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Astronomy

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Term
Definition
The Big Bang   Theory of how the universe began. Space started expanding/inflating  
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Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R) Diagram   Plot of stars luminosity vs. their colour/temperature. Blue star = hot temperature. Red star = cool temperature  
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Luminosity   The brightness of a star. How much energy it gives off.  
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Star   A cloud of gas that is undergoing nuclear fusion reaction in the core.  
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Nuclear fusion   A nuclear reaction that combines two Hydrogens into a He, for example. The process by which new elements are created.  
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Core of a star   The centre part of a star that is dense and hot.  
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Main Sequence   The evolution of most stars falls on the main sequence on the H-R diagram. Hot and bright stars eventually end up cool and dim.  
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Supernova   A huge, energy-releasing explosion of stellar material from a star.  
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Red Giant   A stage in stellar evolution towards the end of a star's life. The star has a very large radius and is relatively cool.  
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Red Dwarf   A stage in stellar evolution towards the end of a star's life. The star is relatively small and cool./dim.  
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White Dwarf   A stage in stellar evolution. The star is small and very hot/bright.  
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Black Hole   A massive star ends up collapsing under its own gravity and forms a black hole, whose gravity is so enormous that nothing, not even light can escape.  
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Neutron Star   A massive star ends up collapsing into a neutron star. All the electrons and protons combing into neutrons under the enormous gravity.  
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Nebula   A giant cloud of gas and dust.  
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Sun   A star that has planets revolving around it.  
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Planet   A rocky or gaseous celestial body that is orbiting a star.  
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Solar System   A sun and its planets/moons.  
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Phases of the moon   The moon reflects varying amounts of the sun's light as it orbits around the earth .  
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New Moon   The moon is between the earth and the sun and we do not see any reflected light.  
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Full Moon   The earth is between the sun and the moon and we see all the reflected light from the sun.  
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Constellation   A grouping of stars that we see in the night sky in the same location.  
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Aurora Borealis / Aurora Australis   The Northern /Southern Lights. Particles from the sun ionize atoms and molecules in the atmosphere, giving off light in the process.  
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Electromagnetic Radiation   Photon (particle of light) behaves as a wave with different frequencies/wavelenths. High frequency = high energy  
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Photon   particle of light travelling at 300,000,000 km/s  
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Electromagnetic Spectrum   The range of EM radiation from gramma rays (high energy) to radio waves (low energy)  
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Doppler effect   The perceived change in frequency of a wave because the wave source is moving relative to the observer or vice versa.  
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Blue Shift   The wave source is moving towards the observer (or vice versa) so the frequency of the wave appears to increase.  
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Red Shift   The wave source is moving away from the observer (or vice versa) so the frequency of the wave appears to decrease.  
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Frequency of a wave   How many times a wave is generated in one second.  
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Wavelength of a wave   The distance from the crest of a wave to the next crest. Or trough to trough.  
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Speed of a wave   The frequency of a wave times its wavelength is equal to its speed.  
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Winter Solstice/Summer Solstice   The shortest (Dec 21) /longest(June 21) day of the year on earth.  
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Spring/Fall Equinox   Two days of the year, March 21, September 21 where we have equal hours of day and night.  
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Astronomical Unit   The distance from the earth to the sun - about 150,000,000 km  
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Lightyear   The distance light can travel in one year - about 9.46 x 10^12 km  
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The age of the universe   Approximately 14 billion years.  
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The age of the sun   Approximately 4.5 billion years.  
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Inner Planets/Terrestrial Planets   Venus, Mercury, Earth, Mars  
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Outer Planets/Jovian planets   Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune,Uranus  
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Dark Matter/Dark Energy   Proposed theory that 27% of the matter in the universe does not interact with EM radiation. 70% of universe is made up of dark energy.  
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Lunar Eclipse   The earth passes in front of the full moon, blocking its reflected sunlight from reaching the earth.  
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Solar Eclipse   The new moon passes in front of the sun blocking its sunlight from reaching the earth.  
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Sunspots   Areas of magnetic fields on the sun  
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Solar flare   Solar prominence that erupts sending solar material into space  
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Solar prominence   Large loops of bright gas near sunspots  
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Corona   The sun's outer atmosphere, visible during a solar eclipse.  
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Asteroid   Chunks of rocky material, in various sizes, orbiting around the solar system.  
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Meteor   Asteroid that enters the earth's atmosphere burning up due to friction. Also known as shooting star.  
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Meteorite   Meteor that does not completely burn up in the earth's atmosphere and hits earth.  
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Kuiper belt   Belt of icy, rocky chunks orbiting the sun outside of Neptune.  
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Oort Cloud   A sphere of space dust and debris that extends to the very edge of the solar system.  
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Astronomy   The study of stars, planets, galaxies.  
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Cosmology   The study of the universe.  
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