Science vocab Flashcards
(30 cards)
What is an Astronomical unit?
A unit of length equal to the average distance between the Earth and the Sun. (92.8 million miles)
What is a Light year?
The distance traveled by light in a year. (5.88 trillion miles)
What is the distance equal to 3.26 light years called?
Parsec
What is a Nebula?
A visible, thinly spread cloud of inerstellar gas and dust.
What is a constellation?
A group of stars that form a figure.
What is the defintion of Planetesimal?
Any of innumerable small bodies of accreted gas and dust thought to have orbited the Sun during the formation of the planets.
What is the definition of protoplanetary?
Moon sized or larger planetary embryos.
What is nuclear fusion?
A nuclear reaction in which atomic nuclei of low atomic number fuse to form a heavier nucleus with the release of energy.
What is a terrestrial planet?
Any of the four planets colsest to the sun. Also called inner planets.
What is a Gas Giant planet?
Any of the four gas planets. (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.)
What is a celestial object that orbits the Sun along an elongated path.
A comet.
What is the definition of asteriod?
Any of numerous small, often irregularly shaped rocky bodies that orbit the Sun.
Who studies the origin, structure, and evolution of the universe?
Cosmologist.
What is the rate of change of an angle associated with an object?
Angular Velocity.
What is orbit?
The path followed by a celestial body or artificial satellite as it revolves around another body due to the force of gravity.
What is a division of geologic time that is longer than an epoch and shorter than an era called?
A period.
What is the definition of revolve?
To move in a circular or curving course or orbit.
What is a rotation?
The motion of an object around an internal axis.
What is something that relates to stars or constellations?
Sidereal.
What is the interval of light between two successive nights?
Day.
What is the time based on the rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun?
A solar day.
What is a year?
A period of 365 or 366 days.
What is accretion?
The accumulation of additional mass in a celestial object by the drawing together of interstellar gas and surrounding objects by gravity.
When is the spring tide?
Spring tides occur when the Moon is either new or full, and the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth are aligned. When this is the case, their collective gravitational pull on the Earth’s water is strengthened.
