Space Flashcards
astronomy
the study of the universe beyond the earth’s atmosphere
celestial bodies
naturally made objects outside the earth’s atmosphere
star
a celestial body made of gas that generates its own light and heat and is held together by its own gravity. release nuclear fusion
planet
a celestial body almost spherical in shape with enough gravity to pull objects into their own orbits as it orbits a star
moon
natural satellite of a planet
satellite
a body which is in orbit around another larger body
asteroid
a small rocky body orbiting a star
comet
made of ice and dust and orbits a star, visible when near the star. Has a tail of gas and dust
solar system
a group of planets, asteroids, comets and other celestial bodies that are in orbit around a star and are held together by the star’s gravity.
galaxy
a group of many stars, dust, gas and dark matter held together by gravity from a Black Hole and isolated from other similar systems by vast amounts of space
acronym
my very excited mother just served us nachos (i am that mum)
where are asteroids found
asteroid belt between mars and jupiter
where are comets from
Kuiper belt outside neptune’s orbit
example of comet
halley’s comet
universe
consists of all the matter and energy that exists
big bang summary
14 billion yrs ago, all matter was condensed in a tiny, hot, dense bubble
- suddenly exploded: in mins, went to galaxy size
- subatomic particles combined to form small elements like hydrogen
- these clouds of atoms were pulled together to form stars and galaxies
- as stars exploded and died, they forced heavier elements into space which formed new bigger stars
3 evidence for big bang :/
- universe is continually expanding
- looking at distant galaxies is like looking back in time to see what our galaxy was like bc the light only reaches us now
- cosmic background radiation was predicted by scientists and has been detected
