Ch 4 - Vocabulary

Question 1

What do we call the study of the stars, planets, and all other heavenly bodies?

Answer 1

Astronomy

Question 2

What do we call scientists who study outer space?

Answer 2

astronomers

Question 3

What do we call an area containing no air or any other matter?

Answer 3

a vacuum

Question 4

What do we call the force that resists motion?

Answer 4

friction

Question 5

What do we call a star system containing from millions to billions of stars?

Answer 5

a galaxy

Question 6

What do we call the cluster of about 40 galaxies that the Milky Way belongs to?

Answer 6

the Local Group

Question 7

What do we call a spiral galaxy in which the spiral arms are attached to a straight “bar” that runs though the centre of the galaxy?

Answer 7

a barred spiral

Question 8

What do we call large clouds of gas and space dust?

Answer 8

nebulae

Question 9

What do we call a group of stars which seems to outline the shape of a person, an animal, or something else?

Answer 9

a constellation

Question 10

What do we call the imaginary line around which the earth rotates that stretches from pole to pole through the interior of the earth?

Answer 10

the axis of rotation

Question 11

What do we call the central, hotest region of the sun?

Answer 11

the core

Question 12

What do we call the sun’s visible surface (the sphere of light)?

Answer 12

the photosphere

Question 13

What do we call the darker spots or blotches on the sun’s surface that slowly move across the surface as the sun rotates?

Answer 13

sunspots

Question 14

What do we call the event that occurs when the earth’s moon passes between the sun and the earth, temporarily blocking the sun’s rays?

Answer 14

a solar eclipse

Question 15

What do we call the part of the sun’s atmosphere closest to the sun’s surface?

the sphere of colour that is delicate pink or orange

Answer 15

the chromosphere

Question 16

What do we call the haze of very hot gases that extends hundreds of thousands of miles from the surface of the sun?

the hottest region of the sun’s atmosphere

Answer 16

the corona

Question 17

What do we call a stream of high-speed particles that escape from the corona?

Answer 17

solar wind

Question 18

What do we call the distance light travels in one year?

equal to about 9.5 trillion kilometres or 5.9 trillion miles

Answer 18

a light year

Question 19

What do we call it when a star suddenly flares up to many times its original brightness?

Answer 19

a nova

Question 20

What do we call the violent explosion of a star?

Answer 20

a supernova

Question 21

What do we call huge loops of cooler gas erupting thousands of miles from the chromosphere tha are suspended in space by the sun’s magnetic field?

Answer 21

prominences

Question 22

What do we call a group of two stars that circle around each other?

Answer 22

a binary star

Question 23

Which word do astronomers use to refer to a star’s brightness?

Answer 23

magnitude