Term | Definition |
crystallization | the process by which atoms are arranged to form a material with a crystal structure |
barred spiral | looks like a spiral galaxy with a bridge of stars connecting the arms. |
parallax | the apparent shift in the position of an object when viewed from 2 different places. uses background stars and position of earth. |
Spitzer | a telescope that collect radiation to create and image of the star |
Chandra | a telescope that collects x-Rays used to detect and study blackholes |
frequency | the number of waves that pass a point in given time |
satellite | any object that orbits another object |
Oort cloud | comet nursery that lives by Pluto, collection of baby comets |
coma | outer edges of comet nuclei that slush when heat is introduced |
tail | found when solar wind pushes coma away nuclei |
nuclei | frozen mass |
comet | dust, ice and rock following orbit |
meteorites | very rare occasion when meter hits earth's surface |
asteroids | rocky bodies between Mars & Jupiter - following orbit around the sun |
light year | the distance light travels in one year |
astronomical unit | the average distance between Earth and the sun |
Greenhouse Effect | ridiculously thick cloud cover, lets heat in but traps heat in, making it very hot |
aurora | colored lights at the poles where solar wind enters atmosphere |
sunspot | areas on the photosphere of the sun and surrounding area. suspected to tie to magnetic field, always in pairs. occur on 11 year cycle |
solar flare | column of plasma that escapes off the sun. found near sun spots |
corona | halo of light only visible during an eclipse. second layer of sun's atmosphere |
photosphere | visible surface of the sun |
convection zone | uses convection currents to carry heat/light |
solar prominence | loop of plasma that escapes from the surface of the sun |
protostar | baby star formed from whirlpools in nebula. once fusion starts, then it enters the main sequence. |
H-R diagram | uses a stars absolute magnitude and color to indicate where it is in it's life cycle |
1/10 up to 10x the size of the sun | medium size |
over 100x the diameter of our sun | supergiant |
spectroscope | takes star light and puts it through a prism to create a "special fingerprints" which is unique to the star |
reflecting telescope | uses curved mirrors to enlarge the image |
meteoroids | rock and metal bodies floating in space |
laws of conservation of science | matter cannot be created or destroyed, only change form |
core | site of nuclear fusion. hydrogen turns into helium |
spiral | stars arranged in a pinwheel fashion with empty space in the center |
open clusters | groups of stars with a loose disorganized appearance and contains no more then a few thousand stars. |
radiation zone | tightly packed are of the sun where particles are moving towards the surface |