Space And Satelites Flashcards
Day
24 hours, the time it takes the Earth to spin once on its axis
Moon
A large lump of rock orbiting around a planet
Orbit
The path that a planet takes around the Sun, or the path that a moon or satelite takes to around a planet
Equator
An imaginary line around the middle of the earth
Axis
An imaginary vertical line that goes from one pole to the other
Luminous
Gives out light
Universe
All the galaxies and the space between them
Star
A huge ball of gas that gives out heat and light energy
Milky Way
The galaxy that our solar system is in
Light year
The distance that the light travels in one year
Galaxy
Millions of stars grouped together
Constellation
A pattern of stars
Solar system
A Star with planets and other objects orbiting it
Satelite
Anything that orbits a planet
Sun
The star that Earth orbits around
Year
Then length of time it takes a planet to go around the Sun
Hemisphere
The two halves of a sphere - the shape you would get if you would cut a solid ball in half
Asteroid
A small lump of rock orbiting around the Sun
Inner planets
Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars
Outer planets
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
How is weight measured
In newtons
What is weight
The effect of gravity on an object
How to work out the weight if an object
Mass * Gravity = weight
What is mass
The amount of matter in an object
How is mass measured
In kilograms
Why is the force of gravity bigger on other planets
Because the planet has a bigger mass
How does the temperature change with it’s distance from the sun
The further away you are, the temperature decreases
How does the yearly orbit of a planet change with it’s distance from the sun
The further away you are, the longer the year
Difference between man-made and natural satellite
Man-made are artificial and natural are natural
Differences between geostationary and polar orbit
Geo stationary orbits as the Earth spins and polar orbit orbits around poles as the earth spins
Use of geostationary and polar orbit
Geo stationary: comunication and navigation
Polar: weather and spy
How do scientists find out about distances
With waves
Why do we have seasons
Because Earth’s axis is not perfectly straight, therefore sometimes Earth is further away from the sum
Which is the order of the planets?
Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune
Which is the pattern of the temperature for the planets?
The general pattern is the temperature decreases as the planets get further from the sun except Venus which is hotter than mercury
How do we calculate weight
Mass * gravity = weight
First idea of the solar system
Planets and stars orbited around Earth
What was the first idea of the solar system
Geo centric model, Earth is at the centre by Ptolemy
What was the second idea of the solar system
Heliocentric model, all the planets orbit the Sun in perfect circle by Copernicus
What was the actual model of the solar system
The law of planetary motion, planets orbit in an elipsis by Kepler
What is one light year
9.461 X 10^15km or 946,100,000,000,000km
Why does the length of a day vary through the year
The change between day and night is caused by the rotation of the Earth on its axis. The changing lengths of days and nights depends on where you are on Earth and the time of year
Advantages and problems of a telescopes
Cheap but they only work at night if it is clear
Advantages and problems of a rovers
Can take samples and send info back to Earth but may crash
Advantages and problems of a satelites
Don’t need astronauts so they can go deep in space but cant be fixed
