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Astronomy
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| The Big Bang | Theory of how the universe began. Space started expanding/inflating |
| Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R) Diagram | Plot of stars luminosity vs. their colour/temperature. Blue star = hot temperature. Red star = cool temperature |
| Luminosity | The brightness of a star. How much energy it gives off. |
| Star | A cloud of gas that is undergoing nuclear fusion reaction in the core. |
| Nuclear fusion | A nuclear reaction that combines two Hydrogens into a He, for example. The process by which new elements are created. |
| Core of a star | The centre part of a star that is dense and hot. |
| Main Sequence | The evolution of most stars falls on the main sequence on the H-R diagram. Hot and bright stars eventually end up cool and dim. |
| Supernova | A huge, energy-releasing explosion of stellar material from a star. |
| Red Giant | A stage in stellar evolution towards the end of a star's life. The star has a very large radius and is relatively cool. |
| Red Dwarf | A stage in stellar evolution towards the end of a star's life. The star is relatively small and cool./dim. |
| White Dwarf | A stage in stellar evolution. The star is small and very hot/bright. |
| Black Hole | A massive star ends up collapsing under its own gravity and forms a black hole, whose gravity is so enormous that nothing, not even light can escape. |
| Neutron Star | A massive star ends up collapsing into a neutron star. All the electrons and protons combing into neutrons under the enormous gravity. |
| Nebula | A giant cloud of gas and dust. |
| Sun | A star that has planets revolving around it. |
| Planet | A rocky or gaseous celestial body that is orbiting a star. |
| Solar System | A sun and its planets/moons. |
| Phases of the moon | The moon reflects varying amounts of the sun's light as it orbits around the earth . |
| New Moon | The moon is between the earth and the sun and we do not see any reflected light. |
| Full Moon | The earth is between the sun and the moon and we see all the reflected light from the sun. |
| Constellation | A grouping of stars that we see in the night sky in the same location. |
| Aurora Borealis / Aurora Australis | The Northern /Southern Lights. Particles from the sun ionize atoms and molecules in the atmosphere, giving off light in the process. |
| Electromagnetic Radiation | Photon (particle of light) behaves as a wave with different frequencies/wavelenths. High frequency = high energy |
| Photon | particle of light travelling at 300,000,000 km/s |
| Electromagnetic Spectrum | The range of EM radiation from gramma rays (high energy) to radio waves (low energy) |
| Doppler effect | The perceived change in frequency of a wave because the wave source is moving relative to the observer or vice versa. |
| Blue Shift | The wave source is moving towards the observer (or vice versa) so the frequency of the wave appears to increase. |
| Red Shift | The wave source is moving away from the observer (or vice versa) so the frequency of the wave appears to decrease. |
| Frequency of a wave | How many times a wave is generated in one second. |
| Wavelength of a wave | The distance from the crest of a wave to the next crest. Or trough to trough. |
| Speed of a wave | The frequency of a wave times its wavelength is equal to its speed. |
| Winter Solstice/Summer Solstice | The shortest (Dec 21) /longest(June 21) day of the year on earth. |
| Spring/Fall Equinox | Two days of the year, March 21, September 21 where we have equal hours of day and night. |
| Astronomical Unit | The distance from the earth to the sun - about 150,000,000 km |
| Lightyear | The distance light can travel in one year - about 9.46 x 10^12 km |
| The age of the universe | Approximately 14 billion years. |
| The age of the sun | Approximately 4.5 billion years. |
| Inner Planets/Terrestrial Planets | Venus, Mercury, Earth, Mars |
| Outer Planets/Jovian planets | Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune,Uranus |
| Dark Matter/Dark Energy | Proposed theory that 27% of the matter in the universe does not interact with EM radiation. 70% of universe is made up of dark energy. |
| Lunar Eclipse | The earth passes in front of the full moon, blocking its reflected sunlight from reaching the earth. |
| Solar Eclipse | The new moon passes in front of the sun blocking its sunlight from reaching the earth. |
| Sunspots | Areas of magnetic fields on the sun |
| Solar flare | Solar prominence that erupts sending solar material into space |
| Solar prominence | Large loops of bright gas near sunspots |
| Corona | The sun's outer atmosphere, visible during a solar eclipse. |
| Asteroid | Chunks of rocky material, in various sizes, orbiting around the solar system. |
| Meteor | Asteroid that enters the earth's atmosphere burning up due to friction. Also known as shooting star. |
| Meteorite | Meteor that does not completely burn up in the earth's atmosphere and hits earth. |
| Kuiper belt | Belt of icy, rocky chunks orbiting the sun outside of Neptune. |
| Oort Cloud | A sphere of space dust and debris that extends to the very edge of the solar system. |
| Astronomy | The study of stars, planets, galaxies. |
| Cosmology | The study of the universe. |
Created by:
mkoulis
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