Astronomy

What is the diameter of Jupiter compared to Earth?

ten times larger

How much larger is the sun compared to Earth?

The sun is 100 times larger than Earth.

What is 1 astronomical unit?

The distance from the Earth to the Sun is 1 astronomical unit or 150,000,000 km away.

How far is the nearest star from Earth in light years?

The nearest star to Earth is 4.2 light years away.

How wide is the Milky Way?

Our Milky Way is 100,000 light years across.

What is the observable universe's width?

The observable universe is 93 billion light years across.

What is the speed of a bullet in meters per second?

The speed of a bullet is 280 meters per second.

How many hours would it take for a bullet to travel around Earth?

It would take a bullet 40 hours to go around Earth.

How long would it take for a bullet to go around the sun?

It would take a bullet 6 months to go around the sun.

How many years would it take for a bullet to reach the sun from Earth?

It would take the bullet 17 years to get to the sun from Earth.

How long does sunlight take to travel from the sun to Earth?

It takes sunlight 8 minutes to get from the sun to Earth.

What percentage of the solar system's mass does the sun account for?

The sun is 99.86% the mass of the solar system.

How far is Jupiter from the sun in astronomical units?

Jupiter is about 5 astronomical units from the sun.

How long would it take for a jet to travel from Jupiter to the sun?

It would take 100 years for a jet to go from Jupiter to the Sun.

How long does it take light to reach Jupiter?

It would take 40 minutes for light to reach Jupiter.

How far is Saturn from the sun in astronomical units?

Saturn is approximately 9 astronomical units from the sun.

What is the Kuiper Belt?

The Kuiper Belt is located beyond Neptune and has more asteroids than gasses.

What speed does Voyager 1 travel at?

Voyager 1 travels at 61,000 km per hour.

When was Voyager 1 launched?

Voyager 1 was launched in 1977.

When did Voyager 1 leave the solar system?

Voyager 1 probe left the solar system in August 2012.

How long would it take Voyager 1 to reach the inner edge of the Oort cloud?

It would take 300 years to reach the inner edge of the Oort cloud.

How long would it take Voyager 1 to fly beyond the Oort cloud?

It would take 30,000 years to fly beyond it.

What is a nebula?

A nebula is a massive cloud of dust and hydrogen gas where stars are born.

What is a protostar?

A protostar is the stage of a star between the nebula and nuclear fusion.

What is nuclear fusion?

Nuclear fusion is the process of hydrogen fusing together to create helium.

What determines a star's lifespan?

The mass of a star determines how long it lives; the larger a star, the faster it goes through fuel.

What can cause a nebula to collapse?

A galactic collision or supernova can cause a nebula to collapse into itself.

How long does it take a star to form?

A star takes billions of years to form.

What happens to the gravity of a star as it gains more mass?

The more mass an object has, the more gravity it has, which attracts more clumps to it.

What causes a star to emit heat, light, and energy?

Hydrogen molecules fusing together to create helium causes heat, light, and energy in stars.

What balances the gravity pulling into a star and the fusion pushing out?

The balance is created by gravity pulling matter into the star and nuclear fusion pushing out.

What happens to a small star when it runs out of fuel?

It becomes a red giant.

What occurs during the red giant phase of a star?

The star turns red because it cooled down and gets bigger as the outer layers expand.

What is a planetary nebula?

A planetary nebula continues to expand until only the core is left.

What is left after a star becomes a white dwarf?

A white dwarf is the leftover core of a star.

What is a black dwarf?

A black dwarf is the result of a white dwarf cooling down.

What happens to a large star when it runs out of fuel?

It becomes a red supergiant.

What signifies the supernova stage of a star?

Nuclear fusion stops completely, and gasses bounce off the core causing an explosion.

What is a black hole?

A black hole is the core of a dead star so dense that it collapsed under its own gravity.

What defines a neutron star?

A neutron star is the core left behind by a supernova of tightly packed neutrons.

What is a characteristic of neutron stars that spin quickly?

They emit high frequency radio waves detected in pulses called pulsars.

What is astronomy?

Astronomy is the scientific study of what is beyond the Earth.

What is a celestial object?

A celestial object is any object that exists in space.

