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Science Nine > Space Exploration Part One > Flashcards

Space Exploration Part One Flashcards

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1
Q

What is Aristolte’s geocentric Model?

A
  • proposed the Earth is at the center with planets, sun, and moon orbiting it in concentric sphere and that the starts were attatched to a celestial sphere
  • Euclidean and Pythagorean math calculations of sphere sixe convinced them Earth wasn’t moving
  • they also believed the Earth was flat.
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2
Q

What is Nicolaus Copernicus’s Heliocentric model?

A
  • proposed sun was at the center of the universe and Eath and other planets orbit around it
  • disapproved planets orbit in circle (perfect) motion: found planets farther from the sun move slower
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3
Q

What is a solstice?

A

Represents the shortest and longest periods of daying. The sun is directly above lines of the tropic (cancer and capricorn).

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4
Q

What is a winter solstice?

A

Shortest day of the year (December 21st in Northern Hemisphere).

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5
Q

What is a summer solstice?

A

Longest day of the year (June 21st in Northern Hemisphere).

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6
Q

What is an equinox?

A

The sun is directly above the equator. The day and night have the same length.

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7
Q

What is a vernal equinox?

A

In the spring (March 21st in Northern Hemisphere).

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8
Q

What is an autumnal equinox?

A

In the fall (September 22nd in Northern Hemisphere).

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9
Q

What is Earth’s speed?

A

Earth completes a full orbit (940 million km) around the sun in about 365.25 days).

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10
Q

What is Earth’s Rotation?

A

There are two important movements thhat affect earth:
1- rotation of earth around an invisible axis (24 hours for one rotation)
2- revolution around sun (365.25 days)
These two movements create variation in temperature, weather, seasons, and more.

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11
Q

What is Earth’s spinning?

A

Called conservation of linear momentum and has been spnning since the beginning of the solar system and will continue until something stops it.

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12
Q

How to calculate the rotational speed of the Earth?

A

Depends on where you are. To find rotational speed where you live:
- take cosine of your latitude
- multiply it by the speed of the equator

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13
Q

What is AU?

A

Astronomical Units: used to measure distances between things within our solar system.

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14
Q

What is Light Year?

A

Used whenn distances beyond the solar system out to the stars and galaxies are too great for AU.

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15
Q

What is the speed of light?

A

300,000 km/s

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16
Q

What is Alpha Centuri?

A

The closest star to earth other than the sun (4 light years away).

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17
Q

How long light takes to travel…

A

From sun to Earth= 8 min
From Pluto to Earth= 5 hours
From stars in our galaxy= 25,000 years.

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18
Q

What is the hubble space telescope?

A

Reflecting telescope orbiting 600 km above Earth.

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19
Q

What are stars?

A

Supersized balls of gas with larger nuclear fusion reactions continuously emitting energy. They can vary in size from 1/10th of our sun to 100 times bigger.

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20
Q

The birth of a star?

A
  • created in aread of gas and dust (nebulae that are attracted to each other)
  • mass of collection increases, begins to rotate, collects more interstellar matter
  • mass gets larger= gravitation of prostar increases
  • matter is compressed and the temperature increas to 10 million degrees celsius
  • hydrogen is converted to helium
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21
Q

How are stars defined?

A

By their mass: sun-like or massive

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22
Q

Life cycle of a sun-like star?

A

Nebula, Sun-like stars, red giant, white dwarf, black dwarf

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23
Q

Life cycle of a massive star?

A

Nebula, massive stars, red supergiant, supernova,
then either a neutron star or a blackhole

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24
Q

What is a neutron star?

A

Rapidly spinning object about 30km in diameter.

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25
Q

What is a blackhole?

A

Highly dense remnant of a star; such strong gravity even light can’t escape.

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26
Q

What is white light?

A

Combination of all colours. Can be seen by being shone through a prism (showing visible spectrum).

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27
Q

What is a spectroscope?

A

Instrument used by astronomers to observe and measure the spectrum of a star.

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28
Q

How do spectroscopes work?

A
  1. Breaks light into colours (frequencies)
  2. each element has a unique “fingerprint” within the colours (black lines)
  3. The spectra are compared to known element spectrums to determine its composition.
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29
Q

What are hertzsprung-russel diagrams?

A

They show the classification of stars according to luminosity, spectural type, colour, temperature, evolutionary stage

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30
Q

What does surface temperature of a star determine?

A

It’s colour and luminosity, and corresponds with its magnitude.

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31
Q

What are constellations?

A

Grouping of stars we see as patterns in the night sky.

32
Q

What are asterisms?

A

Unofficially recognized bear, chariot, wagon, and plough.

33
Q

What are spiral galaxies?

A

They have flattened disks with a spiral pattern in the disk.

34
Q

What are elliptical galaxies?

A

Smooth and elliptical in appearance.

35
Q

What are irregular galaxies?

A

No definite structure. Stars are bunched up but patches are randomly distributed throughout the galaxy.

36
Q

What three steps does the “protoplanet hypothesis” follow?

A
  1. A cloud of gas and dust in space begins swirling.
  2. Most of the matter (more than 90%) accumulates in the center, forming the sun.
  3. Remaining materials accumulate, forming planets.
37
Q

What are solar winds?

A

Charged particles emitted from the sun in all directions.

38
Q

What is the classifications for planets in our solar system?

A

1) Earth-like (terrestrial, inner planets)- smaller, rockier in composition, closer to the sun.
2) Joviar (Jupiter-like, Outer planets)- large, gaseous, farther from the sun.

39
Q

What are asteroids?

