astronomy Flashcards
Ptolemy
he wrote a book that combined all the ancient knowledge of astronomy he could find
Copernicus
he published a new theory that would eventually revolutionize astronomy
Tycho Brahe
he used several large tools to make the most detailed astronomical observations that had been recorded so far
Johannes Kepler
he he didn’t agree with Brahe’s theory after analyzing the data he announced that all planets revolve around the sun elliptical orbits and that the sun is not in the exact center of the orbits
Galileo
he became one of the first people to use a telescope to observe objects in space
Isaac Newton
he showed that all objects in the universe attract each other through gravitational force
Edwin Hubble
proved that other galaxies exist beyond the milky way
Ursa Major
it is a constellation in the northern sky whose associated mythology likely dates back into prehistory
Ursa minor
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.
Orion
is a prominent constellation located on the celestial equator and visible throughout the world.
Canis major
Canis Major is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere. In the second century, it was included in Ptolemy’s 48 constellations,
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.
Red giant
is a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass in a late phase of stellar evolution. The outer atmosphere is inflated and tenuous
white dwarf
A white dwarf is what stars like the Sun become after they have exhausted their nuclear fuel. Near the end of its nuclear burning stage
main sequence star
is a continuous and distinctive band of stars that appears on plots of stellar color versus brightness.
supernova
is a powerful and luminous stellar explosion. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion
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.
parallax
is the apparent displacement of an object because of a change in the observer’s point of view. The video below describes how this effect can be observed in an everyday situation
light year
is the distance light travels in one year. Light zips through interstellar space at 186,000 miles (300,000 kilometers) per second and 5.88 trillion miles (9.46 trillion kilometers) per year.
Polaris star
is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star.
