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Description
Flashcards by Hannah Cox, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by Hannah Cox
over 9 years ago
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| Question | Answer |
| Absolute Magnitude | A measure of how bright a star would appear if it was 10 parsecs from Earth |
| Apparent Magnitude | A measure of the brightness of a star as it appears to an observer on Earth |
| Blue Supergiants | Stars that are ten or more times more massive than the sun. |
| Binary Star System | When two stars orbit a common centre of mass |
| Black Dwarf | Cold dark remains of a white dwarf |
| Black Hole | Also known as a singularity, a collapsed star so massive that not even light can escape from its gravitational field. |
| Density | Mass per unit volume of a material |
| Electromagnetic spectrum | Different types of electromagnetic radiation ranging from radio waves to gamma rays |
| Gamma Rays | Very high-energy electromagnetic ray |
| Gravitational lensing | The bending of light rays due to the distortion of space caused by a massive object like a black hole. |
| Gravity | The force that causes all matter to collect together |
| isotope | atoms with the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons |
| Light-year (l.y.) | The distance light travels in a year, approximately 9 500 000 000 000 km |
| Magnitude | A measure of the brightness of a star |
| Main Sequence | A groups of stars lying on a line running from the top left to the bottom right of the H-R diagram. |
| Neutrino | An almost mass-less, neutral particle released during some nuclear reactions |
| Neutron Star | Remnant of a supernova, consisting entirely of neutrons |
| Nuclear fusion | Process in which hydrogen is converted into helium to produce light and heat |
| Parallax |
A technique used to measure the distance to other stars
Image:
Parallax.JPG (image/JPG)
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| Parsec | an astronomical unit of length equal to 3.26 light-years |
| Plasma | State of matter consisting of positively charged ions and free electrons |
| Positron | Positively charged electron |
| Planetary Nebula | A cloud of gas produced when a red giant runs out of fuel |
| Radiation pressure | The force produced by radiation from a hot object |
| Red Giant | a star produced when the core of a Sun-sized star runs out of hydrogen |
| Spectral class | A classification system for stars based on their colour |
| Spectrometer | A device that splits light into a spectrum to show its component wavelengths |
| Stellar parallax | The apparent change in the position of a star throughout the year due to the Earth's motion around the Sun |
| Supermassive black hole | A black hole millions or billions of times the mass of our Sun found at the centre of a galaxy |
| White Dwarf | hot, dense star that is the remains of a red giant |
| Big Bang | Theory that the universe began with an enormous explosion of energy |
| Blue Shift | The compression of light waves due to the motion of stars towards the Earth; blue-shift makes light appear bluer than it should. |
| Cosmic microwave background radiation | the afterglow of the Big Bang; low energy radiation that fills the universe |
| Cosmology | the study of the history and structure of the entire universe |
| Doppler effect | the expansion of waves due to the motion of the object making the waves |
| Milky Way |
the galaxy in which the solar system is located
Image:
milky_way.JPG (image/JPG)
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| Red-shift | The stretching of light waves due to the motion of stars away from the Earth; red-shift makes light appear more red than it should. |
| Steady state theory | Now discounted theory that the universe has always existed in the form that it is today; also known as the 'infinite universe' theory. |
| Abiogenesis | the formation of the living organisms from inanimate material |
| Accretion | process in which particles of dust and rock slowly come together due to gravity to form a larger object |
| Amino acids | organic compounds that can be combined to form proteins |
| Astrobiology | the study of living organisms beyond the Earth's atmosphere |
| Cyanobacteria | also known as blue-green bacteria, microscopic organisms that can store energy from sunlight using the process of photosynthesis. |
| Gas giant |
large planet consisting mainly of gases, e.g. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
Image:
gas_giant.JPG (image/JPG)
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| Hydrocarbon | a compound consisting primarily of hydrogen and carbon |
| Moon |
any naturally occurring satellite that orbits a planet
Image:
Moon.JPG (image/JPG)
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| Organic compounds | chemical compounds consisting primarily of chains of carbon and hydrogen molecules found primarily in living organisms |
| Panspermia | theory that life did not evolve on Earth but rather came to Earth on a comet or meteorite |
| Proteins | chemical compounds that all living organisms have |
| Planet | a celestial body that is in orbit around the Sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that is assumes a nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit |
| Protoplanetary disk | disk of gas surrounding a protostar that will form into planets |
| Protostar | a collapsing cloud of gas that will eventually become a star |
| Seismic waves | waves that carry the energy from an earthquake around the world |
| Terrestrial planet | literally 'Earth-like' planet, planet made primarily of rock and solid material, e.g. Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars |
| Supernova |
a giant explosion that occurs when a star many times larger than our Sun runs our of nuclear fuel
Image:
supernova.JPG (image/JPG)
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