Astronomy and Space Flashcards
Danish astronomer
Tycho Brahe
The blue planet (not earth)
Neptune
Moons of Neptune
Triton, Neried, others
Probe to Neptune
Voyager II
Neptune’s discoverer
Johann Galle, 1856
Neptune’s orbital period
165 years
The smallest planet
Pluto
Pluto’s moon
Charon
Pluto’s discoverer
Clyde Taumbaugh
Pluto’s orbital period
248 years
The second smallest planet
Mercury
American female astronomer
Maria Mitchell
Probe to Uranus
Voyager II
English astronomer royal
Sir Edmund Halley
English astronomer family
Herschel
French astronomer family
Cassini
German astronomer
Johannes Kepler
Greek astronomer (2nd century)
Ptolemy
Italian astronomer
Galileo (Galilei)
Polish astronomer
Copernicus
U.S. space station
Skylab
Russian space station
Mir (“peace” in Russian)
American astronomer
Edwin Hubble
Mars’ orbital period
1.9 years
Planet closest to sun, with no moons.
Mercury
Mercury’s oribital period
88 days
The “Greenhouse effect” planet
Venus
Probe to Venus
Venera (Russian)
Venus’ orbital period
225 days
The only planet not named after mythological figure
Earth
Lunar probe
Surveyor
The red planet
Mars
Mars’ moons
Phobos (larger) and Demos (smaller)
Uranus’ orbital period
84 years
Largest volcano in solar system
Mars’ Olympus Mons
Uranus’ discoverer
William Herschel, 1781
The largest planet (larger than all others put together)
Jupiter
Galilean moons
Io, Europa, Calysto and Ganymede
Probes to Jupiter
Voyager I & II, Galileo
Jupiter’s orbital period
12 years
The ringed planet
Saturn
Saturn moon with mysterious atmosphere
Titan
Probes to Saturn
Voyager I & II, Cassini
Saturn’s orbital period
29 years
Uranus moons names charecterized by what?
name after Shakesperean characters
First space walk
Alexei Leonov
Mars probes
Ranger, Pathfinder, Viking
Pathfinder’s mobile rover
Sojourner
First man in space
Yuri Gagarin
Closest major galaxy
Andromeda
Milky Way’s satellite galaxies
Large and Small Magellanic Cloud
Galactic cloud of dust and gas
Nebula
Nebula named for sea creature
Crab nebula
“Equine” nebula
Horse head nebula
“Dog Star”, brightest star in sky
Sirius
North star or pole star
Polaris
Closest star
Proxima Centauri
Belt between Mars and Jupiter
Asteroid belt (possibly a destroyed planet)
Theory of the expanding universe
Big Bang theory
The Earth’s magnetic belt
Van Allen belt
First man-made object to leave the solar system
Pioneer 10
One-person U.S. space program
Mercury
Two-person U.S. space program
Gemini
Three-person U.S. space program
Apollo
Apollo 11 landing module
Eagle
Space Shuttle names
Enterprise (atmospheric tests only), Columbia, Challenger, Atlantis, Discovery, Endeavor
1983 book chronicling the U.S. Space program
The Right Stuff
Comet that returns every 76 years
Halley’s comet
Comet that struck Jupiter in 1994
Shoemaker-Levy 9
Comet visible for several months in 1996
Hale-Bopp
Stars known as “seven sisters”
Pleiades
Man who played golf on the moon
Alan Shepard
Highly touted comet that fizzled in 1973
Comet Kahoutek
First American in space (suborbital)
Alan Shepard
Second American in space (suborbital)
Gus Grissom
Third American in space (three orbits)
John Glenn
First American woman in space
Sally Ride
First American to walk in space
Edward White
First American woman to walk in space
Kathryn Sullivan
First man to walk on the moon
Neil Armstrong
Second man to walk on the moon
Buzz Aldrin
Largest known asteroid
Ceres
Oldest U.S. astronaut, launched in 1998
John Glenn (77 yrs. Old)
First woman in space
Valentina Tereshkova
First space shuttle crew
Young and Crippen
First female space shuttle commander
Eileen Collins
First satellite, 1957
Sputnik
First U.S. satellite
Explorer I
First weather satellite
Tiros
First communications satellite
Echo I
First telecommunications satellite
Telstar
The sun’s halo
Corona
The sun’s “breeze”
Solar wind
Solar magnetic storms with 11-year cycles
Sun spots
Apollo 13 commander
James Lovell