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Unit 2 Part 1
Vocabulary for Astronomy
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Astronomy | The scientific study of the universe; It includes the observation and interpretation of celestial bodies and phenomena. |
| Geocentric | Describes the concept of an Earth centered universe. |
| Heliocentric | Describes the view that the sun is at the center of the Solar System. |
| Retrograde motion | The apparent westward motion of the planets with respect to teh stars. |
| Ellipse | An oval. |
| Astronomical Unit (AU) | Average distance from Earth to the sun; 1.5 x 10^8, or 150 million kilometers. |
| Rotation | The spinning of a body, such as Earth, about its axis. |
| Revolution | The motion of one body moving around another, as Earth around the Sun. |
| Precission | A slow of Earth's axis that traces out a cone over a periodof 26,000 years. |
| Perihilion | The point in the orbit of a planet where it is closest to the Sun. |
| Aphelion | The place in the orbit of a planet where the planet is the farthest from the sun. |
| Perigree | The point at which the moon is closest to Earth. |
| Apogee | The point where the moon is farthest from the Earth. |
| Phases of the Moon | The progression of changes in the moon's appearence during the month. |
| Solar eclipse | An eclipse of the Sun; A solar eclipse occurs when the moon moves in a line directly between the Earth and the Sun. |
| Lunar eclipse | An eclipse of the moon; A lunar aclipse occurs when the moon passes through Earth's shadow. |
| Crater | The depression at the summit of a volcano or that which is produced by a meteorite impact. |
| Terrestrial planet | Any of the Earth - like planets, including Mercury, Venus, Mars, Earth. |
| Jovaian planet | The Jupiter - like planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune; These planets have relatively low densities and are huge gas giants. |
| Nebula | A cloud of gas and/or dust in space |
| Planetesimal | small, irregularly shaped body formed by colliding matter |
| Asteroid | A small, rocky body, which can range in size from a few hundred kilometers to less than a kilometer; The asteroids' orbits lie mainly between those of Mars and Jupiter. |
| Comet | A small body made of rocky and metallic pieces held together by frozen gases; Comets generally revolve about the sun in an elongated orbit. |
| Coma | The fuzzy, gaseous component of a comet's head. |
| Meteoroid | A small, solid particle that travels through space. |
| Meteaor | The luminous phenomenon obsreved when a meteoroid enters Earth's atmophere and burns up, popularly called a shooting star. |
| Meteorite | Any portion of a meteoroid that reaches Earth's surface. |
| Electromagnetic Spectrum | The arrangement of elctromagnetic radiation according to wavelength. |
| Photon | A small packet of light energy. |
| Spectroscopy | The study of the properties of light that depend on wavelength. |
| Doppler Effect | The apparent change in frequency of electrtomagnetic or sound waves caused by the relative motions of the observer. |
| Refracting Telescope | A telescope that uses a lens to bend and concentrate the light from distant objects. |
| Reflecting Telescope | A telescope that concentrate light from distant objects by using a concave mirror. |
| Radio Telescope | A telescope designed to make observations in radio wavelenghts. |
| Hubble Telescope | A space telescope launched into space in 1990 and is there to this day. |
| Space Shuttle | A space vehicle used to get from Earth and into Earth's obrit. |
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