Stars
I am a huge cloud of gas and dust from which a star forms.
Nebula
what is a planet
Planet: a celestial object that orbits one or more stars and can form a spherical shape due to its own gravity. It does not create or radiate light like a star, but rather reflects the light of the star or stars that it orbits.
Why do we have Day and night?
Day and night. The Earth is a sphere, or ball, which spins round and round as it travels around the sun. One side of the earth faces the sun, while the other side faces away into space. The side facing away is cooler and darker and experiences night. Because the Earth is constantly spinning, the line between day and night is always moving around the planet.
What is an Equinox?
when day and night are of equal lengths. spring equinox is around March 22 and fall equinox is around September 22.
Please put these 2 numbers into Scientific notation
3450 000 000 m
0. 000 000 068 s
3.45x10^9
6.8 x 10 ^ - 8
I am a small, dim, and very dense star that shines with a cooler white light.
White dwarf
What are the three types of planets?
Rocky inner planets, gaseous outer planets, Dwarf planets.
After a Supernova the stars remaining core will form...
Neutron stars, and black holes.
Name 3 tools astronomers used before telescopes
Quadrant Egyptians invited to measure the height of above the horizon
Merkhet: Egyptians invited to chart astronomical positions and predict the movement of stars.
Astrolabe : Arabian invention used yo make accurate charts of star positions
Cross-staff: invented by Levi ben Gerson to measure angle between the moon and any given star.
What are the 4 Galaxy shapes? Give a brief description
Spiral - Spiral shaped arms that radiate out from the galaxy’s centre and rotate around it. New arms continually appear as old ones disappear or change shape
Barrel Half of all spiral galaxies appear to have a bar across them. Milky Way is one of them.
Elliptical The largest galaxies. It can be a flat sphere or football shape. May result from other galaxies merging.
Irregular - May occur from galaxies colliding or when stars get pulled from one galaxy to another
What are the Five steps to create a new star ?
1. A giant cloud of gas and dust in interstellar space
2. Clumps begin to form Within the cloud
3. Dense cores, precursors to stars, form within clumps
4. Cores condense into young stars surrounded by dusty disks.
5. Planets form from disks and the new solar system is born
How were rocky planets formed?
Rockey inner planets were formed as spinning particles of dust and gas slammed into each other during the early stages of the solar system’s formation and stuck together until they developed gravity which caused them to bind together even more strongly.
I am an exploding star from which extremely dense objects can form.
Supernova
What is the summer solstice and winter solstice.
Summer Solstice:
occurs when one of the Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere. For that hemisphere, the summer solstice is when the Sun reaches its highest position in the sky and is the day with the longest period of daylight. June 21st marks the longest day of the year represents the start of summer
Winter Solstice:
occurs when one of the Earth's poles has its maximum tilt away from the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere. December 21 marking the shortest day of the year and the start of winter.
What is the Big Bang Theory? What evidence do scientists use to prove this?
The big bang theory states that the universe formed when an infinitely dense point suddenly and rapidly expanded in a single moment. All the matter and energy that exists today was created during the early minutes of that hot rapid expansion. The universe is expanding.
The main evidence for the Big Bang Theory is that the universe continues to expand and this can be determined by studying the spectral lines of distant planets and galaxies.
We can detect cosmic background radiation, called cosmic radiation, in the form of microwave energy, which is the energy left over from the big bang. It is a small part of the static that we sometimes hear on the radio. The cosmic background radiation provides surprising data that the expansion of the universe is actually accelerating.
What are the surface features of the sun?
Sunspots, Solar Prominences, Solar flares, Solar wind, aurora borealis
What is a comet vs a meteor vs a meteoroid.
Comets
A celestial object made of ice and dust. Come from the Oort Cloud in the most distant region of the solar system. Gravitational disturbances can cause comets to fall nearer the Sun, where they are heated. When they are carried away from the Sun by the solar wind, some of their icy particles break away and spread out like a tail, lit up by the Sun. They can be seen from Earth.
Meteoroids
Small pieces of rock or metal that travel throughout the solar system with no fixed path. Have a similar origin to asteroids and comets.
A meteor is a meteoroid that enters the Earth's atmosphere and burns up. If part of it strikes the Earth, it is called a meteorite.
What are the phases of the moon?
Draw and explain the Heliocentric model vs. Geocentric model
The geocentric model believed that the Earth was the centre of the universe. the sun, moon, planets, and stars all orbited Earth.
The sun is actually the centre of the universe and the earth and planets orbit around it.
What are galaxies made up of?
Stars, planets, Dust, Blackholes, dark matter.
Name the 5 parts of the sun
Corona, photosphere, convection zone, radiation zone, Chromosphere.
Please describe the birth/ formation of the moon.
A few million years after the formation of the young Earth, it may have been struck by an object the size of Mars called Theia. They melted and mixed to become the Earth we know. During the collision vaporized chunks of the young planet's crust got thrown into space. Gravity bound the ejected particles together, creating a moon.
Explain how the moon affects the tides.
Tides are periodic rises and falls of large bodies of water. Tides are caused by the gravitational interaction between the Earth and the Moon and lesser the sun. The gravitational attraction of the moon causes the oceans to bulge out in the direction of the moon. Another bulge occurs on the opposite side since the Earth is also being pulled toward the moon (and away from the water on the far side). So if the tide rises in one area they will fall in another. Since the earth is rotating while this is happening, two tides occur each day.
The opposite side has high tide because the earth itself is drawn towards the moon away from the water.
Explain with a diagram Retrograde motion
Retrograde motion is an APPARENT change in the movement of the planet through the sky. It is not REAL in that the planet does not physically start moving backwards in its orbit. It just appears to do so because of the relative positions of the planet and Earth and how they are moving around the Sun.
What is a blackhole?
A region of space where gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape, stars can be seen orbiting around it. It’s strong gravitational pull can pull stars right into it, which destroys the star, but adds to the mass of the black hole.