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Astronomy Flashcards

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1
Q

The Big Bang theory

A

Theory that is widely accepted by scientists
Suggests that 15-20 billion years ago, all the matter in the universe was created at the same time and no more matter is being created now

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2
Q

What does the solar nebula theory account for

A

The vast physical differences among our planets

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3
Q

What is astronomy?

A

Is the study of space, and began thousands of years ago as people tried to explain the motion of the earth, sun, moon, planets and stars

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4
Q

Geocentric model

A

Earth centred
bases on the ideas of a Greek philosopher, Aristotle
Beloved for about 2000 years
Earth as at the centre of a huge sphere, and the sun, moon, and planets were located in the outer “rings” of the sphere

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5
Q

Heliocentric model

A

Sun centred
Developed around the early 1500s by a polish astronomer, Nicholas Copernicus
The sun was fixed and the earth revolves around the sun in a westward (counter clockwise) direction in paths called ORBITS
Model could explain retrograde motion

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6
Q

Who is Joannes Kepler

A

German mathematician

used calculations to conclude that the orbits of the planets are ellipses not circles

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7
Q

Who was Galileo?

A

Italian astronomer
Used an early telescope and was able to observer rings around Saturn, 4 moons around Jupiter, sun spots and mountains in the moon

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8
Q

Rotation

A

Is the spin of an object on its own axis (an axis is an imaginary straight line joining the north and South Pole)

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9
Q

Revolution

A

When an object orbits around another object

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10
Q

What causes day an night?

A

The earth’s rotation causes day and night. As the earth rotates counter clockwise W-E, only half the earth faces the sun at any given time

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11
Q

How much is the earth’s axis tilted

A

23.5 degrees

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12
Q

When is the summer solstice?

A

June 21

North Pole receives direct sunlight and has 24 hours of sunlight

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13
Q

When is the winter solstice

A

Dec 21

North Pole receives no sunlight and has 24 hours of darkness

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14
Q

When are the spring and autumn equinoxes

A

March 21 and Sept 21, every place on earth has 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night.

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15
Q

How are seasons caused?

A

Seasons are caused by the earth’s revolution around the sun and the unchanging tilt of the earth’s axis.

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16
Q

In what orbit does the moon revolve around the earth?

A

In an elliptical orbit

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17
Q

How long is the moon’s rotation and revolution?

A

While the moon is rotating it is also revolving that is why on earth we only see one face of the moon.
One rotation takes 27 1/3 days
One revolution take 27 1/3 days too
The moon turns around it’s center once for each time it moves around earth

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18
Q

How many tides do seashores have daily

A

4 tides everyday

2 high tides and 2 low tides

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19
Q

how long does a change in tide take?

A

6 hours and 12 minutes

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20
Q

what is a lunar eclipse?

A

when the earth blocks the reflected light from the moon

lunar eclipses last much longer and occur more often than solar eclipses

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21
Q

what is a solar eclipse?

A

when the moon blocks the sun’s light

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22
Q

how are lunar eclipses created?

A

on certain occasions the moon moves into the earth’s shadow. due to the size of the shadow cast by the earth, the moon can fit completely into the earth’s shadow

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23
Q

how does the moon look during a lunar eclipse?

A

has a dull red appearance

very small amounts of light reach the moon

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24
Q

why does the moon receive little amounts of light during a lunar eclipse?

A

the earth’s atmosphere “bends” some of the sun’s light onto the moon.
the atmosphere of earth acts like a prism separating and bending visible light
as a result, even when the moon is eclipsed, it is not completely blacked out

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25
Q

how long does a lunar eclipse last?

A

3-4 hours

26
Q

how are solar eclipses created?

A

a solar eclipse takes place when the sun, moon and earth are in a straight line, with the moon between the sun and the earth.

27
Q

how long does a solar eclipse last?

A

a few minutes in any one place

28
Q

what are the types of solar eclipses?

A
  1. total solar eclipse

2. partial solar eclipse

29
Q

what does the solar system contain?

A

this system is made up of the sun and all the objects that travel around it
contains planets, moons, asteroids, comets and meteoroids

30
Q

inner planets

A

first 4 planets: mercury, Venus, earth, mars
these planets are called the TERRESTRIAL PLANETS (they have very little hydrogen in their atmospheres and are made up of mostly rock and iron

31
Q

mercury

A

1/3 size of earth
no moons and has similar features to earth;s moon
no atmosphere
smallest

32
Q

Venus

A

mass and size similar to earth
thickest terrestrial planet
temperature very high because of atmosphere
atmosphere = mostly carbon dioxide (carbon dioxide allows the heat from the sun to warm the planet)

33
Q

earth

A

only planet known to host the living

only planet to have liquid on its surface

34
Q

mars

A

1/2 the size of earth and 2x the size of our moon

red colour on its surface from iron oxide

35
Q

the outer planets

A

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto
found just beyond the asteroid belt
because these planets are so large and far away from the gravity of the sun they retain a significant amount of gas in their atmosphere

