A force of attraction that pulls objects without them touching. Earth’s gravity pulls objects near its surface toward Earth’s center.
gravity
True or False (Correct the statement if you decide it is false).
Gravity pushes you down to Earth's surface.
False- Gravity pulls you towards Earth's center.
A measurement describing how bright a star looks from Earth.
apparent brightness
Rank these stars from largest to smallest:
The sun, Proxima Centauri, Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse, the sun, Proxima Centauri
Why doesn’t the water fall off the Earth if it’s round?
Water stays on Earth because of gravity, which pulls everything toward the center of the planet. Gravity keeps oceans, lakes, and rivers from flowing off the Earth.
The streak of light that a chunk of rock falling from space toward Earth produces.
meteor
When a NASA spacecraft reenters the atmosphere, it has been pulled to Earth by gravity. Gravity is a force of ___________.
attraction
light-yearA unit of measurement used to describe distances between stars in space. One light-year is the distance that light travels in one year.
light-year
What can we use to help compare the sizes of stars and their distances from Earth?
Scale Models
What shape is the Earth?
The Earth is round like a ball, but it is a little bit flat at the top and bottom. This shape is called an oblate sphere.
A curved path that an object makes around another object.
orbit
True or false: Larger objects have stronger gravity and smaller objects have weaker gravity.
The farther a star is from the Earth, the ________ its light will be.
dimmer
A light-year is a unit of
(Another way to ask this question would be: What does a light-year measure?)
distance
Why does the Earth look flat when we stand on it?
The Earth looks flat because it is so big that we can only see a small part of it at a time. If you could see the whole Earth, you would see it’s round.
The object whose gravity holds Earth in place.
The sun
The largest meteor ever found was found in _________ and weighed __________.
Africa, 119,000 pounds
The biggest factor that affects a stars brightness is its _________ from Earth.
distance
Which type of star (color) is the hottest?
blue stars
What is gravity, and how does it keep us on the Earth?
Gravity is a force that pulls everything toward the center of the Earth. It’s why we don’t float away, and it keeps everything, including oceans and buildings, on the ground.
_______ is the force of gravity and can change depending on where you are on Earth's surface.
weight
Humans say we are being pulled down, but truthfully we are being pulled ______________.
Toward Earth's center
A star's distance from its center to its outside is called its
radius
What are the three factors that affect a star's apparent brightness?
distance, size, and temperature
Why do people in different parts of the world see different stars in the sky?
People see different stars because the Earth is round and they live on different parts of it. As the Earth rotates, different parts face the night sky, showing different stars.