AS Flashcards
an area in the sky containing a group of stars in a pattern is called
constellation
a notable grouping of stars that do not contain a constellation
asterism
how long does it take our sun to revolve around the celestial sphere
365.25 days
when 3/4 of the moon’s lit surface faces the earth, and the lit part is shrinking, we say it’s a ___ moon
waning gibbous
who said “a great central fire controlled all motion in the universe”
pythagoras
claudius ptolemy proposed what idea that explained planetary retrograde motion
epicycles
Johannes Kepler created 3 laws concerning interplanetary motion. which one of the laws below is NOT one of Kepler’s
a. each planet’s path around the sun is an ellipse, with the sun at one focus of the ellipse
b. a planet speeds up when it is closer to the sun, and slows down when it is farther away
c. if you know how long a planet takes to orbit the sun, you can tell its average distance from the sun, vice versa
d. E=mc^2
d. E=mc^2
sir isaac newton created 3 universal laws of motion. which one of the laws below is NOT one of newton’s?
a. a body in motion tends to stay in motion, and a body at rest tends to stay at rest
b. the acceleration of an object is proportional to the force exerted on it
c. for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction
d. mass can neither be created nor destroyed
d. Mass can neither be created nor destroyed
shape of earth is most accurately described as
oblate spheroid
earth’s interior is made up mostly of
olivine
the earth consists of 3 layers, which of the following is NOT one of the layers
a. crust
b. magma
c. mantle
d. core
b. Magma
what percent of the atmosphere is nitrogen
78%
what percent of the atmosphere is oxygen
21%
what percent of the atmosphere are trace gases and mostly argon
1%
what layer of the atmosphere do we live, work, and play in
troposphere
the 2 times in a year where we have our longest and shortest days
summer and winter solstice
charged particles from the sun are captured by earth’s magnetic field, also known as what?
van allen belt
name for lighted moving “curtains” in our polar regions
aurora borealis
which “tide” occurs during full moons and new moons
spring tide
during a total lunar eclipse, what color is the moon?
deep red
what caused the “maria” on the moon
volcanos
what is the most widely accepted theory for the formation of our moon
large impact theory
primary source of the sun’s energy comes from
a series of nuclear fusion reactions
birthplace of stars
nebulae
stars are made up of mostly what two gases
hydrogen and helium
out of earth, mars, mercury, and uranus, which one is not a terrestrial planet
uranus
jupiter and neptune are examples of what type of planet
jovian
celestial bodies that orbit planets are called what
satellites and moons
distance between the sun and earth
93,000,000 miles
what is a light year
the distance it takes light to travel in one year
6 trillion miles equals what
one light year
the current most accepted theory for solar system’s origin is
the solar nebula theory
mercury shows no signs of a(n)
atmosphere
mercury’s temp ranges from ___ degrees in the daytime to ___ degrees at night
800 and -280
venus and earth have similar what
diameters
mercury and venus are only visible..
just before sunrise and/or just after sunset
the planet with the daytime summer temperatures most similar to earth’s is what
mars
the largest and fastest rotating planet is
jupiter
jupiter’s _____ is 20,000 times greater than Earth’s
magnetic field
saturn’s density is such that it
would float if you could place it in a very large ocean
saturn’s moon TITAN is the only moon in our solar system known to have a(n)
atmosphere
international astronomical union created 3 categories for celestial bodies orbiting the sun. which of the following is not one of those categories?
a. trans-kuiper objects
b. planets
c. dwarf planets
d. small solar system bodies
a. trans-kuiper objects
largest known object in the asteroid belt
ceres
between which two planets is the asteroid belt located at
mars and jupiter
what is the name of the theoretical sphere where billions of comet nuclei exist
oort cloud
what is this object found on the surface of a planet
a meteorite
a black hole is
a super dense object in space where escape velocity exceeds the speed of light
mnemonic for order of planets
my very excellent mother just served us some nachos
