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140 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
________________ are people who study objects in space.
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astronomers
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___________________ is a general term for all the objects in space, including the Sun, other stars, planets, and the Moon
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celestial bodies
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__________________ is energy transmitted in the form of waves
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radiation
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__________________ are moving away from each other. In other words, the universe appears to be expanding.
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galaxies
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An instrument that can separate white light into its wavelengths of colour is the ________________.
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spectroscope
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This instrument first detected background radiations in the 1960s :_______________________
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radio telescope
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Background radiation has been mapped by ___________.
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space probes
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The term ___________________________ is used when wavelengths of a star become longer as it moves away from you.
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red shift
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If a star is moving toward you, its wavelengths become _________________.
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compressed
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The theory that suggest that 13.7 billion years ago a tiny volume of space suddenly and rapidly expanded to an immense size is the _______________________.
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Big Bang theory
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What are examples of celestial bodies?
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The Sun, other stars, the Moon, and planets
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What does the Big Bang theory state?
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The universe formed approximately 13.7 billion years ago.
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What is a red shift?
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A red shift occurs as an object moves away from Earth.
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What is radiation?
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Energy that is carried in the form of waves.
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What does a spectroscope do?
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It separates light into its basic component colours.
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What do astronomers do?
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They study objects in space.
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If a star is moving towards you, its wavelengths ___________________
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become compressed/blue shift
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If a star is moving away from you, its wavelengths ________________________.
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get longer/red shift
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A galaxy is a huge group of _______________, __________, and ________________ that is held together by _______________.
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stars
gas dust gravity |
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There might be as many as several ___________________ galaxies in the universe and each galaxy might contain more than a _______________ stars.
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billion
billion |
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A ________________ is a dense cloud-like collection of gas and dust in space.
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nebula
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If you could look down at a _______________ galaxy from above, it would look like a pinwheel.
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spiral
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The Sun is part of the __________________ galaxy, which is a type of _________________ galaxy.
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Milky Way
spiral |
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An _________________ galaxy has the shape of a flattened circle.
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elliptical
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Galaxies that do not have any regular type of shape are called _____________ galaxies.
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irregular
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_______________ and __________________ are the building blocks of stars
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gas
dust |
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Groups of stars within galaxies are called __________________.
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star clusters
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_________________ clusters are collections of 100,000 to 1 000 000 stars arranged in spherical shapes.
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Globular
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_________________ clusters are collections of up to a few thousand stars that are roughly the same age.
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Open
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What is the percentage of galaxies that are elliptical? (approx)
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more than 50%
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What is a galaxy?
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A huge group of stars, gas and dust that is held together by gravity.
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What is a nebula?
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A dense cloud-like collection of gas and dust in space.
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Describe a spiral galaxy. 3 points.
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-from above it looks like a pinwheel
-from the side it looks like a plate with a ball in the center -lots of gas, dust and young stars |
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Describe an elliptical galaxy. 3 points.
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-the shape of a flattened circle
-range in shape -has some of the oldest stars in the universe |
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Describe an irregular galaxy. 2 points.
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-no regular type of shape
-lots of gas and dust |
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What are star clusters?
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Groups of stars that are found within galaxies.
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What is a globular star cluster?
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It has 100,000 to 1,000,000 stars
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What is an open star cluster?
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A collection of up to a few thousand stars. All roughly the same age.
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During most of the life of a star, atoms of _______________ gas fuse and becomes atoms of _____________ gas. This nuclear change, called nuclear ____________, releases tremendous amounts of energy.
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hydrogen
helium fusion |
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Stars that are ________________ in colour are fairly hot, with a surface temperature of about 6000 °C
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yellow
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Stars that are ____________ in colour are fairly cool, about 3000°C
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red
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Stars that are ______________ in colour are extremely hot, ranging from 20,000°C to 40,000°C
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whitish-blue
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When the wavelengths of a star's light changes due to its motion, the change is called the _________________.
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Doppler effect
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The "life" of a star depends on its ___________.
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mass
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Low mass stars, called ______________ stars, use up their hydrogen slowly.
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red dwarf
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As intermediate mass stars age, they get smaller, cooler and dimmer, becoming a ________________ and eventually, an even cooler, darker __________________ star.
