Unit 6 Universe Vocabulary Flashcards
How bright a star would be if seen from a standard distance
Absolute Magnitude
How bright a star is when seen from Earth
Apparent Magnitude
A large group of stars, dust, and gas held together by gravity
Galaxy
A graph showing the correlation between the brightness and surface temperature of a star
H-R Diagram
The distance light can travel in a year, ~9.46 trillion km
Light-year
The true brightness of an object
Luminosity
An area on the H-R diagram where stars spend most of their life, diagonal pattern
Main Sequence
Large gas and dust formation, where stars are born
Nebula
When the core of a supernova collapses from gravity, electrons and protons crash together to form neutrons
Neutron Star
A roughly spherical celestial body orbiting a star
Planet
A highly magnetized neutron star that spins around and shoots out a beam of electromagnetic radiation
Pulsar
The action of a celestial body orbiting another celestial body
Revolution
The action of a celestial body spinning on its axis
Rotation
The collection of celestial bodies that orbit the Sun
Solar System
A celestial body that is made of gas and emits lights
Star
The distance between two troughs or crests next to each other in a wave
Wavelength
A giant exploding star that expels its outer layers into space until only the core remains
Supernova
Everything
Universe
The core of a collapsed low-mass star
White Dwarf
A galaxy shaped like a pinwheel, bulged center, and spiraling arms
Spiral Galaxy
Galaxy shaped like an ellipse, bright center, little dust and gas
Elliptical Galaxy
Weird shaped galaxy
Irregular Galaxy
A spectrum including all different wavelengths and frequencies of electromagnetic radiation
Electromagnetic Spectrum
Theory of how everything was created, all the matter in the universe was compressed into a very small space and exploded, rapidly expanding outwards, 13-15 billion years ago
Big Bang Theory
Leftover electromagnetic radiation from the Big Bang
Cosmic Microwave Background
When a wavelength is stretched out, it appears on the redder side of the spectrum, basically when a celestial body (like a star) is further away from us, it appears to be redder
Red Shift
When a frequency/wavelength is closer/farther from the observer, there is a shift in the frequency
Doppler Effect
A tool used to separate colors in light from stars
Spectroscope
