Astronomy 1-3
Quiz yourself by thinking what should be in
each of the black spaces below before clicking
on it to display the answer.
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| field of view | the area visible in an image. usually given as the diameter of a region
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| scientific notation | the system of recording very large or very small numbers by using powers of 10
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| solar system | the sun and its planets, asteroids, comets, and so on
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| planet | a nonluminous body in orbit around a star, large enough to be spherical and to have cleared its orbital zone of other objects
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| star | a globe of gas held together by its own gravity and supported by the internal pressure of its hot gases, which generate energy by nuclear fusion
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| astronomical unit | average distance from Earth to the sun; 1.5x10^8 kilometers (93 million miles)
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| light year (ly) | unit of distance equal to the distance light travels in one year
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| galaxy | a large system of stars, star clusters, gas, dust, and nebulae orbiting a common center of mass
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| milky way | the hazy band of light that circles our sky, produced by the glow of our galaxy
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| milky way galaxy | the spiral galaxy containing our sun, visible in the night sky as the milky way
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| spiral arms | long spiral pattern of bright stars, star clusters, gas and dust. they extend across the disks of spiral galaxies
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| supercluster | a cluster of galaxy clusters
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| constellations | one of the stellar patterns identified by name, usually of mythological gods, people, animals, or objects. also the region of the sky containing that star pattern
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| asterism | a named grouping of stars that is not one of the recognized constellations
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| magnitude scale | the astronomical brightness scale. the larger the number, the fainter the star
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| apparent visual magnitude | a measure of the brightness of a star as seen by human eyes on Earth
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| flux | a measure of the flow of energy through a surface. usually applied to light
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| celestial sphere | an imaginary sphere of very large radius surrounding Earth to which the planets, stars, sun, and moon seem to be attached
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| scientific model | a concept that organizes thought about an aspect of nature without necessarily being literally true
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| precession | the slow change in orientation of the Earth's axis of rotation. one cycle takes nearly 26,000 years
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| zenith | the top of the sky above an observers head
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| north celestial pole | located directly above Earth's north pole
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| south celestial pole | located directly below Earth's south pole
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| celestial equator | lies halfway between the celestial poles
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| north point and south point | points on the horizon closest to the celestial poles
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| east point and west point | lie halfway between the north and south points, where the celestial equator always touches the horizon
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| angular distance | angle between two lines extending from your eye to the two objects
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| arc minutes | 1/60th of a degree measurement
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| arc seconds | 1/60th of an arc minute
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| angular diameter | angular distance from one edge to the other
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| circumpolar constellations | groups of stars that never rise or set
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| rotation | motion around an axis passing through the rotating body
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| revolution | orbital motion about a point located outside the orbiting body
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| ecliptic | the apparent path of the sun around the sky
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| zodiac | a band centered on the ecliptic and enciricling the sky
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| evening star | any planet visible in the sky just after sunset
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| morning star | any planet visible in the sky just before sunrise
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| vernal equinox | point where the sun crosses the celestial equator going northward
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| summer solstice | point where the sun is farthest north
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| autumnal equinox | point where the sun crosses the celestial equator going southward
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| winter solstice | point where the sun is farthest south
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| perihelion | Earth's closest point to the sun
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| aphelion | Earth's most distant point from the sun
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| sidereal period | how long the moon takes to circle the sky once and return to the same position among the stars
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| 27.32 days | how long does it take for the moon to orbit the Earth
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| sydonic period | a complete cycle of lunar phases
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| 29.53 days | how long is the moon's sydonic period
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| solar eclipse | the event that occurs when the moon passes directly between Earth and the sun, blocking your view of the sun
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| umbra | the region of a shadow that is totally shaded
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| penumbra | the portion of a shadow that is only partially shaded
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| annular eclipse | a solar eclipse in which the solar photosphere appears around the edge of the moon in a bright ring, or annulus. features of the solar atmosphere cannot be seen during this type of eclipse
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| lunar eclipse | the darkening of the moon when it moves through Earth's shadow
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| Saros cycle | an 18-year, 11 1/3-day period after which the pattern of lunar and solar eclipses repeats
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| first principles | something that seems obviously true and needs no further examination
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| geocentric universe | a model universe with Earth at the center, such as the Ptolemaic universe
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| Heliocentric universe | a model of the universe with the sun at the center, such as the Copernican universe
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| uniform circular motion | all motion in the heavens must be made up of combinations of circles turning at uniform rates
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| parallax | the apparent motion of an object because of the motion of the observer
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| retrograde motion | backward motion
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| epicycle | small circle making loops around a larger circle
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| deferent | the larger circle with loops rotating around
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| equant | point from which the offset Earth seems to be moving at a constant rate
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| paradigm | a commonly accepted set of scientific ideas and assumptions
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| ellipse | a closed curve around two points called the foci, such that the total distance from one focus to the curve and back to the other focus remains constant
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| semi-major axis | half of the longest diameter of an ellipse
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| eccentricity | a number between 1 and 0 that describes the shape of an ellipse; the distance from one focus to the center of the ellipse divided by the semi-major axis
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| empirical | description of a phenomenon without explaining why it occurs
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| hypothesis | a conjecture, subject to further tests, that accounts for a set of facts
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| theory | a system of assumptions and principles applicable to a wide range of phenomena that has been repeatedly verified
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| natural law | a theory that has been so well confirmed that it is almost universally accepted as correct
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| mass | a measure of the amount of matter making up an object
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| weight | the force that gravity exerts on an object
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| inverse square relation | a rule that the strength of an effect (such as gravity) decreases in proportion as the distance squared increases
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| spring tide | ocean tide of large range that occurs at full and new moon
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| neap tide | ocean tide of small range occurring at first- and third- quarter moons
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| circular velocity | the velocity needed to stay in a circular orbit
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| geosynchronous satellite | orbits eastward with the rotation of Earth and remains above a fixed spot - ideal for communications and weather satellites
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| center of mass | the balance point of the gravitational system
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| closed orbits | return the orbiting object to its starting point
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| escape velocity | the velocity needed to leave a body
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| open orbit | does not return the object to Earth
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