TERMS
The gaseous layer surrounding Earth or another heavenly body.
What is the atmosphere?
When sun, moon and earth lined up in just the right way to block sun on earth.
What is a solar eclipse?
The Moon’s gravitational force pulls on Earth in a way that causes our oceans to bulge
What are ocean tides?
A natural or artificial body orbiting a planet or star
What is a satellite?
The distance that light can travel in a year
The branch of science that deals with the physical universe beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
What is astronomy?
These particles collide with atoms in Earth’s atmosphere and cause Aurora Borealis.
What are solar flares?
Occurs when the umbra completely shadows the Moon
What is a total lunar eclipse?
The average distance between Earth and the sun
What is the astronomical unit?
The measure of a star's brightness
What is magnitude?
The amount of light or radiation reflected by a surface, typically that of a planet or moon
What is albedo?
What is a sunspot?
When the Moon is between Earth and the sun and we see no reflected sunlight
What is a new moon?
This category of planets are small and dense and rotate slowly
What are terrestrial planets?
Comets form this cloud when it comet gets close to the sun
What is a coma?
An organized system of millions/billions of stars, gas, solar systems, and dust held together by gravitational attraction.
What is a galaxy?
Plasma particles in this region of the sun rise to the surface of the photosphere.
What is the convective zone?
The Earth’s shadow during a lunar eclipse
What is the umbra?
This category of planets are large, though not dense, and have rings.
What are the Jovian planets or "gas giants"?
The space between Mars and Jupiter where many many minor planets and celestial bodies can be found
What is an asteroid belt?
When some of the light coming in to a telescope is not focused on the same point, creating a fuzzy image
The 2 layers above the photosphere.
What are the chromosphere and the corona?
The line dividing the lighted side of the moon from the dark side.
What is the terminator?
Planets that orbit other stars
What are extrasolar planets or exoplanets?
Friction causes a meteoroid to glow as it moves into the Earth’s atmosphere
What is a meteor?