| Term | Definition |
| Astronomy | The study of the universe |
| Year | The time required for the Earth to orbit once around the sun |
| Month | Roughly the amount of time required for the moon to orbit once around the earth |
| Day | The time required for the Earth to rotate once on its axis |
| Ptolemy | State theory that Earth was the center of the universe |
| Copernicus | Stated theory that Sun was the center of the universe |
| Tycho Brahe | Used a mural quadrant to measure positions of stars and planets |
| Johannes Kepler | Discovered that planets revolve around the Sun in elliptical orbits |
| Galileo | One of the first people to use a telescope |
| Issac Newton | Stated that planets orbit Sun because of gravity |
| Edwin Hubble | Stated that there were other galaxies beyond the Milky Way |
| telescope | an instrument that collects electromagnetic radiation from the sky and concentrates it for better observation |
| refracting telescope | a telescope that uses a set of lenses to gather and focus light from distant objects |
| reflecting telescope | a telescope that uses a curved mirror to gather and focus light from distant objects |
| electromagnetic spectrum | all of the frequencies or wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation |
| constellations | a region of the sky that contains a recognizable star pattern |
| zenith | the point in the sky directly above an observer on earth |
| altitude | the angle between an object in the sky and the horizon |
| horizon | the line where the sky and the Earth appear to meet |
| Circumpolar stars | Stars that can be seen at all times of year and all times of night |
| light-year | the distance that light travels in one year: about 9.46 trillion kilometers |
| Doppler effect | Sounds are higher pitch as they approach and lower pitched after they pass |