Historical models of the solar system
What is the geocentric model?
It where the Earth is in the center of the solar system.
What are distances to stars measured with?
Light years
What separates the inner and outer planets?
The asteroid belt
How often does a full moon occur?
Around every 27 days
Where is the sun located?
In the center of the solar system.
What is the Heliocentric model?
It is where the sun is in the center of the solar system.
What is the color for the highest temperature stars?
Blue stars
Why do outer planets have more moons?
They have more of a gravitational pull, causing more objects to go into their orbits
What causes tides?
The sun and moon
What kind of star is the sun?
A yellow, main-sequence star
Why did early astronomers put Earth in the center of their solar system model?
Because early astronomers believed that Earth was the most important object in space
What are stars composed mainly out of?
Hydrogen and helium
What are the properties of outer planets?
They are much larger than inner planets, have rings, and are made of gases.
What do you need for a solar eclipse to occur?
You need the moon to cast a shadow onto the earth.
How does the sun create energy?
Nuclear fusion at its core
Who came up with the Geocentric model?
Aristarchus, a Greek astronomer and mathematician
What is a star?
They are flaming spheres of gases that use nuclear fusion to create energy
What are the properties of inner planets?
Inner planets are composed of rock, have at most 1 natural satellite (moon), and have shorter orbits.
What is the difference between a meteor and a meteorite?
A meteor is when a meteoroid passes through the atmosphere, a meteorite has already landed on the Earth's surface.
What do sunspots signal?
They signal intense magnetic activity
Who came up with the Heliocentric model?
Nicolaus Copernicus, a Polish astronomer
What are the products of nuclear fusion (in a star)?
Helium, neutrons, and energy
What makes a planet a planet?
A planet needs to orbit a star, be big enough to be shaped as a sphere, be small enough so it isn't a star itself, and be able to clear its orbit of smaller objects.
When do spring tides occur?
They occur on full moons and new moons, where the sun has a larger gravitational influence on the oceans
How does the sun rotate?
The sun rotates slower at the poles, and faster at the equator.