Earth Sci Astronomy Unit Pt 2
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26 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Fusion | The creation of energy by joining the nuclei of two hydrogen atoms to form helium. |
| Luminosity | How bright a star will be in relation to the sun |
| Magnitude | Another word for brightness |
| Photosphere | The lowest layer of the Sun's atmosphere and the layer that gives off light |
| Chromosphere | A thin layer of the sun's atmosphere between the corona and the photosphere; too faint to see unless there is a total solar eclipse |
| Corona | The outer layer of the sun's atmosphere; looks like a crown around it during a solar eclipse |
| Sunspot | A dark area of gas on the sun that is cooler than surrounding gases |
| H-R Diagram | Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, a graph that shows the relationship between a star's surface temperature and absolute magnitude |
| Nebula | A large cloud of gas and dust in interstellar space; a region in space where stars are born |
| Black Hole | Remnant of a star that is so dense that nothing, not even light, can escape its gravity field. |
| Supernova | The brilliant explosion of a dying supergiant star |
| Neutron Star | The collapsed core of a supernova whose dense core has only neutrons |
| White Dwarf | The blue-white hot core of a star that is left behind after its outer layers have expanded and drifted out into space |
| Supergiant Star | The largest star yet has the shortest lifespan; about 1000 times the diameter of sun |
| Giant Star | A large star with great luminosity and a diameter 10 to 100 times greater than that of the sun |
| Constellation | A group of stars that form a pattern in the sky |
| Asterism | Small groups of stars that form a pattern within constellations |
| Circumpolar | A term describing a star that neither rises nor sets but appears to rotate around one of the celestial poles. |
| Core | The central region of a star, where nuclear fusion takes place |
| Solar Flares | Violent eruptions of particles and radiation from the surface of the Sun |
| Prominence | A loop of gas that protrudes from the sun's surface, linking parts of sunspot regions |
| Solar Wind | A stream of electrically charged particles that come from the sun's corona |
| Protostar | Early form of a star; This stage lies between the collapsing of dust and gas and the beginning of nuclear fusion |
| Main Sequence | A band of stars that includes most stars of average color, size, magnitude, and temperature |
| Convective Zone | The region of the sun's interior that is between the radiative zone and the photosphere and in which energy is carried upward by convection |
| Radiative Zone | The middle zone of the sun's interior where thermal energy moves outward from the core by radiation |
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