Star Power
The process by which the Sun began to produce tremendous amounts of energy and light was primarily through
What is nuclear fusion?
Which group of planets is characterized by being gaseous, having larger diameters, and lower densities?
What are Jovian Planets?
The Big Bang Theory states that the Universe came into existence approximately:
What is 13.7 billion years ago?
Occurs when the Sun is obscured by the Moon, only possible during a new moon
What is the Solar Eclipse?
What tool provided evidence that supports the idea that the Earth rotates?
What is a Foucault Pendulum?
This phenomenon, which indicates a galaxy is moving toward Earth, is much rarer than its opposite counterpart.
What is a Blue Shift?
Solid-surfaced planets with smaller diameters and higher densities that are close to the Sun (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars).
What are Terrestrial Planets?
A planetesimal struck the Earth, ejecting matter that condensed to form the Moon.
What is the Giant Impact Theory?
The thin, lower gaseous envelope of the Sun that is only visible to observers on Earth during a total solar eclipse is the:
What is the Corona?
The point in Earth's elliptical orbit at which it is farthest from the Sun is called
What is Aphelion?
This is the name for the cloud of gas and dust from which our solar system formed 4.5 billion years ago.
What is a Solar Nebula?
According to Kepler's Second Law, a planet moves fastest in its orbit when it is:
What is Closest to the Sun?
Our solar system is part of the Milky Way galaxy that is primarily classified by its structure as...
What is a Spiral Galaxy?
This event occurs when the North Pole is tilted away from the Sun, resulting in the shortest period of daylight in the Northern Hemisphere
What is the Winter Solstice?
The historical Geocentric Universe model proposed that the stars rotate around the Earth on a single large sphere at a rate of:
What is 15 degrees per hour?
When a celestial object is moving away from Earth, its electromagnetic spectral lines are shifted towards the red end of the spectrum. This observation is known as:
What is Red Shift?
According to Kepler's First Law, the path of a planet's orbit around the Sun is best described as a(n)...
What is an Ellipse, with the Sun at one of the two foci?
The tendency of all particles on Earth's surface to be deflected from a straight line due to Earth's rotation.
What is the Coriolis Effect?
The interior layer where nuclear reactions occur and the temperature is 27 million °F or 15 million K
What is the Core?
The degree of "ovalness" of an ellipse, where a perfect circle has a value of 0.
What is Eccentricity?
What are the two main factors that determine a star's Absolute Brightness (or luminosity)?
What is Temperature and Size?
These two distinct regions of the solar system are thought to be the reservoir for most short-period comets and long-period comets, respectively.
What are the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud?
This Law relates the square of a planet's orbital period to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit.
What is Kepler's Third Law?
This luminous, visible surface of the Sun is the lowest portion of its atmosphere.
What is the Photosphere?
The inability to accurately predict the locations of planets was one of the problems that led to the rejection of this Earth-centered model. Name the Scientist who game up with this model
What is the Geocentric Model (or Ptolemaic System)?