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white dwarf
black dwarf |
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When the nearing the end of its life, the core of a high mass star collapses in a dramatic powerful explosion called a _________________________. For very high mass stars, the remaining core contracts further, resulting in a rapidly rotating, unimaginably dense ______________ star.
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supernova
neutron |
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The core of an extremely massive star can contract greatly into a super-compact, super-dense object called a ____________________________.
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black hole
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What is a star?
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A massive, gaseous, spherical object in space that gives off light and other forms of energy due to nuclear reactions in the core.
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What happens when hydrogen gases fuse and becomes helium gas?
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Nuclear change or nuclear fusion.
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What temperature are yellow stars?
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6000 °C
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What temperature are red stars?
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3000°C
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What temperature are whitish-blue stars?
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20,000°C - 40,000°C
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What is the Doppler effect?
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When an object moves, and the wavelength of its light changes.
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Describe how hydrogen being burned relates to the life of a star, etc.
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The faster hydrogen is burned, the shorter the lifespan.
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What is a supernova?
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At the end of a high mass star's life, it collapses dramatically into this powerful explosion.
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What is a black hole?
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The result of an extremely massive star contracting. It is super-compact and super-dense, the gravity is so great not even light can escape it.
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What will a low mass star eventually become?
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A white dwarf.
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What are solar prominences?
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Streamers of glowing gas that arch into space.
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What are solar flares? And solar winds?
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Violent outbursts of hot gases that send streams of high-energy particles into space; these streams are called the solar wind
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What are sunspots?
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Cooler, darker regions at the surface; their numbers increase and decrease in a regular pattern
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What is the photosphere?
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The "surface" of the Sun
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What is the corona?
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The outermost region of gas surrounding the Sun
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The order of the planets?
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MY VERY EDUCATED MOTHER *pause* JUST SERVED US NACHOS.
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars (ASTEROID BELT SEPARATION) Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune |
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The Sun is a huge sphere of mostly _____________ gas.
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hydrogen
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The _______________________ that take places at the Sun's core generate, heat, light, and other forms of energy that radiate outward in all directions.
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nuclear reactions
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The streamers of glowing gas that arch into space from the Sun are called _______________.
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solar prominences
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The violent outbursts of hot gases from the Sun that send streams of high-energy particles into space are called ____________. These streams of particles are called the ____________________.
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solar flares
solar wind |
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Planets spin on an imaginary line called an _____________ in a motion called _______________.
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axis
rotation |
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Planets travel around the Sun in a motion called _________________.
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revolution
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The rocky inner planets, also called ____________ planets, are: _________ _________ _________ & ___________
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Jovian
Mercury Venus Earth Mars |
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The planets that are gas giants, also called ____________ planets, are: _____ ________ _______ & ___________
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terrestrial
Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune |
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All planets except for Mercury and Venus have at least one ______________.
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moon
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Small objects that orbit the Sun and are mainly found between Mars and Jupiter are called ____________.
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asteroids
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Objects made of rock and ice that orbit the Sun and come from the Oort cloud are called ____________.
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comets
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What is a solar system?
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A group of planets circling a star.
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What is a planet?
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A spherical object circling a star.
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What is rotation?
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When planets spin on an axis
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What is revolution?
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When planets travel around the Sun
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What are asteroids?
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Small rocky objects that orbit the Sun.
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What are comets?
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Objects made of rock and ice from the Oort cloud.
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The unit that is commonly used to describe distances in space is the ____________
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light-year
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Light moves at a speed of nearly _________________
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300,000 km per second (km/s)
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Light from the Sun takes about 4.2 _________ to reach the nearest star, about 5 ___________ to reach the farthest planet in the solar system, and about 8 minutes to reach Earth
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years
hours |
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____________________ involves creating an imaginary triangle between an observer and the object
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Triangulation
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An ancient technique for measuring the distances to stars involves the effect of ________________
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parallax
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______________ is the apparent change in position of a nearby object when it is viewed from two different points
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parallax
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The life of a low mass star?
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Low mass star -> red dwarf -> white dwarf
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The life of an intermediate mass star?
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imassstar -> red giant -> black dwarf
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The life of a high mass star?
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->supergiant -> supernova -> black hole or neutron star
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What are solar prominences?
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Streams of glowing gas that arch into space.
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What are solar flares?
