Astronomy 101

Front 1

vernal/ automnal equinoxes

Back 1

points on celestial equator where the sun crosses celestial equator while moving north/south.

Front 2

zodiac

Back 2

the stars that the sun passes during its way around the celestial sphere. the band tha tlies 9 degres on either side of the ecliptic on t he celestial sphere

Front 3

Rotation

Back 3

spinning of an object on its axis.

Front 4

milky way

Back 4

the galaxy we are in. composes of really far other stars.

Front 5

smallest/biggest planet in our solar system

Back 5

mercury/jupiter.

Front 6

1 AU

Back 6

distance from earth to sun

Front 7

ecliptic

Back 7

apparent path of the sun on celestial sphere.

Front 8

celestial equator

Back 8

line on celestial sphere directly above earth's equator

Front 9

right ascension

Back 9

the angle at which a star is, to the right of the vernal equinox

Front 10

declination

Back 10

where a star is, north or south of the celestial equator.

Front 11

arcminutes/arc seconds

Back 11

a measurement of angle. to describe the angle difference between two stars using your fist or pinky

Front 12

celestial sphere

Back 12

the make believe sphere around the earth that composes of all celestial objects.

Front 13

constellation /asterism difference

Back 13

constellation is something humans made up and is recognized. asterism is just a recognizeable grouping of stars.

Front 14

altitude

Back 14

the angle at which a star is measured from the equator , above the horizon.

Front 15

summer/ winter solstices

Back 15

points on celestial sphere where the sun reaches its most north / south positions, respectively.

Front 16

angular separation

Back 16

?

Front 17

elongation

Back 17

angle between sun and planet from earth.

Front 18

kepler's law 1

Back 18

planets move in ellipses

Front 19

kepler's law 2

Back 19

planets move faster when they're closer to sun

Front 20

newton's law 1

Back 20

law of inertia: body at rest will remain at rest / body in motion will remain in motion in straight line at same speed.

Front 21

newton's law 2

Back 21

acceleration = proportional to net force and inversely proportional to mass and is in the same direction as net force. as mass goes up, accell goes down

Front 22

newton's law 3

Back 22

action - reaction: forces come in pairs. no exceptions. opposite directions.

Front 23

mass

Back 23

how much matter in an object, same everywhere

Front 24

weight

Back 24

how hard gravity pulls on object, depends where u are

Front 25

universal law of gravitation

Back 25

Every point mass attracts every other point mass by a force pointing along the line intersecting both points. The force is proportional to the product of the two masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the point masses:

Front 26

neap tides

Back 26

neap: sun and moon on 90 dg. angle with earth, making it the LEAST differences in high/low tides.

Front 27

spring tides

Back 27

spring: when sun moon and earth are in align, making tides on both sides alot stronger: BIGGEST DIFFERENCE between high/low tides

Front 28

parallax

Back 28

apparent shifting of near/far objects as position of observer changes

Front 29

kepler's law 3

Back 29

to measure a cellestial object's year - revolution around sun.

Front 30

things that heliocentric model explained

Back 30

1. retrograde
2. elongations of merc/venus
3. variations in brightness
4. seasons

Front 31

synodic period

Back 31

time it takes for the moon to rotate and come back to the same position.

Front 32

triangulation

Back 32

use of parallax to determing distance to an object

Front 33

troposphere

Back 33

lowest level of the earth's and other planets atmospheres

Front 34

aurora

Back 34

light radiated in the upper atmosphere due to impacts from charged particles

Front 35

mare/maria

Back 35

any of the lowlands of the moon/mars taht resemble a sea when viewed from earth.

Front 36

fission theory

Back 36

theory that holds the moon formed when material was spun off from the earth