| Term | Definition |
|---|
| universe | the sum of all matter and energy that exists, that ever existed and that will ever exist |
| star | a hugh ball of gas that emit light |
| galaxy | a collection of million or billion of stars bound together by gravity |
| light-year | the distance that light travels in one year |
| interstellar matter | the gas and dust located between the stars in a galaxy |
| cluster | a group of galaxies bound by gravity |
| red shift | a shift toward the red end of the spectrum in the observed spectral lines of stars or galaxies |
| big bang theory | a scientific theory that states that the universe began 10 billion to 20 billion years ago in an enormous explosion |
| constellation | a group of stars appearing in a pattern as seen from earth |
| red giant | a large, reddish star late in its life cycle that fuses helium inot carbon or oxygen |
| white dwarf | a small very dense star that remains after fusion in a red giant stops |
| supergiant | an extremely, large star that creaes elements as heavy as iron |
| neutron star | a dead star which the density of atomic nuclei |
| black hole | an object so massive and dense that not evey light can escape its gravity |
| solar system | the sun and all the objects that orbit it |
| planet | any of the nine primary bodies orbiting the sun or a similar body orbiting another star |
| asteroid | a small rocky object that orbits the sun, usually in a band between the orbits of Mercury and Jupiter |
| nebular body | a model that describes the sun and the solar system forming together out of a cloud of gas and dusst |
| phases | the different apparent shapes of the moon or a a planet due to the relative positions of the sun, earth and the moon or planets |
| eclipse | am event that occurs when on object passes inot the shadow of another object |
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