36
Q

Jupiter

A

named after a mythical roman god
believed to be the “king of the gods” because it was the largest of the planets
known by its bright striping across its surface along with a dark spot

37
Q

Saturn

A

known as the “ringed planet”
however, most outer planets have rings
more than 20 moons (most prominent is called TITAN it is smaller than earth)
titan has an atmosphere even thicker than that surrounding earth

38
Q

Uranus

A

very calm atmosphere, made up of mostly gases

39
Q

Neptune

A

atmosphere similar to Jupiter’s
instead of large red spot it has a large dark spot
8 moons
blue colour from high amounts of methane in the atmostphere

40
Q

Pluto

A

smaller than our moon
very elliptical orbit
at certain times in its orbit it will cross the orbit of Neptune
temperature very cold (usually -225 degrees)
1 revolution: 249 years
1 rotation: 6.4 days

41
Q

satellites

A

any object that revolves around planets are called satellites. satellites can be natural or artificial. the moon is a natural satellite and a space probe would be an artificial satellite.

42
Q

asteroids

A

small rocky objects that never formed into planets. the ASTEROID BELT is a ring of asteroids located in a gap between the orbits of mars and Jupiter

43
Q

meteoroid

A

a meteoroid is a lump of rock or metal that is pulled through the earth’s atmosphere

44
Q

how are meteors caused?

A

a meteoroid rubs with the air, heats up and burns as a bright streak in the sky

45
Q

meteorite

A

if the meteor hits earth before it burns up, this is how craters are formed

46
Q

comet

A

a chunk of frozen ice and dust that travels in a very long orbit around the sun. they have fixed orbits.

47
Q

what is a galaxy?

A

a huge group of stars, gas and dust held together by gravity. they appear as 3 main types: elliptical, spiral and irregular.

48
Q

the milky way

A

spiral galaxy we are a part of. it appears as a “hazy” white band extending from the southern horizon and across the sky overhead.
a group of about 400 billion stars that completely encircles earth.

49
Q

what happens when a star dies?

A

when a star “dies you get a black hole.

50
Q

what is a black hole?

A

a black hole is a small, extremely dense object with a force of gravity so strong that nothing can escape from it (even light cannot radiate from its surface)

51
Q

what is a constellation?

A

an officially recognized group of stars that seem to form shapes and patterns. there are 88 constellations

52
Q

apparent brightness

A

depends mostly on distance
ex. a dim light that is close seem brighter (like our sun) than a bright light farther away
APPARENT MAGNITUDE

53
Q

true brightness

A

depends on the size and temperature
the brighter and hotter an object is, the brighter it would actually be
ABSOLUTE MAGNITUDE

54
Q

magnitude

A

star brightness is called magnitude

55
Q

star colour

A

stars have different colours which depends on the star’s temperature
hottest stars are BLUISH WHITE
coolest stars are REDDISH ORANGE
medium hot stars are YELLOW
when stars are “born” they are cool and red

56
Q

star age

A

as stars age, they get brighter and hotter
when stars get very old, they stay very bright, bu they get much cooler and larger (they become red giants VERY OLD STARS)
some red giants, the smaller ones, eventually shrink and get dimmer, but they get whiter as well (they become white dwarfs)

57
Q

nuclear fusion

A

the reaction that gives the sun and other stars their energy. nuclear fusion fuses the nuclei of atoms together. once the nucleus of an atom is changed a different kind of atom is produced.
it takes 4 hydrogen atoms to produce 1 helium atom. however the by product of this kind of reaction is a considerable amount of energy (heat + light)

58
Q

how many tons of hydrogen change to helium every second?

A

about 500 million metric tons of hydrogen changes to 495 million metric tons of helium
the remaining 5 million metric tons change to a huge amount of energy

59
Q

what unit is used to measure the distance in space?

A

distances in space are extremely large, so scientists use ASTRONOMICAL UNITS (Au) to measure distances in space

  • 1 Au is defined as the distance of the earth from the sun
  • 1 Au is about 150 000 000 km
60
Q

what unit is used to measure the distance in stars?

A

distances in stars are so much larger than solar system distances. they are measured in LIGHT YEARS

  • 1 light year is defined as the distance that light travels in one year
  • 1 light year is about 10 trillion km (10 000 000 000 000 km) (63 240 Au)
61
Q

retrograde motion

A

about once per year, some planets seem to moves backwards before continuing an eastward movement

62
Q

how do we get the “light side” and the “dark side” of the moon

A

we only see one side of the moon since it rotates on its axis and revolves around the earth at the same time. the side we see being reflected by the light is called the “light side” and the side that is not seen/illuminated is called the “dark side”

Science (13 decks)

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