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Astronomy Terms

Terms

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Asteroid
often refered to as minor planets
Ceres is the largest
Asteroid belt
Area between Mars and Jupiter in which most asteroids are found
Binary star
Two stars closely orbiting one another
Blue shift
motion induced shift in light wavelenth due to object moving closer to the observer
Cassini Division
Gap in Saturn's rings
Chromosphere
Sun's lower atmosphere
Coma
Head of comet
Chromatic abberation
Lens focuses different wavelengths of light differently causing blurs
Corona
Outer atmosphere of sun just above chromosphere
Comet
Composed of ice and dust; in elliptical orbit around sun
Escape velocity
Velocity needed to escape an objects gravitational pull
First man in space
Yuri Gagarin
First American in orbit
John Glenn
First woman in space
Valentina Tereshkova
First American woman in space
Sally Ride
First Space walk
Alexi Leonov
First American space walk
Ed White
First 2 men on Moon
Armstrong and Aldrin
Geocentric model
Earth is center of solar system
Great Red Spot
Giant storm on Jupiter
Heliocentric model
Sun at center of solar system (Copernicus founded)
Meteorite
Metreoid that lands on Earth's surface
Oort Cloud
Area that comets originate on the outer edge of the solar system
Parsec
3.3 Light Years
Penumbra
Shadow formed by a partial eclipse
Precession
Slow change in the direction of the axis of a spinning object
Pulsar
Object that emits radiation in the form of rapid pulses due to rapid rotation of the neutron star
Quasar
Starlike radio source (aka QSO - quasi stellar object)
Rotation
Spinning of a body around an axis
Siderial day
The time needed for a star on the celestial sphere to make one complete rotation in the sky
Sirius
Brightest star
Solar Day
Period of time from which the sun is directly over head until the next time the sun is directly overhead
Sunspot
Blemish on the sun's surface thats cooler than the surrounding areas
Summer Solstice
Point where the sun is at it's northernmost point above the equator
Supernova
Explosive death of a star
Synchronous orbit
State when period of rotation is exactly equal to orbital period. The moon is in synchronous orbit and thus presents the same face towards the earth at all times
Tail
Component of a comet that streams away from the main body, may be composed of dust or ionized gasses
Terrestial planet
Inner 4 planets: outer 5 planets called Jovian planets
Umbra
Shadow of total eclipse
Van Allen belts
Two doughnut shaped regions of magnetically trapped particles high above the Earth's atmosphere
Mars's moons
Phobos and Demios
Jupiter's moons
Io
Europa
Ganymede
Callisto
more
Largest moon in solar system
Ganymede
Saturn's moons
Titan Mimas
Enceladus Tethys
Dione Rhea
Iapetus more...
2nd largest moon in solar system
has atmosphere
Titan
Uranus's moons
Miranda
Ariel
Umbriel
Titania
Oberon
More...
Neptune's moons
Triton
Proteus
more...
Pluto's moon
Charon

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