Telescopes
Characteristics of Stars
Lives of Stars
Star Systems & Galaxies
The Expanding Universe
100
ROYGBIV is the acronym for this.
What is the visible spectrum
100
An imaginary pattern of stars.
What is a constellation?
100
All stars begin as this.
What is a nebula.
100
Two or more stars are know as?
What is a star system.
100
The theory of how the universe formed.
What is the big bang.
200
What is the shortest main type of electromagnetic radiation?
What is radio waves?
200
Name three characteristics used to classify stars.
What is color, temperature, size, composition, and brightness.
200
What determines how long a star will exist?
What is its mass. Stars will more mass live shorter than stars with less mass.
200
A huge group of single stars, star systems, star clusters, dust, and gas bound together by gravity.
What is a galaxy.
200
How did the universe form?
What is about five billion years ago, a giant cloud of gas and dust collapsed to form our solar system.
300
What are the two major types of optical telescopes?
What are refracting and reflecting.
300
Why do astronomers use spectrographs?
What is to determine the chemical composition of a star.
300
What happens when a star runs out of fuel?
What is it becomes a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.
300
Describe the three types of galaxies.
What is spiral (pinwheel), elliptical (flattened ball) and irregular (no regular shape).
300
Describe two pieces of evidence that support the big bang theory.
What is Hubble's law, the observation that the farther away a galaxy is, he faster it is moving away from Earth, and cosmic background radiation, which is radiation left over from the big bang.
400
Why are many large observatories located on mountaintops or in space?
What is because it is clearer on mountaintops than at sea level and light from cities do not interfere.
400
Compare and contrast absolute and apparent brightness.
What is apparent brightness is how bright the star is from Earth. Absolute brightness is the brightness of a star if it were at a standard distance from Earth.
400
What will happen to the sun when it runs out of fuel? Explain.
What is its outer layers will expand and it will become a red giant. Eventually, the outer layers of the red giant will drift into space and the remainig hot core will be a white dwarf.
400
What is the name of our galaxy?
What is the Milky Way.
400
What do scientists conclude about the future of the universe?
What is it will likely expand forever.
500
How does a reflecting telescope work?
What is a curved mirror is used to collect and focus light.
500
What is a parallax?
What is the apparent change in postion of an object when viewed from different places.
500
What is a black hole and how can it be detected?
What is an object with gravity so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. Astronomers can detect black holes indirectly. Gas near a black hole is pulled so strongly that it revolves faster and faster around the black hole. Friction heats up the gas and X-Rays can be detected.
500
Why do astronomers use scientific notation?
What is to describe sizes and distances in the universe since those numbers are often very large or very small.
500
What evidence has led scientist to predict that the universe will continue to expand forever?
What is the expansion rate of the universe appears to be increasing.
M
e
n
u