Space Terminology Flashcards

1
Q

What is a summer solstice?

A

The longest period of daylight, in a single day. In the northern hemisphere, it is June 21st.

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2
Q

What is a winter solstice?

A

The shortest period of daylight, in a single day. In the northern hemisphere, it is December 21st.

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3
Q

What is an equinox?

A

Two days every year in which the amount of sunlight is the exact same as the amount of darkness.

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4
Q

What is geocentric?

A

The original theory created by Aristotle, in which the sun and other planets revolve around the earth.

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5
Q

What is heliocentric?

A

A theory created by Copernicus which says that all of the planets, including the earth revolve around the sun.

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6
Q

What did Kepler discover?

A

Ellipses

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7
Q

What is an Astronomical Unit?

A

an AU represents the distance between the earth and the sun. Roughly 150 000 000 km

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8
Q

What is a Light Year?

A

The distance that light travels in 1 Year. about 9.5 trillion kilometers traveling at 300 000km/s.

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9
Q

What is a Nebulae?

A

Compilation of gas and dust, birthplace of a star)

75% H, 23% He and 2% O2

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10
Q

What is a Protostar?

A

A protostar is a stage in the lifetime of a star after the nebulae. As more dust and gas is sucked in, the temperature increases and it will begin to glow

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11
Q

What is the main sequence?

A

The middle of the H-R diagram in which 90% of stars, including our sun are

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12
Q

What is a Red/ Super Red Giant?

A

A star which is Medium/ low temperature and very bright

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13
Q

What is a white dwarf?

A

The stage after a super red giant. This is when the star runs out of fuel, specifically Hydrogen and Helium. Then it either becomes a black hole or a neutron star.

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14
Q

How are neutron stars/ black holes formed?

A

 When there is a lack of fuels to burn meaning lower reactions, the gravity gets the upper hand imploding then exploding the star sending out a sudden shock wave. If not entirely destroyed by the explosion a neutron star will be formed. A black hole might also be formed if the gravity is so strong, light can’t even escape it.

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15
Q

What is a constellation?

A

a group of stars that make a pattern in the sky

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16
Q

What is an asterism?

A

Unofficial star grouping

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17
Q

What is a galaxy?

A

grouping of millions of stars, gases and dust held together by gravity

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18
Q

What is an Asteroid?

A

Small rocky or metallic body travelling in space ranging in size

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19
Q

What is a comet?

A

described as dirty snowballs because they are made up of snow and nice the travel through space

20
Q

What is a meteoroid?

A

Small pieces of rick flying through space with no path

21
Q

What are meteors?

A

A meteoroid pulled in by earths gravity, but destroyed in the atmosphere

22
Q

What is a meteorite?

A

A meteoroid that enters earths atmosphere and hits the earth

23
Q

What is azimuth?

A

The direction of something using the degrees on a compass

24
Q

What is altitude?

A

the measurement of how high something is in the sky

25
Q

What is a zenith?

A

the highest point over head

26
Q

What is gravity?

A

Force of attraction between mases

27
Q

what is microgravity?

A

when the force of gravity is greatly reduced in space

28
Q

What are satellites?

A

An object that orbits a mass

29
Q

What is an example of a natural satellite?

A

moon

30
Q

What is an example of a artificial satellite?

A

ISS

31
Q

What is GPS?

A

Global positioning service, uses satellites to tell you your location on the planet.

32
Q

What is a propulsion system?

A

Where fuel is consumed and turned into the force of thrust, giving the rocket a way to move

33
Q

What is an ion drive?

A

 Instead of the normal types of fuel used, Ion Drives use xenon gas. The gas is charged and accelerated and released as exhaust. It is a lot weaker but lasts a very long time, and in space that force applied over a very long amount of time will make a large amount of speed.

34
Q

What are solar sails?

A

uses sunlight and electromagnetic energy to create energy. They are not being used yet.

35
Q

What is a refracting telescope?

A

A type of telescope that uses two lenses to gather and focus light

36
Q

What is a reflecting telescope/

A

A type of telescope which uses mirrors to gather and focus light

37
Q

What is electromagnetic energy?

A

Radiated energy that travels at the speed of light, but have difference wavelengths and frequencies

38
Q

What is the electromagnetic spectrum?

A

The complete range of wave lengths over which electromagnetic energy extends

39
Q

What is a radio telescope?

A

A telescope that collects radiation in the radio frequency from stars, planets, satellites, meteors and asteroids

40
Q

What is a space probe?

A

 Unmanned satellites or remote-controlled “landers” used to explore areas or objects in space that are too difficult or dangerous to send humans to

41
Q

What is triangulation?

A

 A method of indirectly measuring distance by creating an imaginary triangle between an observer and an object whose distance away is to be estimated

42
Q

What is a parallax?

A

 The apparent shift in position if a nearby object against a distant background when the object is viewed from two different positions

43
Q

What is a spectroscope?

A

An instrument used to measure the spectrum of a star

44
Q

What is the Doppler effect?

A

 The apparent change in frequency of sound, light and other waves as the observer and the wave source move towards or away from each other; also referred to as “Doppler shift”

45
Q

What is space junk?

A

 All pieces of debris that have fallen off rockets, satellites, space shuttles and space stations