Science Unit Test 1 - Space

What is a planetary system?

A collection of large and small bodies that orbit a central star

What are galaxies?

Large groups of gas, dust, and stars that are held together by gravity

What are the three types of galaxies?

Spiral, Elliptical, and Irregular

What are stars?

Celestial bodies made of gas that emit light

What are clusters?

Clusters are areas of concentrated galaxies

Clusters-several thousand galaxies

Superclusters-group of ten or more clusters

What are voids

Voids are spherical areas where little matter exits between galaxies

What is magnitude?

Magnitude is the brightness of stars = the lower the number, the brighter the star

Apparent Magnitude vs. Absolute Magnitude

Apparent magnitude is the how bright the star looks from Earth, while Absolute magnitude is the actual brightness of the star

What is the process of a stars creation?

1. Stars are made of gas-mostly Hydrogen and Helium

2. The gases fuse together creating nuclear fusion

3. Fusion gives off light

4. The length of the wave length is determined be the color

What color star is the hottest?

Blue

What color star is the coolest

Red

What is the life cycle of a star?

What are Supergiants?

Supergiants are massive stars that burn through their fuel so quickly that they die off relatively faster than other stars

What are Giants? (stars)

Giants are very large stars that tend to be cooler because they are not as dence

What are White Dwarf stars?

White Dwarf stars have less mass but are denser than giants so they are hotter stars

Is the Sun a Supergiant, Giant, Main Sequence star, or White Dwarf?

A Main Sequence Star

What is the Sun’s official name?

Sol

Where is the astroid belt located in our solar system?

Between Mars and Jupitor

Where is the Kuiper Belt located?

Beyond Neptune-it is the home of Pluto and many other Dwarf planets

Where and what is the Ort Cloud?

The Ort Cloud is the outer most layer of our solar system, and is a giant sphere around the sun

Why are all the drawing and images of the Solar System inaccurate?

They are inaccurate because the size of the planets and sun, and the spacing in space is so big that you can’t fit an accurate drawing or model onto a piece of paper-the planets would be microscopic

What are the two types of planets?

Terrestrial and Jovian

What are the features of the Terrestrial Planets?

They have rocky and solid surfaces, they are the closest to the sun, and the are generally smaller

What are the features of the Jovian Planets?

They have gassy surfaces, are the farthest from the sun, and are generally larger

What planets are Terrestrial?

Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars

What planets are Jovian?

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune

Order the Planets from Closest to the Sun to Furthest from the Sun

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune (and Pluto)

Order the Planets from largest to smallest

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus/Neptune, Earth/Venus, Mars, Mercury

What is a main feature of Mercury?

Has the biggest temperature swings

What is a main feature about Venus?

Hottest planet

What is a main feature about Earth?

Has human life

What is a main feature about Mars?

It is red and has the biggest volcano in the solar system

What is a main feature about Jupiter?

It has the storm

What is a main feature about Saturn?

It’s rings

What is a main feature about Uranus?

It rotates on it’s side

What is a main feature about Neptune?

It has the strongest winds?

What type of celestial body is Pluto?

A dwarf planet

What are moons?

Moons are natural satellites that orbit planets

What are asteroids?

Asteroids are rocky remnants from the solar systems early formation. Most are found in the Asteroid Belt

What are comets?

Comets are large balls of ice, rock, and dust that orbit the sun

What are Dwarf Planets?

Dwarf Planets are smaller than regular planets but share similar characteristics, like being round and orbiting the Sun.

What are Meteors?

Meteors are small pieces of rock do not orbit the sun, and burn up as they enter our atmosphere, producing bright streaks of light.

What is another name for a Meteor?

A shooting star

What is the difference between Meteors, Meteoroids, and Meteorites?

Meteoroids are found in space, Meteors are found in our atmosphere(shooting stars), and Meteorites are Meteors that didn’t fully burn up and have landed on Earth.

What is the general spacing between the planets in our solar system?

The Terrestrial Planets are closer to the sun and have about the same amount of space between them, while the Jovian planets are the furthest form the sun and get further apart the further out into space they get.

What is the difference between Earth’s rotations and Earth’s revolution?

Rotation is Earth spinning on it’s axis, and Earth’s revolution is it’s orbit around the sun.

Which way does Earth rotate around the Sun?

Counter Clockwise

How long does it take the Earth to full rotation on it axis?

24 hours = 1 day

How long does it take the Earth to revolve around the Sun?

365 days = 1 year

What causes seasons?

Earth’s tilt (23.5º)

Earth orbit/revolution around the sun

Define the seasons.

Seasons are a time of year characterized by a particular weather pattern.

Define the seasons for the southern hemisphere.

1. Summer

2. Fall

3. Winter

4. Spring

What are the characteristics of seasons?

-the length of day

-temperatures

-height of noon sun

Define solstice and equinox.

Solstice- largest difference between light and dark in a day

Equinox- 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark

What is a nebula?

The birth place of a star - collection of dust and gas

What galaxy do we live in?

The Milky Way

What time of galaxy are we?

Spiral

What is the main latitude line?

The equator (0º)

What are the two main longitude lines?

1. The Prime Meridian (0º)

2. The International Date Line (180º)

What it the Tropic of Cancer line?

It is the farthest spot in the North that can receive direct sunlight.

What is the Tropic of Capricorn?

It is the farthest spot in the South that can receive direct sunlight.

What is the Goldilocks Principle?

Where Earth is just the right distance from the Sun to have the right conditions for us to live on Earth.

What is Luminosty?

The brightness of a star

What is a Protostar?

A Protostar is the phase after a nebula in the star creation

What are the phases of the moon, starting with New Moon?

New moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, third/last quarter, waning crescent

How many days does it take the moon to do a full orbit around Earth?

28 days

What does waxing mean?

Waxing means to build or to increase

What does waning mean?

Waning means to remove or decrease

What does eclipse mean?

To hide

What is a Solar Eclipse?

A solar eclipse is when the moon is on the same plane as the sun and blocks the sunlight for a part of earth

What is a Lunar Eclipse?

A lunar eclipse is when the Earth is blocking the light to the moon

What is the order of the moon, sun, and earth in a Solar Eclipse?

Sun, Moon, Earth = SME

What is the order of the moon, sun, and earth in a Lunar Eclipse?

Sun, Earth, Moon = SEM

What are tides?

Tides happen when the Earth rotates into a bulge created by the Sun and Moon’s gravitation pull, which cause the oceans to have high and low tides.

What are the two types of tides?

Spring and Neap

What are Spring Tides?

Spring tides are the highest high tides and the lowest tides. The occur when the sun and the moon are lined up, causing the most gravitational pull on two areas and non on the others.

What are Neap tides?

Neap tides are the medium high tides and the medium low tides. They occur when the Sun and Moon’s gravitational pulls confilct.

What is the Geologic Time Scale?

It is a list of Earth’s significant events in order

How old is the Sun?

4.6 billion years old

How is the timeline divided?

Eons-Eras-Periods

Why do the Eons/Eras/Periods end or change?

They end or change because of global events, or geological or biological events, causing a new Eon, Era, or Period to start

What is the difference between the spacing of the geological or biological events?

The geological events are more spread out across the whole timeline, but more towards the beginning, while the biological events are more clump together at the end of the timeline-they are more recent.

What is missing in this image?

1. Asteroid Belt

2. Kuiper Belt

3. Oort Cloud

4. Other Dwarf Planets

5. Jupiter and Uranus’s rings

6. Asteroids

7. Comets

8. Moons

9. Meteors