A

Between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter is a narrow belt of small rocky or metallic bodies from a few meters to several hundred kilometers across in size.

40
Q

What are comets?

A

“Dirty Snowballs.” Made of dust and ice travelling through space. When close to the Sun, heat up and emit light. gases released and appear as it’s tail. Comets usually spend time orbiting outer reaches of solar system.

41
Q

What are meteoroids?

A

Smalls pieves of rock flying through space with no particular path.

42
Q

What are meteors?

A

Meteoroids after they enter our atmosphere.

43
Q

What are meteorites?

A

Meteors if they last long enough to impact the earth’s surface.

44
Q

What is a solar eclipse?

A

Happens when the moon passing between the sun and Earth, casts a shadow on Earth.

45
Q

What is a total solar eclipse?

A

The moon completely blocks the face of the sun.

46
Q

What is an annular solar eclipse?

A

The moon passes between the sun and Earth but at its farthest point from Earth. It’s further away from Earth and appears smaller than the sun and doesn’t completely cover the star.

47
Q

What is a partial solar eclipse?

A

Happens when the Moon passes between the sun and Earth but the Sun, Earth, and Moon aren’t lined up perfectly. The sun has a dark shadow on only part of it’s surface.

48
Q

What is a Lunar eclipse?

A

Earth passes between the Sun adn Moon, casting a shadow over the Mooon.

49
Q

What is total lunar eclipse?

A

The moon and sun are on exact opposite sides of Earth. The moon is in Earth’s shadow but some sunlight passes through earth’s atmosphere which tennds to preferentially scatter and absorb shorter wavelengths of blue light. The moon looks red to Earth.

50
Q

What is partial lunar eclipse?

A

Only a part of Earth’s shadow covers the Moon. The amount of the Moon covered depends on how the Sun, Earth, and Moon are lined up.

51
Q

What is a penumbral lunar eclipse?

A

The moon travels through Earth’s penumbra (faint, outer part of Earth’s shadow). Moon only dims slightly.

52
Q

What does NASA stand for?

A

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

53
Q

What are the two questions to locate an object in space?

A

1) How high in the sky is it?
2) In which direction?

54
Q

What is Azimuth?

A

Horizontal angle/direction of a compass bearing.
0= due North
90= East
180= due South
270= West

55
Q

What is Altitude?

A

Height of a celestial body above the horizon.
0= at the horizon
90= straight up

56
Q

What is the zenith?

A

Highest point directly overhead.

57
Q

What is a celestial sphere?

A

An imaginary dome that allows us to describe the position of an object in the sky.

58
Q

What is an ecliptic path?

A

path along which the sun mean plane (Earth’s orbit).

59
Q

What is Newton’s Third Law?

A

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

60
Q

What are the three basic parts of a rocket?

A
  1. Structural and mechanical elements- everything including the rocket, engines, storage tanks, finds on the outside.
  2. Fuel- inclues any number of material like liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen, gasoline
  3. Payload- materials needed for flgiht like crew cabins, food, air, water, people, equipment
61
Q

What are ion drives?

A

Xenon gas is electrically charged, accelerated, and emitted as exhaust. Creates thrust 10,000 times weaker than chemically fuelled rockets. Force created last a long time and uses little energy. Smkall force lasts a long time in space and is useful when travelling long distances.

62
Q

What are solar sails?

A

Sun emits electromagnetic energy in form of photons. Carbon fiber solar sail catches photons and potentially propels spcecraft up to 5x faster than right now.

63
Q

What is the International Space Station?

A

Orbiting Earth at an altitude of 350km currently. Joint project between 16 nations (USA, Canada, Japan, Russia, Brazil, 11 European nations). Travels at 27,700 km/h and completes 15.7 orbits/day.

64
Q

Environmental hazards of living in space?

A
  • no food/water/air
  • cosmic radiation
    -extreme temperatures
  • risk of hit by meteoroids
  • no atmospheric pressure (regulate heart rate)
65
Q

Psychological challenges of living in space?

A
  • closed, confined quarters for a while and can lead to psychological problems
66
Q

Effects of microgravity on the body?

A
  • in weightlessness body changes: bones expand, muscles astrophy (weaken), heart rate affected
67
Q

How does the ISS recycle water?

A

Using the ECLSS (Environmental Control and Life Support System) it reclaims all water, including waste water.

68
Q

How does the ISS produce oxygen?

A

Electrolysis uses electricty to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen is vented into space, and the space is used.

69
Q

Space Suits must be?

A

Must supply air, water, heating/cooling system, portable toilet. Must be flexible and allow movement.

70
Q

What are artificial satellites?

A

Man-made objects sent out into orbit.

71
Q

What are natural satellites?

A

Any small body that orbits a larger body.

72
Q

Uses of satellites?

A
  • observation/research
  • communication
  • observe/ predict weather
  • observe/predict magnetic storms
  • location
  • internet/ T.V/ long distance phone calls
73
Q

What is a geomagnetic storm?

A

Temporary disturbance of Earth’s magnetosphere caused by solar wind sock waves (strikes Earth’s magnetic field usually 24.36 hours after).

74
Q

What is a geosynchronus orbit?

A

Sateelie moves at the same rate as Earth, allowing it to focus on one location all the time.

75
Q

What is a low Earth orbit?

A

200-1000 km in altitude, usually used for remote sensing (taking images to make observations of the earth).

76
Q

What is GPS?

A

Global positioning system; radio signals from the satellites are picekd up by GPS units and users’ location is trangulated. 24 GPS satellites orbit Earth. At least 3 are above any given location on our planet at any time.

Science Nine (15 decks)

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