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Violent outbursts of hot gases that send streams of high-energy particles into space
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What is the solar wind?
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Result of the solar flares.
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What are sunspots?
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Cooler, darker regions at the surface; their numbers increase and decrease in a regular patten
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What is the photosphere?
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The surface of the Sun
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What is the corona?
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The outermost region of gas surrounding the Sun (3 million degrees)
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Earth's ____________ is tilted on an angle of 23.5°, which causes light from the Sun to strike Earth at different angles during its orbit around the Sun.
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axis
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An ____________ is the total or partial blocking of sunlight that occurs when one object in space passes in front of another.
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eclipse
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In a _________ eclipse, the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, briefly blocking our view of the Sun.
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solar
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In a __________ eclipse, Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon, briefly plunging the Moon into darkness as Earth's shadow moves across it.
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lunar
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People who observe where the full shadow of the Moon falls on Earth;s surface see a ________ solar ________.
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total
eclipse |
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People who observe where only part of the Moon's shadow falls see a _________ solar ________>
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partial
eclipse |
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When the Moon lies fully in Earth's shadow, people see a _________ lunar ___________.
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total
eclipse |
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Groupings of stars that look like familiar patterns are called __________.
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constellations
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Greek astronomer ____________ thought that Earth was in the centre of the universe.
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Ptolemy
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In the early 1500s, a Polish astronomer named __________________ proposed a model of the heavens in which planets, including Earth, revolved around the Sun.
Italian astronomer ____________ confirmed his model. |
Copernicus
Galileo |
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In the early 1600s, a German mathematician named ______________ predicted that the planets revolved around the Sun in elliptical orbits.
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Kepler
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What degree does the Earth's axis tilt on?
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23.5°
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What does this axis tilt cause?
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It causes light from the Sun to strike Earth at different angles - aka seasons.
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How did the Moon form?
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Something hit Earth and pieces broke off and began to orbit Earth, and slowly built up to be the Moon.
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What is an eclipse?
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An eclipse is the total or partial blocking of sunlight that occurs when one object passes in front of another.
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What happens during a solar eclipse?
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The Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth.
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What happens during a lunar eclipse?
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Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon
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What are constellations?
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Patterns of stars the look like familiar objects.
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What did Ptolemy think?
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That the Earth was in the centre of the universe.
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What did Copernicus think?
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Planets revolved around the Sun.
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What did Galileo do?
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Confirmed Copernicus' model.
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What did Kepler think?
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Predicted the planets revolved around the Sun in ELLIPTICAL orbits
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The Earth revolving around the Sun/seasons:
N- E- S- W- |
spring
winter in northern hemisphere autumn summer in northern hemisphere |
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A ____________ view is one that sees all aspects of the physical and spiritual universe connected.
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holistic
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What is a holistic view?
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A view from one that sees all aspects of the physical and spiritual universe connected.
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Most of what we know of the solar system and the rest of the universe depends on _______ observation using a variety of technologies.
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indirect
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________________ telescopes collect and focus the visible light from distant objects.
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Optical
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___________ telescopes collect and focus radio waves from distant objects,
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Radio
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____________ are put in orbit around Earth to send and receive data from Earth. If one stays in a fixed spot above Earth, it is in a ________________ orbit
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satellites
geosynchronous |
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______________ are space vehicles that are sent to other planets and space objects to fly past, orbit, or land on them.
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probes
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__________ are robotic devices that are designed to move around on the surface of a planet/moon to collect data
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rovers
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Space travel is made possible by ________________, which are devices that transport materials and equipment into space.
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rockets
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_________________ considers questions about whether something is right or wrong.
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Ethics
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_________________ other planets or moons means making them suitable for supporting human life.
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Terraforming
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What were the three "categories" for stars in the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram?
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Luminosity, colour and temperature
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The geocentric model is where everything revolves around the ________
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Earth
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The heliocentric model is where everything revolves around the ________
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Sun
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New moon has _______ __________
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no light
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Waxing moon, you ____ _________
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see more
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Full moon is _____
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full!!!!
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Waning moon, you ____ ________
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see less
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Meteroids:
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floating through space
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Meteors:
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burning up in Earth's atmosphere
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Meteorites:
(REMEMBER ROID OR RITE? which is the order from space to surface...) |
hit Earth surface
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