Astronomy
Our Solar System
Out in Space
Vocabulary
Physical Science
100
What are stars that can be seen at all times of the year and all times of night (they appear to circle the celestial poles)?
What is circumpolar stars?
100
What is the time required for the Earth to orbit once around the sun?
What is a year.
100
What s a large cloud of gas and dust in interstellar space?
What is a nebula.
100
What is the point in the sky directly above an observer on Earth?
What is a zenith.
100
What is the tendency of an object to resist being moved or, if the object is moving, to resist a change in speed or direction until an outside force acts of the object?
What is inertia.
200
What is an apparent shift in the position of an object when viewed from different locations?
What is parallax.
200
What is the sun's location on the first day of spring?
What is the vernal equinox.
200
What is a rapidly spinning neutron star that emits rapid pulses or radio and optical energy?
What is a pulsar.
200
What is a tight group of stars that looks like a ball and contains up to 1 million stars?
What is a globular cluster.
200
What is the motion of a body when only the force of gravity is acting on the body?
What is free fall.
300
What do positive numbers mean in regards to a star's magnitude?
What is dimmer stars.
300
What division of the year does the moon's orbit around the Earth influence?
What is a month (a division of the year based on the orbit of the moon around the Earth).
300
What is the theory that states the universe began with a tremendous explosion 13.7 billion years ago?
What is the Big Bang Theory.
300
What is a region of the sky that contains a recognizable star pattern and that is used to describe the location of objects in space?
What are constellations.
300
What is the curved path that an object follows when thrown, launched, or otherwise projected near the surface of the Earth?
What is projectile motion.
400
What was Ptolemy's theory about the universe?
His theory was that the Earth was at the center of the universe and that the other planets and the sun revolved around the Earth.
400
What is the process by which nuclei of small atoms combine to form a new, more massive nucleus?
What is nuclear fusion.
400
What is the leftover radiation from the Big Bang?
What is cosmic background radiation.
400
What is the term for: When a light source, such as a star or galaxy, is moving quickly away from an observer?
What is red shift.
400
What three components affect the air resistance on an object?
What is size, shape, and speed of the object.
500
Name one theory of what will happen to the universe according to scientists.
1) If there is enough matter, gravity might eventually stop the universe from expanding (reverse Big Bang). 2) If there is not enough matter in the universe, it will keep expanding forever, even after it grows cold and dark.
500
Describe Earth's atmosphere and starlight.
What is the Earth's atmosphere causes starlight to shimmer and blur due to the motion of the air above the telescope.
500
Name the three advantages a reflecting telescope has over a refracting telescope.
1) The mirrors can be very large and allow reflecting telescopes to gather more light than refracting telescopes. 2) Curved mirrors are polished on their curved side, which prevents light from entering the glass-therefore, any flaws in the glass do not affect the light. 3) Mirrors can focus all colors of light to the same focal point, so all colors of light from an object can be seen in focus at the same time.
500
What is terminal velocity?
What is the constant velocity of a falling object when the force of air resistance is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the force of gravity.
500
What is Newton's Third Law of Motion?
What is 'Whenever one object exerts a force on a second, the second object exerts an equal and opposite force on the first."
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