Astronomy 101
What is the study of outer space and all that it contains?
astronomy
What is the hottest region of the sun?
core
What is the name for the pole star?
Polaris
constellations
What is the distance from the sun to Earth?
93 million miles
What is the star system containing millions to billions of stars?
galaxy
What is an area that contains no air?
vacuum
What are the dark patches on the sun's photosphere?
sunspots
sirius
What is the shape within Ursa Major which contain the pointer stars?
Big Dipper
What is the distance light travels in one year?
light year
What are spiral arms attached to a 'bar' that runs through a galaxy?
barred spiral
What is the force that resists motion?
friction
What are the high-speed particles traveling outward from the sun and beats upon the earth's upper atmosphere?
solar wind
What is the star closest to Earth?
the sun
Which constellation appears as an 'M' or 'W' in the sky?
Cassiopeia
What is the cluster of about 40 galaxies in which we find Earth?
Local Group
What is the actual explosion of a star?
supernova
What are the large clouds of gas and space dust floating in space?
nebulae
What is the hottest region of the sun's atmosphere?
corona
What is the pair of stars traveling together and rotating around each other?
binary star
Which constellation appears as a lady falling through the sky, chained to a rock?
Andromeda
What are the streams of gas erupting from the chromosphere and returning in a looplike fashion?
solar prominence
What are the 3 basic galaxy shapes?
spiral, elliptical, and irregular
What is the imaginary line stretching from pole to pole?
axis of rotation
What is the part of the sun's atmosphere closest to its surface?
chromosphere
What is the brightness of a star as it appears from Earth?
apparent magnitude
What is the brighest star in constellation Leo?
Regulus
What is the most distant object that can be seen with the unaided eye?
Andromeda galaxy
Which galaxy resembles an egg or football shape?
elliptical
What are at least 3 things that make space different from Earth and its atmosphere?
no air (vacuum); no air friction; mostly black; weightlessness (no gravity); extremes of temp.
During which event can we only see the sun's chromosphere or corona?
solar eclipse
What is the actual brightness of a star?
absolute magnitude
What is the brightest star in constellation Perseus?
Algol
What forms the vast bubble-shaped structures of the universe?
superclusters
What are the 3 galaxies closest to ours?
Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy, Large Magellanic Cloud, and Small Magellanic Cloud