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Unit 5 A&B Honors
Universe Component Terms 8th Grade Honors
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| theory | a unifying scientific explanation that explains a broad range of observations and is supported by experimental results |
| origin | point at which something begins or from which it comes |
| universe | all of space and the matter that is contained in it |
| big bang theory | a theory that says the universe began as a small point and expanded rapidly about 13.7 billion years ago |
| hydrogen | the most common element found in the universe; stars are made of it and use it as fuel |
| star | a self-luminous celestial body consisting of gas held together by its own gravity in which energy is generated by nuclear fusion |
| Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram | a plot of the surface temperature (color) of stars vs. their luminosity |
| luminosity | the intensity (strength) of light from a celestial body that can be used to identify the body's characteristics |
| main sequence | stable stars in the middle of their development that plot along a continuous diagonal belt on the H-R Diagram |
| nebula(e) | large clouds of gas and dust in interstellar space; the location of star formation |
| supernova | the death of a large star by explosion |
| black hole | the remains of a star or other massive object that collapsed under its own gravity to form a super-dense object with gravity so strong that light cannot escape its pull |
| galaxy | large grouping of stars in space that is held together by gravity |
| elliptical galaxy | galaxy with an oval shape, a bright center, no apparent internal structure or spiral arms, and very little dust or gas |
| spiral galaxy | galaxy with a bulge of stars in the center and very distinct long arms winding around the center |
| irregular galaxy | galaxy with very little symmetry that does not fit into any other category |
| sun | the medium-sized luminous star around which Earth and other planets revolve |
| Milky Way Galaxy | galaxy in which the Earth and Sun are located |
| spiral arms | streaming arcs of millions of stars swirling around the center of a spiral galaxy such as the Milky Way |
| galactic center | rotation center of a galaxy |
| dust lanes | bands of dust that appear as dark ribbons against the bright stars in a galaxy |
| solar mass | the mass of our sun, Sol, is used in astronomy as a standard unit to compare the size of other stars |
| speed of light | how fast light travels (i.e., 300,000 km/s) |
| scale model | A representation of an object that is accurate in its proportions to the actual object |
| light year | the distance that light travels in a year (10 trillion km) |
| proxima centauri | the nearest star to Earth (not counting our Sun) |
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