I Can Statement
Explain constellations as historic and cultural views of star groups
form recognizable patterns, often representing animals, mythological figures, or objects,
Black hole
a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light can not get out
Giant stars
stars that have expanded and evolved to a larger size and luminosity compared to main-sequence stars, but haven't reached the final stages of stellar evolution like compact stars
Neutron star
Define the “light year”
the distance that light travels in a vacuum during one Earth year, approximately 5.88 trillion miles
Black Hole Singularity
a theoretical point at the center of a black hole where matter is crushed to infinite density, and where the laws of physics as we know them break down, marking a point of no return for anything that falls inside.
H-R diagram
a graph that plots the luminosity (brightness) of stars against their surface temperature (or spectral type)
Nova
a star showing a sudden large increase in brightness and then slowly returning to its original state over a few months.
Relate the color of a star to its temperature
hotter stars appearing blue or blue-white, while cooler stars appear red or orange
Celestial sphere
Light-year
a unit of distance, not time, and it's the distance that light travels in one Earth year
Planetary nebula
a ring-shaped nebula formed by an expanding shell of gas around an aging star
Explain how stars are categorized in the H-R diagram
by plotting their luminosity (brightness) against their surface temperature
Explain the current thinking about black holes
centers on their immense gravity, the event horizon where nothing can escape, and their role in galaxy evolution and as potential sources of dark energy
Constellation
a group of stars forming a recognizable pattern that is traditionally named after its apparent form or identified with a mythological figure. Modern astronomers divide the sky into eighty-eight constellations with defined boundaries.
Luminosity
the intrinsic brightness of a celestial object (as distinct from its apparent brightness diminished by distance).
Supernova
a cataclysmic explosion of a star, a powerful and luminous event that occurs during the final stages of a star's life, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion.
Describe how stars are born, evolve, and die
born from collapsing clouds of gas and dust, evolve by fusing hydrogen into helium, and die either as white dwarfs, neutron stars, or black holes, depending on their initial mass
Explain conditions that produce a supernova
sudden gravitational collapse of a massive star's core or the runaway nuclear fusion in a white dwarf
Event horizon
a boundary beyond which events cannot affect an outside observer
Main sequence
a stage in a star's life where it stably fuses hydrogen into helium in its core,
White dwarf
a cataclysmic explosion of a star, a powerful and luminous event that occurs during the final stages of a star's life, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion.