Rotation and Revolution
A term that describes the spinning of the Earth about its axis.
What is rotation?
The name of the lunar phase when the entire lunar surface is lit up.
What is a full moon?
A measurement of distance that equals the distance between the Sun and the Earth.
What is one Astronomical Unit (AU)?
The particle pairs that collided and destroyed each other during the start of the universe.
What are matter and antimatter?
A model that is used to describe the eras, periods, and major events of the Earth's history.
What is the Geologic Time Scale?
A term that describes the orbit of the Earth around the Sun.
What is revolution?
A term that describes the Moon phases in which the Moon appears to be getting smaller. (Less and less of the surface is lit up)
What is waning?
This term describes the type of orbit of the MOON around the SUN.
What is an indirect orbit?
The cloud of matter and dust in which the Solar System was formed.
What is a nebula?
The geologic era that we are currently in.
What is the Cenozoic era?
Summer is experienced in the Northern hemisphere when the Earth's tilt and its position in its orbit around the Sun cause the hemisphere to receive this type of sunlight.
What is direct sunlight?
The center of a shadow, or the section in which total eclipses are experienced.
What is the umbra?
This law states that all objects in the universe attract all other objects due to the gravitational force between them.
What is Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation?
The early pre-planet bodies that formed from matter and dust clumping together.
What are planetesimals?
The principle of relative dating that states that rock strata form originally in flat horizontal lines.
What is the Principle of Original Horizontality?
The name for stars, like Polaris, that directly above a pole, so they do not appear to move through the night sky.
What is a circumpolar star?
Solar eclipses can only occur during the lunar phase.
What is a New Moon?
The hottest planet in our Solar System.
What is Venus?
The unit of distance that is the most appropriate for measuring the distance between galaxies.
What are lightyears?
An event marked by the sudden rise of oxygen levels on Earth about 2.5 BYA.
What is the Great Oxidation Event?
The angle of tilt of the Earth's axis?
What is 23.5 degrees?
The phase which directly follows a New Moon.
What is a waxing crescent?
The two main pieces of evidence to support the Big Bang Theory.
What are the expansion of the universe (1) and cosmic background radiation (2)?
The type of galaxy that our galaxy, the Milky Way, is.
What is a spiral galaxy?
A principle of relative dating stating that rock strata extend in a flat line in all directions and will travel until they reach an obstacle.
What is the Law of Lateral Continuity?