Download Vocabulary Sheets for The Universe

EARTH SCIENCE VOCABULARY: THE UNIVERSE
Please see pages 658-694 of your textbook.
ILLUSTRATION
OWN WORDS DEFINITION
OFFICIAL MEANING
Astronomy is a natural science that deals
with the study of celestial objects (such as
moons, planets, stars, nebulae, and
galaxies); the physics, chemistry, and
evolution of such objects; and phenomena
that originate outside the atmosphere of
Earth (such as supernovae, gamma ray
bursts, and cosmic background radiation).
TERM
1.
Astronomy
A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound
system consisting of stars, stellar remnants,
an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and
an important but poorly understood
component called dark matter. The word
galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias
γαλαξίας, literally "milky", a reference to the
Milky Way.
2.
Galaxy
The electromagnetic spectrum is the range
of all possible frequencies of
electromagnetic radiation. The
electromagnetic spectrum extends from
below the low frequencies used for modern
radio communication through visible light
and on to gamma radiation at the shortwavelength (high-frequency) end, thereby
covering wavelengths from thousands of
kilometers down to a fraction of the size of
an atom.
An instrument designed to detect visible
light, radio waves, x-rays or another part of
the electromagnetic spectrum emanating
from a source that is distant. Translated,
“telescope” means “see at a distance.”
They may be used to make observations on
earth (for example, a ship at see looking at
a coastline) or to observe other objects in
the universe.
3.
Electromagnetic Spectrum
4.
Telescope
A telescope in which electromagnetic
radiation from the object is gathered and
focused by a concave mirror, with the
resulting image magnified by the eyepiece
or camera. Many reflecting telescopes are
designed for use by amateur astronomers,
and can easily be carried around.
5.
Reflecting Telescope
ILLUSTRATION
OWN WORDS DEFINITION
OFFICIAL MEANING
A telescope in which light from an object is
gathered and focused by lenses, with the
resulting image magnified by the eyepiece.
Refracting telescopes do not use mirrors to
focus the image.
TERM
1.
Refracting Telescope
A rotation is a circular movement of an
object. A three-dimensional object rotates
always around an imaginary line called a
rotation axis. If the axis is within the body,
and passes through its center of mass the
body is said to rotate upon itself, or spin.
Each time the Earth completes another day,
it has completed a rotation.
2.
Rotation
A revolution is a circular movement of an
object around another object or point in
space. Each time the Earth completes
another year, it has completed a revolution.
3.
Revolution
The perihelion is the point in the orbit of a
planet, asteroid or comet where it is nearest
to the sun. The word perihelion stems from
the Greek words "peri" (meaning "near")
and "helios" (meaning "sun"). All planets,
comets and asteroids in our solar system
have elliptical (non-circular) orbits. Thus,
they all have a closest and a farthest point
from the sun: a perihelion and an aphelion.
4.
Perihelion
The aphelion is the point in the orbit of a
planet, asteroid or comet where it is nearest
to the sun. The word perihelion stems from
the Greek words "apo” meaning “away, off,
apart” and "helios" (meaning "sun"). All
planets, comets and asteroids in our solar
system have elliptical (non-circular) orbits.
Thus, they all have a closest and a farthest
point from the sun: a perihelion and an
aphelion.
5.
Aphelion
The date on which the day and night of the
Earth (or another planet) are most equal. It
is from the Greek words meaning “equal
night.” On Earth, there are two equinoxes,
one in Spring (approximately March 20) and
one in Autumn (approximately September
22), when the day and night are both 12
hours long.
6.
Equinox
The day of the solstice is either the "longest
day of the year" or the "shortest day of the
year" for any place on Earth, because the
length of time between sunrise and sunset
on that day is the yearly maximum or
minimum for that place. The name is
derived from the Latin words sol (“sun”) and
sistere (“to stand still”). During the solstice,
the Sun stands still; that is, the seasonal
movement of the Sun's path comes to a
stop before reversing direction
The collection of planets and their moons in
orbit around a sun, together with smaller
bodies such as asteroids, meteoroids, and
comets.
7.
Solstice
8.
Solar System
Greek astronomers employed the term
asteres planetai (άστέρες πλανηται),
"wandering stars", for objects which
apparently move over the sky. A planet is a
body that orbits the Sun, is massive enough
for its own gravity to make it round, and has
"cleared its neighborhood" of smaller
objects around its orbit. Under this new
definition, Pluto and the other transNeptunian objects do not qualify as planets.
Gaseous cloud from which, in the nebular
hypothesis of the origin of the solar system,
the Sun and planets formed by
condensation. In 1755 Immanuel Kant
suggested that a nebula gradually pulled
together by its own gravity developed into
the Sun and planets. A modified version, in
which a rotating disk of matter gave rise to
the planets through successively larger
agglomerations, from dust grains through
planetesimals and protoplanetsis the
currently best-believed theory of the solar
system's origin.
9.
Planet
10. Solar Nebula
EARTH SCIENCE VOCABULARY: THE UNIVERSE PART 2
Please see pages 658-694 of your textbook.
ILLUSTRATION
OWN WORDS DEFINITION
OFFICIAL MEANING
The word planetesimal comes from the
mathematical concept infinitesimal and
literally means an ultimately small fraction
of a planet. A planetesimal is a solid object
arising during the accumulation of planets
whose internal strength is dominated by
self-gravity and whose orbital dynamics is
not significantly affected by gas drag. This
corresponds to objects larger than
approximately 1 km in the solar nebula.
A measure of the deviation of an elliptical
path, especially an orbit, from a perfect
circle. It is equal to the ratio of the distance
between the foci of the ellipse to the length
of the major axis of the ellipse (the distance
between the two points farthest apart on the
ellipse). Eccentricity ranges from zero (for a
perfect circle) to values approaching 1
(highly elongated ellipses).
TERM
11. Planetisimal
12. Eccentricity
The orbital period is the time taken for a
given object to make one complete orbit
about another object. The earth takes one
year to revolve around the sun; this is its
orbital period.
13. Orbital Period
Inertia is the resistance of any physical
object to a change in its state of motion or
rest, or the tendency of an object to resist
any change in its motion. The principle of
inertia is one of the fundamental principles
of classical physics which are used to
describe the motion of matter and how it is
affected by applied forces. Inertia comes
from the Latin word, iners, meaning idle, or
lazy.
14. Inertia
The parsec (symbol: pc) is a unit of length
used in astronomy. It is about 3.26 lightyears, which is about
30.9 trillion (3.09×1013) kilometers or about
19.2 trillion (1.92×1013) miles.
15. Parsec
ILLUSTRATION
OWN WORDS DEFINITION
OFFICIAL MEANING
A light-year, also light year or lightyear
(symbol: ly), is a unit of length equal to just
under 10 trillion kilometers (or about 6
trillion miles). As defined by the
International Astronomical Union (IAU), a
light-year is the distance that light travels in
a vacuum in one Julian year
TERM
16. Lightyear
An astronomical unit (abbreviated as AU) is
a unit of length equal to exactly
149,597,870,700 meters, approximately the
mean Earth–Sun distance.
17. Astronomical Unit (A.U.)
A natural satellite or moon is a celestial
body that orbits a planet or smaller body,
which is called its primary. Formally
classified moons include 176 planetary
satellites orbiting six of the eight planets,
and eight orbiting three of the five IAU-listed
dwarf planets.
18. moon
In astronomy, the geocentric model (also
known as geocentrism, or the Ptolemaic
system), is the theory that the Earth is the
orbital center for all celestial bodies.. As
such, most Ancient Greek philosophers
assumed that the Sun, Moon, stars, and all
known planets circled the Earth. This
viewpoint continued until 1838, when
astronomical observations showed it could
not be correct.
Retrograde motion is motion in the direction
opposite to the movement of something
else. This motion can be the orbit of one
body about another body or about some
other point, or the rotation of a single body
about its axis. In reference to celestial
systems, retrograde motion usually means
motion which is contrary to the rotation of
the primary, that is, the object which forms
the system's hub. All eight planets in our
solar system orbit the Sun in the direction
that the Sun is rotating. Six of the planets
also rotate about their axis in this same
direction. The exceptions—the planets with
retrograde rotation—are Venus and
Uranus.
19. geocentric
20. retrograde motion
ILLUSTRATION
OWN WORDS DEFINITION
OFFICIAL MEANING
In the heliocentric solar system, the planets
revolve around a relatively stationary Sun at
the center of the Solar System. The word
comes from the Greek (ἥλιος helios "sun"
and κέντρον kentron "center"). Historically,
heliocentrism was opposed to geocentrism,
which placed the Earth at the center.
Heliocentric models were suggested as
early as the 3rd Century BCE, but did not
become popular until the 1800s.
Gravitation, or gravity, is a natural
phenomenon by which physical bodies
attract each other with a force proportional
to their masses. Gravitation is most familiar
as the agent that gives weight to objects
with mass and causes them to fall to the
ground when dropped. Gravity is
responsible for the formation of solar
systems and their parts, and for keeping the
parts in orbit.
The four inner or terrestrial planets have
dense, rocky compositions, few or no
moons, and no ring systems. They are
composed largely of silicates, and metals
such as iron and nickel. Three of the four
inner planets (Venus, Earth and Mars) have
atmospheres substantial enough to
generate weather; all have impact craters
and tectonic surface features such as rift
valleys and volcanoes.
A terrestrial planet, telluric planet or rocky
planet is a planet that is composed primarily
of silicate rocks or metals. Within the Solar
System, the terrestrial planets are the inner
planets closest to the Sun. The terms are
derived from Latin words for Earth (Terra
and Tellus), as these planets are, in terms
of composition, "Earth-like". Terrestrial
planets have a solid planetary surface
In the broadest sense, the term impact
crater can be applied to any depression,
natural or manmade, resulting from the high
velocity impact of a projectile with a larger
body. In most common usage, the term is
used for the approximately circular
depression in the surface of a planet, moon
or other solid body in the Solar System,
formed by the hypervelocity impact of a
smaller body with the surface. In contrast to
volcanic craters, which result from
explosion or internal collapse,[1] impact
craters typically have raised rims and floors
that are lower in elevation than the
surrounding terrain.
TERM
21. heliocentric
22. Gravity
23. Inner Planets
24. Terrestrial Planets
25. Impact Crater
ILLUSTRATION
OWN WORDS DEFINITION
OFFICIAL MEANING
The greenhouse effect is a process by
which thermal radiation from a planetary
surface is absorbed by atmospheric
greenhouse gases, and is re-radiated in all
directions. Since part of this re-radiation is
back towards the surface and the lower
atmosphere, it results in an elevation of the
average surface temperature above what it
would be in the absence of the gases
TERM
26. Greenhouse Effect
The outer planets are those planets in the
Solar System beyond the asteroid belt, and
hence refers to the gas giants, which are in
order of their distance from the Sun:
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. All
four planets have rings, although Saturn’s
are far more obvious. Another aspect
common to the gas giants is their many
natural satellites, two of which are larger
than the planet Mercury (Jupiter's
Ganymede and Saturn's Titan). That pair
and Io, Callisto, Europa, and Triton, are
larger than Pluto and Eris. This region of
space is also occupied by centaurs, various
fields of trojans, and many comets.
The asteroid belt is the region of the Solar
System located roughly between the orbits
of the planets Mars and Jupiter. It is
occupied by numerous irregularly shaped
bodies called asteroids or minor planets.
About half the mass of the belt is contained
in the four largest asteroids, Ceres, Vesta,
Pallas, and Hygiea.. The remaining bodies
range down to the size of a dust particle.
27. Outer Planets
A gas giant (sometimes also known as a
jovian planet after the planet Jupiter, or
giant planet) is a large planet that is not
primarily composed of rock or other solid
matter .They do not have a solid surface.
There are four gas giants in the Solar
System: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and
Neptune. Many extrasolar gas giants have
been identified orbiting other stars. The
smallest stars (“Brown Dwarves”) are about
13 times the size of Jupiter.
The Galilean moons are the four moons of
Jupiter discovered by Galileo Galilei in
January 1610. They are the largest of the
many moons of Jupiter and derive their
names from the lovers of Zeus: Io, Europa,
Ganymede, and Callisto. They are among
the most massive objects in the Solar
System outside the Sun and the eight
planets, with radii larger than any of the
dwarf planets
29. Gas Giants
28. Asteroid Belt
30. Galilean Moons
ILLUSTRATION
OWN WORDS DEFINITION
OFFICIAL MEANING
A very large, high-pressure atmospheric
feature on the planet Jupiter, characterized
by anticyclonic winds circulating at a speed
of approximately 400 km (248 mi) per hour.
The storm has persisted on Jupiter's
surface for more than 300 years (since first
observed through telescopes); the cause of
its reddish color is unknown.
A secondary effect of the gravitational
forces between two objects orbiting each
other, such as the Earth and the Moon, that
tends to elongate each body along the axis
of a line connecting their centers. Tidal
forces are responsible for the fluctuation of
the oceanic tides as well as for the
synchronous rotation of certain moons as
they orbit their planets
TERM
31. Great Red Spot
32. Tidal Forces