MAGO 28 vocab # 3

Question 1

Eclipsing binary

Answer 1

A variable star whose changes in brightness are caused by periodic eclipses of two stars in a binary system.

Question 2

Galaxy

Answer 2

A grp of millions of stars held together by gravity

Question 3

Elliptical galaxies

Answer 3

Unlike flat spiral galaxies with organization and structure, they are more three-dimensional, without much structure, and their stars are in somewhat random orbits around the center.

Question 4

Disproves steady state theory

Answer 4

Theory that the universe originated from the instant expansion of an extremely small agglomeration of matter of extremely high density.

Question 5

diffuse nebulae

Answer 5

extended and contain no well-defined boundaries

Question 6

dark nebulae

Answer 6

opaque clouds blocking light from luminous objects behind them

Question 7

coal sacks

Answer 7

a dark nebula in the southern constellation Crux, whose dust particles obscure light from Milky Way stars behind it.

Question 8

star clusters

Answer 8

groups of stars. Two types of star clusters can be distinguished

Question 9

Open cluster/Galactic cluster

Answer 9

group of up to a few thousand stars that were formed from the same giant molecular cloud and have roughly the same age. More than 1,100 open clusters

Question 10

globular clusters

Answer 10

spherical collection of stars that orbits a galactic core as a satellite. Globular clusters are very tightly bound by gravity

Question 11

Quasars

Answer 11

extremely luminous and were first identified as being high redshift sources of electromagnetic energy