What encompasses the universe?

The universe is everything that exists, including all energy, matter, and space.

What is a star?

A star is a massive collection of gasses held by its own gravity and emits huge amounts of energy.

What does luminous mean?

Luminous means producing or giving off light or shining.

What is the scientific notation?

Scientific notation is a way to put numbers into manageable form.

What defines a planet?

A planet is a large round celestial object that travels around a star.

What is a solar system?

A solar system is the sun and everything that travels around it.

What is a satellite?

A satellite is a celestial object that travels around a planet or dwarf planet.

What describes an orbit?

An orbit is the closed path of a celestial object or satellite as it travels around another celestial object.

What is a moon?

A moon is a type of satellite.

What is a galaxy?

A galaxy is a huge, rotating collection of gas, dust, and billions of stars, planets, and other celestial objects.

What is the Milky Way?

The Milky Way is the galaxy that the Earth is in.

What is a corona?

The corona is the outer part of the sun’s atmosphere.

What are sunspots?

Sunspots are dark spots on the earth’s surface that are cooler than the surrounding area.

Who was Galileo Galilei?

Galileo Galilei was an astronomer who lived approximately 400 years ago and was the first to observe and study sunspots in detail.

What is the Aurora Borealis?

The Aurora Borealis is a display of shifting colors in the northern sky caused by solar particles colliding with matter in the Earth’s upper atmosphere.

What is the Aurora Australis?

The Aurora Australis is the simultaneous display of Aurora Borealis in the southern pole.

What is an astronomical unit?

An astronomical unit is approximately 150 million km, the average distance from the sun to Earth.

What defines a dwarf planet?

A dwarf planet is a celestial object that orbits the sun and has a spherical shape but does not dominate its orbit.

What is an asteroid?

An asteroid is a space rock with metal found in a band called the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

What is a meteoroid?

A meteoroid is a piece of rocky debris smaller than asteroids.

What is a meteor shower?

A meteor shower is when a number of meteors radiate from one point in the sky visibly on a certain date.

What defines a comet?

A comet is a chunk of ice, dust, and rock that breaks down when it approaches the sun.

What is a coma in relation to a comet?

A coma is a gaseous cloud that forms when a comet sublimates from the sun’s heat.

What is light pollution?

Light pollution is pollution from manmade lights, often found near cities.

What are artificial satellites used for?

Artificial satellites help forecast the weather, monitor agriculture, assist in telecommunication technologies, navigation, and explore the universe.

What was Sputnik 1?

Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite sent by the Soviet Union.

What was Alouette 1 used for?

Alouette 1 was used to observe the Earth’s ionosphere.

What does RADARSAT allow satellites to do?

RADARSAT allows satellites to view all parts of the Earth in polar orbits.

What does GPS stand for?

GPS stands for a group of satellites that work together to determine positions of given objects on the surface of the Earth.

What is the Kuiper Belt?

The Kuiper Belt is a region of space past Neptune that holds space debris.

What is Eris?

Eris is a dwarf planet located in the Kuiper Belt.

What is the Oort Cloud?

The Oort Cloud is the most distant region of our solar system filled with icy objects of space debris.

What are light years?

Light years is a unit of distance, measuring the distance that light travels in a year.

What is dark matter?

Dark matter isn’t visible but must be there because of the way other objects interact and move; it makes up the majority of the universe.

What is dark energy?

Dark energy isn’t visible but is responsible for the expansion of the universe and is stronger than gravity.

What does the Big Bang Theory propose?

The Big Bang Theory proposes that the universe began from a singularity and has been expanding ever since.

What was the Tunguska Event?

The Tunguska Event was when a large space object exploded above Earth’s surface in June 1908, causing damage in a 2000 km radius.

How far was the object that exploded during the Tusk

The object exploded 5 - 10 km above the Earth’s surface.

What was discovered in 2007 that relates to the Tunguska Event?

Lake Cheka

What are meteoroids?

Meteoroids are pieces of rocky space debris smaller than asteroids.

What is a meteor?

A meteor is a small meteoroid that enters the Earth’s atmosphere appearing as a streak of light.

What is a meteorite?

A meteorite is a meteor that has fallen to Earth’s surface.