Astronomers and Stars Vocabulary

Question 1

Ptolemy

Answer 1

Claudius Ptolemy was a Greco-Egyptian writer, known as a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology.

Question 2

Copernicus

Answer 2

Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance mathematician and astronomer who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than the Earth at the center of the universe.

Question 3

Brahe

Answer 3

A Danish nobleman known for his accurate and comprehensive astronomical and planetary observations.

Question 4

Kepler

Answer 4

Kepler is a space observatory launched by NASA to discover Earth-size planets orbiting other stars.

Question 5

Galileo

Answer 5

Galileo Galilei, was an Italian astronomer, physicist, engineer, philosopher, and mathematician who played a major role in the scientific revolution during the Renaissance.

Question 6

Isaac Newton

Answer 6

Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist and mathematician who is widely recognised as one of the most influential scientists of all time and a key figure in the scientific revolution.

Question 7

Edwin Hubble

Answer 7

Edwin Powell Hubble was an American astronomer who played a crucial role in establishing the field of extragalactic astronomy and is generally regarded as one of the most important observational cosmologists of the 20th century.

Question 8

Ursa Major

Answer 8

One of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy, it remains one of the 88 modern constellations.

Question 9

Ursa Minor

Answer 9

Ursa Minor, also known as the Little Bear, is a constellation in the northern sky.

Question 10

Orion

Answer 10

Orion is a prominent constellation located on the celestial equator and visible throughout the world. It is one of the most conspicuous and recognizable constellations in the night sky. It was named after Orion, a hunter in Greek mythology.

Question 11

Canis Major

Answer 11

A constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere. In the second century, it was included in Ptolemy’s 48 constellations, and is counted among the 88 modern constellations.

Question 12

Cassiopeia

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Red Giant

Answer 13

A red giant star is a dying star in the last stages of stellar evolution. In only a few billion years, our own sun will turn into a red giant star, expand and engulf the inner planets, possibly even Earth.

Question 14

White Dwarf

Answer 14

A small very dense star that is typically the size of a planet.

Question 15

Main Sequence Star

Answer 15

A main sequence star is any star that is fusing hydrogen in its core and has a stable balance of outward pressure from core nuclear fusion and gravitational forces pushing inward.

Question 16

Supernova

Answer 16

An astronomical event that occurs during the last stellar evolutionary stages of a massive star’s life, whose dramatic and catastrophic destruction is marked by one final titanic explosion.

Question 17

Black Hole

Answer 17

A region of spacetime exhibiting such strong gravitational effects that nothing—including particles and electromagnetic radiation such as light—can escape from inside it.

Question 18

Parallax

Answer 18

A displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight, and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines.

Question 19

Light Year

Answer 19

A unit of astronomical distance equivalent to the distance that light travels in one year.

Question 20

Polaris

Answer 20

The brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor.