Astronomers typically measure distances to stars in this unit.
What is lightyear?
100
A giant ball of hot gases that undergo nuclear fusion
What are stars?
100
This color represents the coolest temperature star?
What is the color red?
100
This factor determines whether a protostar becomes a star and also determines what the star will end up as when it runs out of fuel.
What is mass?
100
The dense middle layer of the sun where energy moves slowly outward in the form of electromagnetic radiation is called this
What is the radiation zone?
200
Newton concluded that these two things combined to keep Earth in orbit around the sun and the moon in orbit around Earth.
What are gravity and inertia?
200
All stars begin as part of this, a large cloud of gas and dust
What is a nebula?
200
These are the characteristics astronomers use to classify stars.
What are color, temperature, size, composition, and brightness?
200
A supernova is the explosion of a dying this type of star.
What is a high mass star?
200
The solar wind is a stream of electrically charged particles that extend outward from this layer of the sun
What is the sun's corona?
300
Gravity helps form stars, planets, and solar systems by the gradual gathering together of smaller pieces in a process called
What is accretion?
300
These four types of galaxies are all present in our universe and contain billions of stars.
And,
This galaxy we call home, Milky Way, is an example of what type of galaxy.
What are spiral, elliptical, irregular and quasars?
What is a spiral?
300
Astronomers use this diagram to classify stars and understand how stars change over time.
What is the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram?
300
This is a spinning neutron star.
What is a pulsar?
300
This is what occurs in the Sun's core.
What is the sun produces enormous amounts of energy by way of nuclear fusion?
400
The strength of the force of gravity depends on these two things.
What are the masses of the objects and the distance between them.
400
This is an object that orbits a star, is rounded by its own gravity, and has cleared the area of its orbit
What is a planet?
400
The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram shows that main-sequence stars have these characteristics.
What are that they increase in brightness as they increase in temperature?
400
The remains of a star that has no fuel but glows faintly and is the end result of a low or medium mass star.
What is a white dwarf?
400
Sunspots appear to be darker than the sun's surface because of this.
What is that they appear to be darker because they are made of gas that is cooler than the surrounding areas. Cooler gases appear darker.
500
Define parallax and explain how astronomers use it to measure distances to stars.
What is the fact that Parallax is the apparent change in position of an object when you look at it from different places. Astronomers look at a nearby star when Earth is on one side of the sun and again six months later, when Earth is on the other side of the sun. Astronomers measure how much the star appears to move against a background of stars that are much farther away. They use this measurement to calculate how far away the star is.
500
Compare and contrast planets and stars.
What is the fact that both planets and stars are rounded objects formed by gravity. Stars are much larger and hotter than planets, are composed mainly of gases, which undergo nuclear fusion. Planets orbit a star and are usually made of solids and liquids, in addition to gases.
500
The difference between the apparent brightness and absolute brightness of stars.
What is the fact that apparent brightness is a star’s brightness as it appears from Earth. Apparent brightness varies with distance. Absolute brightness is the brightness the star would have if it were at a standard distance from Earth.
500
This is what happens when a high mass star dies.
What is the fact that a high-mass star evolves into a brilliant supergiant. When the supergiant runs out of fuel, it can explode to form a supernova. Some of the material from the supernova forms a neutron star. The most massive stars become black holes, from which nothing can escape, not even light.
500
This is the inner layer of the sun’s atmosphere and the sun’s surface layer. This layer is not a solid surface but gases that are thick enough to appear visible.