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15 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Astronomical Unit |
A unit of measurement equal to Earth's average distance from the sun, about 150 million kilometers |
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Nuclear fusion |
The process by which hydrogen atoms join together in the sun's core to form helium |
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comet |
A loose collection of ice, dust and small rocky particles, typically a long, narrow orbit |
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asteroid |
Rocky objects revolving around the sun that are too small and numerous to be considered planets |
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meteor |
a streak of light in the sky produced by the burning of a meteroid in Earth's atmosphere |
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spectograph |
an instrument that separates lights into colors and makes an image of the resulting spectrum |
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light year |
the distance that light travels in one year about 9.5 million kilometers |
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nebula |
a large cloud of gas and dust in space, spread out in an immense volume |
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supernova |
The brilliant explosion of a dying super giant star |
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neutron star |
the small, dense remains of a high-mass star after a super nova |
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black hole |
an object whose gravity is so strong that, nothing, not even light can escape |
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spiral galaxy |
a galaxy with a bulge in the middle anf arms that spiral outward in a pinwheel pattern |
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big bang |
the initial explosion that resulted in the formation and expansion of the universe |
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dark energy |
a mysterious force that appears to be causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate |
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dark matter |
matter that does not give off electromagnetic radiation but is quite abundant in the universe |