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Vocabulary for Astronomy

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