New Deck Flashcards
What is an Atronomical unit?
The distance between earth and the sun.
What is the definiton of a light year?
The distance light travels in a year.
What is a Parsec?
Distance equal to one second of an arc.
(3.26 times the number of Light years)
What is the definition of a Nebula?
A cloud of gas and dust in the sky.
What is a Constellation?
Group of stars which a name is given.
What is the definition of Planetesimal?
One small celestial body that was fused toghether to form the plantes of the solar system.
What is Protoplanetary?
Pertaining to a protoplanet.
What is a Nuclear fusion?
A nuclear reaction which two light nuclei combine to form a heavier nuclei. The process releases excess energy from the reaction.
Define Terrestrial planets.
Any of four plantes, Mercury, Venus, Earth, or Mars, that are closest to the sun and similar in size and density.
Define Gas giant planets.
A type of planet composed of almost entirely of gas. Gas gian planets are large. Examples are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
Define a comet?
A celestial body rotating the sun conssisting of a central mass surrounded by an envelope of dust and gas that can form a tail that streams away from the sun.
Define an asteroid.
One of thousands of small bodies from 480 miles to less than one mile in diameter that revolve around the sun.
Define a cosmologist.
A scientist that studies origin, structure, and nature of the universe.
Define angular velocity.
The rate of change of angular position of a rotating body.
Define an orbit.
A curved path for a celstial object rotating around a planet, star, or moon.
Revolve?
Circular movement on a central axis.
Rotation?
The act of rotating around a axis or center.
Define spring tide.
The large rise and fall of the tide at or soon after the new and full moon.
What is the definition of eccentricity?
A value that defines the shape of an elipse or planetary orbit.
Define coma.
A spherical cloud of materials surrounding the head of a comet.
What is an orbital plane?
The plane on which a body is orbiting.
Define precession.
The motion of a spinningbody in which it wobbles so that the axis of rotation sweeps out a cone.
What is a neap tide?
A less than avergae tide occuring at the first and third quarters of the moon.
