| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Universe | consists of all matter and energy |
| Big Bang Theory | Theory that suggests that the universe began with a huge explosion and is expanding still today due to that explosion |
| Background Radiation | energy spread evenly throughout the universe |
| Quasars | oldest and furthest objects in space |
| Background Radiation, Quasars, and Red Shifts | What is the evidence for the Big Bang? |
| Doppler Shift | a red shift in the spectrum that shows when object is moving away from you |
| Model | a representation, on a smaller scale to look at objects and distances that normally would be difficult to study. Allows you to test and manipulate your ideas and hypothesis |
| Open Universe Model | Universe continues to expand |
| Closed Universe Model | Universe expands but will eventually slow down and stop and begin collapsing back onto itself |
| Light Year | the distance light travels in one year in a vacuum |
| 9.46x10(12)km | 1 light year=__km |
| Astronomical Unit (AU) | the average distance between the Earth and the sun |
| Parallax | the apparent displacment of an object because of the change in position of an observer |
| the lesser the parallax | The greater the distance to an object= the _____ the parallax |
| Galaxy | a large group of stars, gas, and dust held together by gravity |
| Sol | What is our sun's name? |
| Milky Way Galaxy | in the Local Group of galaxies. composed of 200 billion stars; sprial shaped |
| The Milky Way Galaxy | What is the galaxy our solar system is in? |
| About 25000ly | How far is our Sun from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy? |
| Spiral Galaxy | spinning disk, swollen center, pinwheel shaped arms |
| Bar Spiral Galaxy | Like a reg. spiral without swollen center; resembles a bar with arms |
| Irregular Galaxy | No uniform shape |
| Eliptical Galaxy | Flattened, sphere shaped |
| Nebula | a large spinning cloud of gas and dust held together by gravity |
| Fusion | the forcing together of 4 hydrogen atoms to make Helium and lots of energy |
| Nebulae Interstellar Clouds | Stars are formed in ____ ___. |
| Main Sequence Stars | 90% of stars are__ __ stars. |
| smaller stars | (Smaller/Larger) stars live longer |
| they burn fuel rapidly | Main Sequence stars burn fuel (rapidly/slowly) |
| nuclear reaction | A red giant creates itself from a ___ ___ inside the star. |
| 8 times | Supergiant's mass is __x the mass of our sun |
| Helium | What is a giant star's source of energy? |
| the most explosive event of a star's life | A supernova is... |
| at the end of a star's life | When does a supernova occur? |
| mass | The star's life cycle depends on it's ___. |
| Dense, collapsed stars | Black Holes may be formed from ___, ___ stars |
| nothing, except the effect they have on other objects in space | What do we know about black holes? |
| White Dwarf | a very small, hot star |
| carbon and oxygen | What are white dwarfs made of? |
| White dwarfs can no longer produce energy. | what can white dwarfs no longer produce? |
| sun & earth | White Dwarfs have the mass of the ___ and are the size of ___. |
| black dwarf | When a white dwarf emits all it's energy, it is called what? |
| final | Black dwarfs are the ___ stage in the life cycle of a medium sized star |
| A star expands as it gets older. | what happens to a star as it gets older? |
| collapses and explodes | Eventually a star ___ and ___. |
| Fusion | When two or more objects or chemicals fuse together |
| neutron star | The smallest star is a __ star. |
| Sirius | What is the brightest star we see from Earth? |
| Binary Star System | two stars circling eachother |
| Nova | the result of two stars bumping into eachother |
| Spectrascopes | used by scientists to measure starlight, and separates light into different colors |
| Luminosity | the rate at which electromagnetic radiation is given off by a star. |
| watts | What is luminosity measured in? |
| 3.9x10(26) | What is the Sun's luminosity? |
| Absolute Magnitude | A measure of the brightness of stars if the stars were placed at the same distance from the Earth. |
| Allows for comparison by eliminating distance | What does using absolute magnitude allow? |
| Apparent Magnatude | A measure of the brightness of light from a star or other object as seen from Earth. |
| H-R Diagram | Diagram that shows the relationship between a star's temperature and its brightness. |
| It provides information about the age of a star | What does a H-R Diagram provide? |
| Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram | What does "H-R Diagram" stand for? |
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