astronomy quiz Flashcards
solar flares
Areas near sunspots caused by rapidly changing magnetic fields of sunspots. Do not last long.
Granules
Convective cells formed by heated matter rising, cooling, and sinking on the sun’s surface
sunspots
darker, cooler areas on the sun caused by a disturbance in the sun’s magnetic field.
Solar prominences
Slow ejections of gas that travel through the corona
Core
Hottest part of the sun, centre, up to 15 million degrees C, particles collide with each other and join together (nuclear fusion)
nuclear fusion
particles colliding and joining in the sun’s core
radiative zone
area surrounding the core, energy from nuclear fusion goes here first
convective zone
area surrounding radiative zone. energy from nuclear fusion goes here next, but it can take up to a million years to move between the two zones. hotter substances rise, colder ones fall, energy continues to move outward to next layer
photosphere
outermost, coolest area of the sun (after convective zone). temp. 5500 degrees celcius
chromosphere
warmer inner atmosphere of sun
corona
cooler, white-coloured outer atmosphere of sun
cluster
a group of galaxies pulled together by gravity
supercluster
a group of galaxy clusters
galaxy
an enormous, rotating collection of gas, dust, planets, stars, and other celestial objects
satellite
celestial object orbiting a planet
name 3 things that come from space exploration
freeze-dry tech, GPS, exercise equipment, protective padding on sports uniforms (designed for spacecrafts), air purification systems
pros and cons of studying space (2 each)
P: products, resources, information
C: cost, dangerous, environment
How does the sun cause the auroras?
particles from solar wind interact with our atmosphere to form the light
solar wind
the continuous flow of charged particles from the sun that flows through the solar system
rotation vs revolution
rotation: on it’s own axis
revolution: obriting around somethng else
geocentric model of solar system
sun and other planets travel around the earth
heliocentric model of solar system
solar system revolves around the sun
orbital radius
average distance between a celestial object of the sun (orbital radius of Earth is 1 AU)
orbital period
time to complete one revolution
why do we have seasons
Earth’s tilt - for half the year, the north gets more direct sun rays, so it is summer there. For the other half, north is facing away, so it is winter there (summer in south)
explain the phases of the moon
For a full moon, the Earth is between the moon and the sun so that for the side of the Earth where it is night, they can see a fully illuminated moon. one half of the moon is always fully illuminated, but we cannot always see that half. When the moon is between the earth and the sun, it is a new moon because the illuminated half is the half we cannot see at all.
high tide (what moon phase)
full moon
solar eclipse
can’t see the sun (moon blocks)
lunar eclipse
Can’t see the moon (it’s in earth’s shadow)
how far is one AU
earth to sun, 150 million km
how far is one lightyear
how far light can travel in a year, 10 trillion km
nebula
giant cloud of gas and dust in space. sometimes, new stars form here, and sometimes they die to form nebulas
how do planets form
materials in a nebula (gas and dust) keep colliding until the gravitation pull is strong enough for it to be a planet
protoplanet
planet smaller than 10 km in diameter
do planets move clockwise or counter clockwise
counter clockwise
two kinds of planets and which planets fit into each category
terrestrial planets: earth, mars, mercury, venus
Gas giants: Jupiter, neptune, saturn, uranus
what gases make up the gas giants
hydrogen (H2) and helium (He)
what is a dwarf planet
planet: dominates its orbit, enough gravity to pull it into a sphere shape, orbits a star
what and where is the kuiper belt
it is where the dwarf planets are, it lies beyond neptune’s orbit
asteroids
celestial bodies too small to be considered planets, but that still orbit the sun
what and where is the asteroid belt
it is composed of metals (asteroids), between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter
meteoroids
any piece of rock or metal smaller than an asteroid
meteors
meteoroids that have been pulled into the earth’s atmosphere (burning up)
meteorite
a meteor that did not completely burn up and that was able to hit the ground
apparent vs absolute magnitude
both brightness of the star: apparent vs actual
spectograph
splits light energy into patterns of colours to determine the elements in a star
how old is the solar system
approx. 5 billion years
what is the solar nebule theory
theory that the solar system was formed when the solar nebula, a massive cloud of dust and gas, began to contract.
evidence of the solar nebula theory
This theory explains why planets orbit the sun in the same direction, why they are all on the same plane surrounding the sun, and why the terrestrial planets are closer to the sun than the gas giants.
red shift
Red Shift is the phenomenon where the light emitted from planets becomes red, telling us that the planet is moving away from us.
big bang theory
all matter and energy in the universe expanded from an area that was smaller than the period at the end of a sentence.
evidence for big bang
Hubble’s discovery in the 1920s of a relationship between a galaxy’s distance from Earth and its speed; and • the discovery in the 1960s of cosmic microwave background radiation
