Telescopes
What is electromagnetic radiation?
Electromagnetic radiation is energy from the sun that can travel in waves through space.
How is a star different from a planet?
Planets do not usually give off their own light as stars do. Instead the absorb and reflect light and other energy from the star they revolve around.
Why are all the inner planets described as terrestrial planets?
Because they all have a solid surface
Why are the outer planets called gas giants? What else so they have in common?
None of them has a solid surface, each atmosphere is composed of mainly hydrogen and helium, and all have rings
Where do comets come from?
They come from far away in the Kuiper Belt and sometimes even farther from the Oort Cloud.
What are three other things besides planets that orbit the sun
Meteoroids, asteroids, and comets
How do moons and planets compare?
Moons might be similar in structure and size to planets, but they orbit planets not stars. Like planets, moons do not give off their own light.
Which planet is most like Earth in size and density but has an extremely harsh environment for life as we know it?
What is Venus
Is Pluto classified as a planet?
Pluto is actually classified as a dwarf planet
Why do we only see comets some of the time?
They have long, narrow, elliptical orbits, and you can only see them when they are near the sun and the gases heat up.
What is the ideal location of telescopes?
Space telescopes are most ideal because there is no atmosphere to block light or distort views.
What is the main characteristic that determines the life cycle of a star?
The mass determines the life cycle of a star. A lower mass star never supernovas. A massive star will experience the red giant stage more dramatically and then it will supernova forming either a neutron star
Which planet is almost ideal for plants?
What is Mars
Which planet has an enormous amount of gravity and how would that impact weight?
Jupiter, something would weight a lot more on Jupiter than it might on other planets.
What is the difference between a meteoroid, a meteor, and a meteorite?
A meteoroid is still in space. A meteor is the same rock as it goes through our atmosphere and glows as it literally burns up from the friction with the air. A meteorite is what is left of that rock when it hits Earth.
Who first used the telescope to observe the sky?
Galileo first used the telescope to look at the heavens.
What are some characteristics of stars?
Stars give off their own light due to nuclear fusion. They can vary in size, temperature, and color.
Explain why no organism can respirate on Mercury?
Mercury has trouble retaining an atmosphere so respiration is difficult
What is true of the temperature of all of the outer planets?
They are all extremely cold in the atmosphere and very hot at the core. The pressure also increases dramatically from the atmosphere to the core.
Describe what the Goldilocks conditions are.
Liquid water and a suitable temperature range and atmosphere for living things to survive.
What did Hales do?
Hales first used mirrors to help gather light for telescopes.
What is a galaxy, how are they identified, what are the three main types, and what is our galaxy?
A galaxy is a collection of billions of stars, and they are identified by their shape spiral, spherical or elliptical, or irregular. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is a spiral galaxy.
Why is Venus hotter than Mercury even though Mercury is closer to the sun?
Venus has an atmosphere of mostly carbon dioxide so the heat from the sun gets trapped - the greenhouse effect.
Why did the outer planets have the potential to become stars
They are all made of hydrogen and helium, the two main gases in stars. With a little more mass, the gravity might have been strong enough for fusion.
What are some things that provide evidence for the big bang theory?
You must be able to test a scientific theory . Hubble's Law states that the farther away a galaxy is, the faster it is moving away from us this strongly support the big bang theory.