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Astronomy Flashcards

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
how long does a lunar eclipse last?
3-4 hours
26
how are solar eclipses created?
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
how long does a solar eclipse last?
a few minutes in any one place
28
what are the types of solar eclipses?
1. total solar eclipse | 2. partial solar eclipse
29
what does the solar system contain?
this system is made up of the sun and all the objects that travel around it contains planets, moons, asteroids, comets and meteoroids
30
inner planets
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
mercury
1/3 size of earth no moons and has similar features to earth;s moon no atmosphere smallest
32
Venus
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
earth
only planet known to host the living | only planet to have liquid on its surface
34
mars
1/2 the size of earth and 2x the size of our moon | red colour on its surface from iron oxide
35
the outer planets
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
Jupiter
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
Saturn
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
Uranus
very calm atmosphere, made up of mostly gases
39
Neptune
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
Pluto
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
satellites
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
asteroids
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
meteoroid
a meteoroid is a lump of rock or metal that is pulled through the earth's atmosphere
44
how are meteors caused?
a meteoroid rubs with the air, heats up and burns as a bright streak in the sky
45
meteorite
if the meteor hits earth before it burns up, this is how craters are formed
46
comet
a chunk of frozen ice and dust that travels in a very long orbit around the sun. they have fixed orbits.
47
what is a galaxy?
a huge group of stars, gas and dust held together by gravity. they appear as 3 main types: elliptical, spiral and irregular.
48
the milky way
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
what happens when a star dies?
when a star "dies you get a black hole.
50
what is a black hole?
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
what is a constellation?
an officially recognized group of stars that seem to form shapes and patterns. there are 88 constellations
52
apparent brightness
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
true brightness
depends on the size and temperature the brighter and hotter an object is, the brighter it would actually be ABSOLUTE MAGNITUDE
54
magnitude
star brightness is called magnitude
55
star colour
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
star age
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
nuclear fusion
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
how many tons of hydrogen change to helium every second?
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
what unit is used to measure the distance in space?
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
what unit is used to measure the distance in stars?
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
retrograde motion
about once per year, some planets seem to moves backwards before continuing an eastward movement
62
how do we get the "light side" and the "dark side" of the moon
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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