Earth and Space Flashcards
What is the Northern Hemisphere?
The half of Earth that is north of the Equator. (Usually top)
What is the Southern Hemisphere?
The half of Earth that is South of the Equator. (usually bottom)
Where is the North pole?
The point at the top of the world where all lines of longitude meet.
Where is the South pole?
The point at the bottom of the world where all lines of longitude meet.
Where on a globe can you find the equator?
The Earth’s Equator is the imaginary line that runs around the centre of the globe at 0 degrees latitude, at equal distance between the North and South Poles.
The Earth’s axis is tilted how many degrees?
23.5
How long does it take the earth to rotate once on its axis?
24 hours
How long does it take for the Earth to orbit the sun?
365 days (one year).
Explain why we get day and night.
We get day and night because the Earth rotates on an imaginary line called an axis. During daytime, your part of the Earth is facing the sun. As the Earth rotates you move away from the sun until eventually, the sun is no longer visible, and you get night.
Identify the position of the earth relative to the sun in winter vs summer.
Earth is farthest from the sun in July and is closest to the sun in January.
Why is the weather colder in the winter and hotter in the summer?
As the earth travels around the sun during the year it maintains this tilt. Because of this tilt, in the summer we (north of the equator) are slanted more directly towards the sun so it’s hotter. In the winter, we’re slanted away so the sun’s rays are less direct, making it colder.
What force keeps the moon in orbit around earth
Gravity.
Why does the moon look different at different times of the month
As the Moon orbits the Earth, the Sun lights up different parts of it, making it seem as if the Moon is changing shape.
Identify a new moon:
New moon occurs when the moon is on the same side of Earth as the sun. New moons generally can’t be seen.
Identify a a crescent moon:
The Moon as it appears early in its first quarter or late in its last quarter, when only a small arc-shaped section of the visible portion is illuminated by the Sun.
Identify a quarter moon:
The Moon looks like it’s half illuminated from the perspective of Earth, but really you’re seeing half of the half of the Moon that’s illuminated by the Sun ― or a quarter.
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Identify a full moon:
The phase of the moon in which its whole disc is illuminated.
Identify a gibbous moon:
The phase of the moon in which its illuminated part is greater than a semicircle and less than a circle.
What is the difference between a luminous and non-luminous object?
A luminous object is one that produces light. A non-luminous object is one that reflects light.
Luminous examples from our solar system:
The Sun
Non-luminous examples from our solar system:
The planets and moons.
How does a solar eclipse occur?
A solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, casting a shadow on Earth that either fully or partially blocks the Sun’s light in some areas.
How does a lunar eclipse occur?
During a lunar eclipse, Earth comes between the Sun and the Moon, blocking the sunlight falling on the Moon.
What is the difference between a partial and a total eclipse?
During a total solar eclipse, the moon covers the sun’s disk entirely, whereas in partial and annular solar eclipses, the moon only blocks a part of the sun.
What are the Names of the planet, in order?
Mercury (my
Venus very
Earth easy
Mars mnemonic:
Jupiter just
Saturn seems
Uranus useless
Neptune now)
Which planets are rocky?
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars (the 4 closest to the sun).
Which planets are gaseous?
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune (the 4 furthest from the sun).
Why is using a single scale for the size and distance of planets impractical
The distances between planets are vast. There are also huge differences in the size of each planet.
Examples of natural satellites:
The Earth (and planet) and the moon
Examples of artificial satellites:
The Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station.
How does distance from the source of gravity affect an object?
More separation distance will result in weaker gravitational forces. So as two objects are separated from each other, the force of gravitational attraction between them also decreases.
Why does the speed of comets change?
Comets go around the Sun in a highly elliptical orbit. Like all orbiting bodies, the closer they are to the Sun, the faster they move.
Place solar system, star, Universe , and planet in order of size
Planet, Star, Solar system, Universe
What galaxy are we in?
The Milky Way
Define the term Light Year
A unit of astronomical distance equivalent to the distance that light travels in one year.
Describe Ptolemy’s model of the Universe:
Ptolemy placed the Earth at the centre of his model. He thought that the universe was a set of nested spheres surrounding the Earth.
Describe Copernicus’ model of the universe:
This model positioned the Sun at the center of the Universe, motionless, with Earth and the other planets orbiting around it in circular paths
Why do scientific models change?
A good scientific model will be based on data collected from observations. They are not static but are edited and added to as new data is presented in the scientific community.
Describe the Big Bang theory of the creation of the Universe:
It is the idea that the universe began as just a single point, then expanded and stretched to grow as large as it is right now—and it is still stretching!
What evidence supports the Big Bang Theory?
The evidence supporting the big bang theory includes cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) and red-shift. CMBR is the energy leftover from the original explosion while red-shift shows that the universe is expanding.
Describe different ways to “explore” the Universe:
Satellite, telescope, space ship, space probe
Why is exploration of space difficult?
There isn’t air to breathe and it’s really stinkin’ big.
What is the difference between manned and unmanned exploration?
Manned=has people on board
unmanned=just machines
What are the advantages and disadvantages of manned exploration?
Advantages: You can fix things that go wrong, you don’t need to be able to control it remotely
Disadvantages: You have to ship supplies to keep the people alive.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of unmanned exploration?
Advantages: You don’t have to provide human necessities
Disadvantages: You can’t fix them easily.
Different types of telescope?
Ground telescopes and space telescopes
ground is good because easy access and easy to deploy
space is good because clouds dont block
ground bad because obstructions
space bad because its in space
