears to an observer on the earth |
Absolute Magnitude | the magnitude of a star as it would appear to a hypothetical observer at a distance |
Main-Sequence Star | any star lying on a diagonal band that extends from hot stars of high luminosity to cool stars of low luminosity |
Red Giant | a star in an intermediate stage of evolution, characterized by a large volume, low surface temperature, and reddish hue |
Supergiant | an exceptionally luminous star whose diameter is more than 100 times that of the sun, as Betelgeuse or Antares |
Cepheid Variable | a variable star in which changes in brightness are due to alternate contractions and expansions in volume |
Nova | a star that suddenly becomes thousands of times brighter and then gradually fades to its original intensity |
Nebulae | a cloud of interstellar gas and dust |
Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram | the graph showing the absolute magnitude plotted against the surface temperature for a group of stars |
Protostar | an early stage in the evolution of a star |
Supernova | the explosion of a star |
White Dwarf | a star that has undergone gravitational collapse and is in the final stage of evolution for low-mass stars |
Neutron Star | an extremely dense, compact star composed primarily of neutrons, especially the collapsed core of a supernova |
Pulsar | one of several hundred known celestial objects that emit pulses of radiation |
Black Hole | a theoretical massive object whose gravitational field is so intense that no electromagnetic radiation can escape |
Galaxy | a large system of stars held together by mutual gravitation and isolated from similar systems by vast regions of space |
Hubble's Law | the law that the velocity of recession of distant galaxies from our own is proportional to their distance from us |
Big Bang Theory | a theory that deduces a cataclysmic birth of the universe (big bang) from the observed expansion of the universe, cosmic background radiation, abundance of the elements, and the laws of physics |