Astronomers and stars vocabulary

Question 1

Ptolemy

Answer 1

According to the Ptolemaic theory, the Earth is at the center of the universe.

Question 2

Copernicus

Answer 2

According to Copernicus’s theory, the sun is at the center of the universe.

Question 3

Brahe, Tycho

Answer 3

Tycho Brahe was a Danish astronomer, known for his accurate and comprehensive astronomical observations.

Question 4

Kepler, Johannes

Answer 4

Johannes Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, and natural philosopher.

Question 5

Galileo

Answer 5

Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de’ Galilei was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath, from Pisa.

Question 6

Newton, Isaac

Answer 6

Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, and author who is widely recognised as one of the greatest mathematicians, physicists and most influential scientists of all time.

Question 7

Hubble, Edwin

Answer 7

Edwin Powell Hubble was an American astronomer. He played a crucial role in establishing the fields of extragalactic.

Question 8

Ursa major

Answer 8

Ursa Major is a constellation in the northern sky, whose associated mythology likely dates back into prehistory.

Question 9

Ursa minor

Answer 9

Ursa Minor, (Latin: “Lesser Bear”) also called the Little Bear, in astronomy, a constellation of the northern sky, at about 15 hours right ascension and 80° north declination, and seven of whose stars outline the Little Dipper.

Question 10

Orion

Answer 10

Orion is a prominent constellation located on the celestial equator and visible throughout the world.

Question 11

Canis major

Answer 11

Canis Major, (Latin: “Greater Dog”) constellation in the southern sky, at about 7 hours right ascension and 20° south in declination. The brightest star in Canis Major is Sirius, the brightest star in the sky and the fifth nearest to Earth, at a distance of 8.6 light-years.

Question 12

Cassiopeia

Answer 12

Cassiopeia is a constellation in the northern sky named after the vain queen Cassiopeia, mother of Andromeda, in Greek mythology, who boasted about her unrivaled beauty.

Question 13

Red giant

Answer 13

A red giant is a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass in a late phase of stellar evolution.

Question 14

White dwarf (not a caucasian little person)

Answer 14

A white dwarf, also called a degenerate dwarf, is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter.

Question 15

Main-sequence star

Answer 15

In astronomy, the main sequence is a continuous and distinctive band of stars that appears on plots of stellar color versus brightness.

Question 16

Supernova

Answer 16

A supernova is a powerful and luminous stellar explosion.

Question 17

Black hole

Answer 17

A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing—no particles or even electromagnetic radiation such as light—can escape from it.

Question 18

Parallax

Answer 18

Parallax is the apparent displacement of an object because of a change in the observer’s point of view.

Question 19

Light-year

Answer 19

Light-year is the distance light travels in one year.

Question 20

Polaris (the star)

Answer 20

Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor.