Trivia Flashcards
When are the equinoxes?
+-22 March and +-22 September.
What is an equinox?
A 24 hour period in the year where there are equal parts day and night.
What does Aquarius represent?
The water carrier
What does Aries represent?
The ram
What is an asteroid?
Asteroids; also known as minor planets or planetoids; are mostly small; irregularly shaped chunks of metal and rock that orbit the Sun.
Name the atmospheric layers and the height zone they encompass.
Troposphere up to 16km. Stratosphere: 16 - 50km. Mesosphere: 50 -80km. Thermosphere: 80 - 500km. Exosphere: 500 - 10 000km.
When is the big bang believed to have happened?
10 - 20 Billion years ago.
What does Cancer represent?
The crab
Canopus; found directly North of Celestial South; is the ___ brightest star in the sky and is _______ times brighter than our Sun but is as dim as it is because it is _____ lightyears from Earth.
- 2nd
- 200 000 times
- 1100 lightyears
What does Capricorn represent?
The sea-goat
What is Omega Centauri and how do we find it?
It is a globular star cluster consisting of over a million stars (possibly even up to 10 million!). Seen as a small “star” that forms a triangle with Beta Crux and Beta Centauri.
Alpha Centauri is the 3rd brightest star in the sky; how many stars is it made up of?
3
Alpha Centauri is the next closest Sun to us besides ours. But how far is Beta Centauri from Earth?
391.4 lightyears
What is a comet? Why do they shine?
Comets are essentially giant balls of ice and cosmic dust or rock held together by the ice. (Shine due to the reflection of the Sun’s light)
Describe the composition of a comet.
They consist of a “nucleus” (the ice core); and a “coma” (a particle haze which becomes the tail); which is made up of the dust and ice crystals.
What is a meteor shower?
Meteor showers are a period of unusually high meteor activity that occur when the earth, in its orbit around the Sun, passes through debris left over from the disintegration of comets.
When was the earth formed?
4.6 billion (4.6 x 10^9) years ago.
What is the composition of our atmosphere?
78% nitrogen; 21% oxygen; with smaller amounts of argon; carbon dioxide; water vapour; and other gases
What is a galaxy?
A galaxy is a massive group of stars, their satellites & other stellar material orbiting a common centre, considered by most to be a super-massive black hole.
How big (long) is the Milky Way? How many stars does it contain?
The milky Way is approximately 100 000 light years from one end to the other and has well over 100 Billion stars.
What is our closest star (other than the sun) and how far is it? What constellation is it a part of?
Alpha Centauri is the closest star and is 4.3 light years away (43 million million km.) It is part of Centaurus but alpha and beta centauri are more commonly identified as the Pointers.
What is the brightest star in the sky? What does the name mean? What constellation is it a part of?
Sirius; meaning “Sparkling One” is part of Canis Major.
What kind of galaxy is the Milky Way?
A spiral galaxy
What is the most distant object we are able to see with the naked eye? How far is it?
The Andromeda Galaxy is 2.3 million light years away.
Where is the Andromeda Galaxy found?
It’s a faint smudge with the naked eye. (low on the northern horizon Nov and Dec in the constellation of Andromeda – between Pegasus and Pisces) 2.3 million light years away.
What constellation comprises of Castor and Pollox?
Gemini
What is the Jewel Box?
The Jewel Box is an open cluster of stars all formed of the same giant molecular cloud found next to Beta Crux; the celestial-southern most star of the Southern Cross.
What does Libra represent?
The scales or Balance
What is a lightyear?
A lightyear is the distance travelled by light in 1 year through a vacuum. This distance is ~10 trillion (10 x 10^12) km.
What is the speed of light?
300 000km/s
Why do stars seem to be different colours and brightnesses?
Stars are at varying distances from Earth which affects the luminosity as seen from Earth. The color of a star is linked to its surface temperature. The hotter the star; the shorter the wavelength of light it will emit. The hottest ones are blue or blue-white; which are shorter wavelengths of light. Cooler ones are red or red-brown; which are longer wavelengths
What is a shooting star?
Are not actually stars at all; but just small fragments of rock (Asteroid fragments) dust; called “Meteors”; entering into our atmosphere and burning up through friction.
What speed is a shooting star travelling and at what height does it enter the atmosphere?
70km/s and 50 - 90km above the earths surface.
What is a meteorite?
Meteors that do not fully disintegrate in their path through the Earth’s atmosphere and reach the Earth’s surface
What is a meteoroid?
A meteoroid is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are significantly smaller than asteroids, and range in size from small grains to one-meter-wide objects. Objects smaller than this are classified as micrometeoroids or space dust.
Why do we only see one side of the moon?
The moon rotates on its own axis at exactly the same speed as it orbits the Earth.
How far away is the moon from Earth? (In km and light seconds)
384 000km. ~1.3 light seconds.
The moon is drifting away from Earth at what speed?
3.8cm per year. The same rate at which our fingernails grow.
What is the diameter of the moon compared to the Earth?
3 480 vs Earth’s 12 742km. 1/3 the size of Earth.
What is the actual colour of the moon and why does it appear white?
The Moon is actually covered in Illmenite which is a black mineral that looks white due to the incredibly reflective nature of the Illmenite.
What caused the craters on the moon and why do we still see them? What is the average size of these craters?
The craters on the Moon were caused by Meteorites striking the surface of the moon. There is no atmosphere so no wind and therefore these “prints” will remain there for all time. They average between 50 – 150 km in diameter.
What are the “seas” on the moon? What is their alternate name? How big can they get?
“Seas” are just massive craters (impact basins) where lava filled the craters due to the extent of the impact. They are alternately named “Mare” which is Latin for Sea. They can be several hundred km in diameter.
With regard to the moon; what is the “Terminator”?
The “Terminator” is the shadow-line along the moon during its phases. This is the best area to look to get definition and detail
How much later does the moon rise each day?
45 minutes.
What is a lunar eclipse? It only occurs at _____ moon.
When the Earth’s position is between the Sun and the Moon; and its shadow (“Umbra”) is cast upon the Moon (causing it to go dark as it no longer has light to reflect). As the Moon orbits; it moves out of the shadow. (total or partial eclipse) – only during Full Moon
Name 3 of the “seas” visible to the nake eye on the moon?
Tycho; Mare Serenitatis; Alpine Valley; Straight Wall.
What is the edifference between a new moon and a lunar eclipse?
A new moon is formed by the sun shining on the side not visible from earth while a lunar eclipse is formed by the Earth’s shadow falling across the face of the moon that we do see.
How can you tell if the moon is waxing or waning?
The moon is waning when any portion of the moon’s right half is not visible or when the illuminated sliver is on the left. The moon is waxing when the illuminated sliver is on the right; or if the left half of the moon is predominantly shadowed
What is a new moon?
when none of the illuminated part of the Moon is visible (it is dark).
What is a crescent moon?
when less than half the Moon is visibly illuminated
What is a gibbous moon?
when more than half the Moon is visibly illuminated
What is a waxing moon?
As the Moon is progressing from New towards Full Moon (getting “bigger”)
What is a waning moon?
As the Moon is progressing from Full towards New Moon (getting “smaller”)
What is a blue moon and how often does it occur?
A “Blue Moon” is when two full moons occur during one calendar month (beginning and end); this occurs roughly every two and a half years
What is a nebula?
These are essentially gas clouds (a mixture of hydrogen gas and stellar dust.) Nebulas are what we may call “Stellar Nurseries” – They are where stars are “born”.