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Starry Starry Night Vocabulary
Artist: A person who creates art such as paintings, drawings or sculpture.
Astronomy: The study of objects outside the earth’s atmosphere, including planets and stars.
Author: A person who writes a story or a book.
Aztecs: An ancient civilization in Mexico. Aztecs studies the stars, noticed that the stars appear to
change in our sky, and made a calendar to keep track of how time passes.
Brown dwarf: The smallest, coolest star that shines dimly. It has enough mass to start nuclear fusion but
not enough for the fusion to become self-sustaining. Brown dwarfs are not common.
Calendar: A table showing the days of each week, month or year.
Chromosphere: The reddish gaseous layer immediately above the photosphere of the sun or another
star. Together with the corona, it constitutes the star's outer atmosphere.
Constellation: An arrangement or grouping of stars.
Corona: The gaseous atmosphere that envelopes the sun and other stars.
Dwarf star: Any of the very large groups of stars and associated matter that are found throughout the
universe.
Galaxy: A person who creates art such as paintings, drawings or sculpture.
Giant star: A very large, bright star that burns hydrogen at a much faster rate than a dwarf star. Giant
stars are much more luminous and have a shorter lifespan than the slower-burning dwarfs.
Gravity: The natural force that causes things to fall toward the earth. Gravity attracts a body toward any
other physical body having mass. The Earth's gravity keeps us grounded and causes objects to fall.
Hypergiant stars: The largest stars in the universe, even larger than supergiants. This star has enormous
mass and luminosity, which are signs of a very high rate of mass loss. These stares are rare.
Illustrate: To create a picture that makes an idea more attractive or easier to understand.
Illustrator: An artist who creates the images in books and magazines.
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Inspiration: To be strongly influenced by something.
Luminosity: In astronomy, the measure of a star's brightness; the greater the luminosity the brighter the
star appears. This is likewise a measure of the total amount of energy emitted by a star or other
astronomical objects.
Nebula: Any of the numerous clouds of gas or dust located in interstellar space.
Protostar: The hot core at the center of the collapsing cloud of gas and dust that one day becomes a
star. This is the early stage in the process of star formation.
Solar flare: A sudden, rapid, and intense variation in brightness on the sun or other star. A solar flare
occurs when magnetic energy that has built up in the solar atmosphere is suddenly released.
Star: A huge A self-luminous, gaseous celestial body which produces energy and whose size may be as
small as the earth or larger than the earth’s orbit. The Sun is the closest star to Earth.
Sun spots: Temporary phenomena on the photosphere of the Sun that appear visibly as dark spots
compared to surrounding regions. They appear dark because they are cooler than the surrounding
photosphere.
Supergiant star: A low-mass star of great size and luminosity that has a relatively low surface
temperature, giving it a reddish or orange hue. It is larger, brighter, and more massive than a giant star,
being thousands of times brighter than the Sun and has a relatively short lifespan. The lifespan of a
super giant is only about 10 to 50 million years as opposed to around 5 billion years for the Sun.
Symbol: Something used to represent a particular object or idea through relationship or association.
Telescope: A tool used to look at faraway objects like the stars. Astronomers use telescopes to study the
stars.