| A | B |
|---|
| solar telescope (def) | projects a large image of sun into a dark room underground |
| photosphere (def) | the bright yellow surface of the sun 400 km thick |
| chromosphere (def) | lower part of outer atmosphere, seen only during eclipse |
| corona (def) | above chromosphere, very little gas |
| 3 layers of sun's atmosphere | corona, chromosphere, photosphere |
| sunspots (def) | dark spots on photosphere |
| umbra (def) | dark center of sunspot, occurs in pairs |
| penumbra (def) | lighter rim of sunspot |
| solar wind (def) | constant stream of electrically charged particles, fly into space in all directions |
| What usually precedes the eruption of huge flares on the sun? | sunspots |
| What percent of the energy that generates the weather on Earth comes from the sun? | 99.97 percent |
| Name 3 ways to study the sun safely | Spectroscope, Solar telescope, &Satellite Study |
| Granules (def.) | individual cells 1500km across, with a bright center and dark edges |
| Solar Prominences (def.) | Huge flamelike arches of material that originate in the chromosphere |
| Coronal holes (def) | great tears in the corona; solar winds pour from the holes |
| What is the source of the suns energy? | nuclear fusion |
| Eccentricity | Out of roundness of a circle |
| Formula for Eccentricity | E = focal distance divided by the major access |
| Geosynchronous Orbit | Orbit of a satellite that moves at the same speed as the Earth rotates thus keeping it stationary over the same spot on Earth |
| Polar Orbit | Satellite that moves over the poles and can view the entire globe |
| Used a telescope to study the moon, sun and discovered the 4 largest moons of Jupiter | Galileo |
| Wrote the 3 Laws of Planetary Motion | Kepler |
| Made the first long term sky observations without a telescope | Tycho Brahe |
| 1st to propose the Heliocentric Model of the solar system | Copernicus |
| 2 Astronomers that supported the geocentric model of the solar system | Ptolemy & Tycho Brahe |
| 3 Astronomers that support the heliocentric model of the solar system | Copernicus, Kepler & Galileo |
| Keplers 1st law of planetary motion | States the orbits of the planets are elliptical in shape |
| Perihelion (def) | Point in a planet's orbit where it is closest to the sun |
| Date of Earth's Perihelion | Jan 4th |
| Date of Earth's Aphelion | July 4th |
| Aphelion (def) | The point in a planet's orbit where it is furthest from the sun |
| Kepler's Second Law / Equal Area Law | Speed of a planet around the sun is not constant; planets revolve faster when they are closer to the sun |
| Kepler's 3rd Law / Harmonic Law | The period of a planet squared = the cube of the planets distance |
| Period of a planet (def) | The time it takes a planet to move around the sun |
| Escape Velocity | Minimum velocity needed to escape the gravitational pull of a planet, moon, or asteroid. |
| Relationship of Gravity to Mass | Directly proportional |
| Relationship of Gravity to Distance | Indirectly proportional |
| 5 planets visible in Earth's sky, without a telescope | Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn |
| Number of planets in our solar system | 8 |
| Magnetic Storms | Occur when particles thrown out by coronal holes & solar flares are added to the constant solar winds causing: interference with radio transmissions, increased aurora activity, cellular phone interruptions, compasses to read wrong |
| Solar Flares | Source of solar winds; rise up suddenly in areas of sunspot activity; as the # of sunspots increases, the # of solar flares increases |
| # of years in sunspot cycle of activity | 11 years |
| Northern Lights (Synonym) | Aurora Borealis |
| Filament (def) | Prominence seen as large thin areas above the chromosphere; large regions of very dense, cool gas, held in place by magnetic fields |
| Retrograde Motion | Apparent westward loop of a planet in its path across the sky due to planets passing lapping each other in space |
| Natural Satellite (Synonym) | Moon |
| Asteroids (def) | large piece of rock in space |
| Largest asteroid | Pallas |
| Comet (def) | Composed of dust & rock particles mixed in with frozen water, methane & ammonia; most have very eccentric orbits |
| Coma (def) | hazy, melting ice cloud around the solid part of the comet |
| Nucleus of comet (def) | Solid, frozen ball of the comet |
| Comet Tail (def) | Debris trail formed by the solar winds pushing away small melting particles |
| Direction a comet tail always faces | Away from the sun due to solar winds |
| Meteoroid | The small pieces of rock moving from space; possibly left over from a fully melted comet |
| Meteor (def) | A meteoroid that burns up in Earth's atmosphere; glows as it is falling |
| Meteorite (def) | The part of a meteoroid that did not totally burn up & strikes the Earth, sometimes making a crater |
| Large crater found in Arizona that has not been weathered or eroded away | Barringer Crater |
| Area of impact for most meteorites | Ocean |
| Land area of impact for most meteorites | Polar Regions |
| Einstein's Equations for the conservation of matter | E=mc(squared) meaning Energy equals mass X speed of light squared (matter is converted to energy and visa versa) |
