Life in the Universe

Flashcards covering key concepts from the 'Life in the Universe' lecture, including star formation, exoplanets, and the formation of solar systems.

Hydrostatic Equilibrium

A state in star formation where gas pressure and gravity are balanced.

Ionizing Radiation

High-energy photons produced by hot, massive stars that can eject electrons from atoms.

H-alpha Emission

Light emitted by hydrogen when hydrogen atoms recombine; used to trace star formation.

Nebular Hypothesis

The theory explaining the formation of solar systems from a disk of gas and dust.

Dwarf Planet

A celestial body that orbits the sun, is spherical in shape, but has not cleared its neighboring region of other objects.

Center of Mass (COM)

The point in a system where the weighted mass distribution is balanced, affecting the orbit of bodies around it.

Exoplanet

A planet that orbits a star outside of our solar system.

Kepler's 3rd Law

A law stating that the square of the orbital period of a planet is proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit.

Transit Method

A technique for detecting exoplanets by observing the decrease in brightness of a star as a planet passes in front of it.

Radial Velocity Method

A technique that detects exoplanets by observing shifts in a star's spectral lines as it moves toward or away from Earth.

Microlensing

A phenomenon where light from a distant star is bent and concentrated by the gravitational field of an intervening planet or star.

Astrometric Detection

Detecting planets by observing the wobble of a star due to the gravitational pull from an orbiting planet.