Earth and Space

Question	Answer
Asteroid	Usually LARGE chunks of rock and metal in space, found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Have no atmosphere and orbit the sun
Meteorite	a meteor that makes it all the way through Earth's atmosphere without burning up and actually hits Earth's surface creating a crater
Comet	Small bodies of mostly ice with some rock and iron that orbit the sun in elliptical orbits Ex. Halley's Comet
Nucleus	Water vapor and gas around the nucleus and ice melts near the sun in a COMET
Comet Head	The nucleus and coma of a COMET
Dust Tail	Trail of gases, dust, and debris left behind as a COMET gets close to the sun
Meteor	Meteoroid that enters Earth's atmosphere and burns up because of friction with the air of the atmosphere rubbing against rock creating enormous amount of heat (thermal energy)
Meteor	Also known as a shooting star; found in Earth's atmosphere
lunar eclipse	occurs when earth's shadow falls on the moon; when the earth is in between the sun and moon
solar eclipse	occurs when the moon's shadow falls on the Earth; when the moon is in between the sun and moon (happens when the sun's light is blocked by the moon)
Acceleration	Change in speed and/or direction.
Binary star system	Two stars in orbit around each other held together by mutual gravitational attraction.
Black hole	A very dense object from which nothing, not even light, can escape the strong gravitational pull. A black hole warps space and, possibly, time dramatically.
Electromagnetic spectrum	The entire range of wavelengths or frequencies of electromagnetic radiation (radiant energy from electrically charged particles and the resulting magnetism) extending from gamma rays to the longest radio waves and including visible light.
Escape velocity	The speed necessary to escape the gravitational influences of a massive body. This depends on the distance you are from the center of the body and mass of the body. The closer you are to the center of mass, and the more massive the body, the harder it is to escape and the faster you will have to travel.
Event horizon	The boundary that defines the point-of-no-return for a black hole. The escape velocity at the event horizon is the speed of light, 3x108 m/s. Once this boundary is crossed, no escape or communication with the world, outside the region of the black hole, is possible.
Force	Anything that can cause a change in speed of an object that has mass.
Fusion	The process in which nuclei of lighter elements combine to make heavier elements. For example, in the center of main sequence stars, hydrogen nuclei combine to make helium, resulting in a large energy release. This is the way stars are fueled.
Gravity	The force of attraction between two bodies that results from their masses. See "Universal Law of Gravitation".
Inertia	The tendency of a body at rest to stay at rest until met by an opposite equal or greater force, and a body in motion to keep moving until met by an opposite equal or greater force.
Mass	The quantity of matter in an object. A measure of how much matter an object contains.
Singularity	A region of zero volume and infinite density where the warping of space-time is infinite and the laws of physics break down, believed to be at the center of black holes.
Space-time	The combination of three spatial dimensions, length, width, and height, with time. The four together form the four-dimensional nature of our Universe. The effects of gravity can be regarded, as a result of the curving of space-time due to the presence of massive objects.
Speed of Light	The ultimate speed limit in the Universe. Nothing can go faster than the speed of light (as far as we currently know) and indeed it requires infinite energy to even reach this speed for any particle with mass.
Star	A tightly packed ball of mostly hydrogen gas and some helium gas with a nuclear fusion furnace that produces a huge amount of light and heat.
Supernova	Dramatic explosions marking the death of stars much more massive than our Sun (Giant and Supergiant stars). Neutron stars or stellar black holes are the objects that can be left behind.
Universal Law of Gravitation	Every mass exerts a force of attraction on every other mass.
Weight	The force on an object due to the gravitation influences of a massive object. I have weight because Earth tries to pull me to its center. In space I would have less weight because the force of gravity is less, however my mass would remain the same.
Reflecting telescope	Optical telescope that uses mirrors to enlarge objects
Refracting telescope	Optical telescope that uses glass lenses that CURVE to magnify (make it bigger) objects in space
Telescope	Tool used to see distances into space
Space Probe	UNMANNED; goes to a destination or out into space
Spacecraft	MANNED; might be in orbit or go to a destination
Satellite	UNMANNED; revolves around a planet or a moon in orbit
Space Station	MANNED; revolves around a planet or moon in orbit Ex. The International Space Station
Manned	There are people on it
Unmanned	There are no people on it
Revolution	1 year
Rotation	1 day
Orbit	The actual PATH the object takes on its revolution
The Milky Way	The galaxy our solar system is located (a spiral galaxy)
Elliptical Galaxy	Very little gas or dust, Oval Shaped Galaxy, Mostly made up of older stars
Irregular Galaxy	they can be any shape (except oval or spiral), Contain lots of gas and dust, New stars form all the time
Spiral Galaxy	Made up of both new and old stars; new stars form at ends of spiral arms, Contain lots of gas and dust in outer edges, not much near the center. Gas and dust pull together to form stars
What causes earth not to fly off into space?	The sun's gravitational pull, pulls the earth toward the sun.
What causes Earth not to crash in the sun?	Inertia causes the Earth to travel in a straight line.
Full Moon	Image: poop (image/jpg)
New Moon	Image: poop (image/jpg)
Waning Crescent Moon	Image: poop (image/jpg)
Waxing Crescent Moon	Image: poop (image/jpg)
Waning Gibbous Moon	Image: poop (image/jpg)
Waxing Gibbous Moon	Image: poop (image/jpg)
First Quarter Moon	Image: poop (image/jpg)
Third Quarter Moon	Image: poop (image/jpg)

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	Created by Niat Habtemariam about 11 years ago