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42 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What are patterns of stars in the sky called?
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constellations
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What is electromagnetic radiation?
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energy that can travel directly through space in the form of waves
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What is wavelength?
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the distance between the crest of one wave and the crest of the next wave
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What is spectrum?
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made when light spreads out to ma a range of different colors with different wavelengths: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet
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What is a refracting telescope?
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a telescope that uses convex lenses to gather a large amount of light and focus it onto a small area
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What is a convex lens?
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a piece of transparent glass, curved so that the middle is thicker than the edges
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What is a reflecting telescope?
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a telescope that uses a mirror instead of an objective lens
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What is a radio telescope?
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a device used to detect radio waves from objects in space
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What is an observatory?
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a building that contains one or more telescopes
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What is a spectrograph?
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it breaks light from an object into colors and photographs the resulting spectrum
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What information does a spectrograph give us?
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information about stars, including their chemical compositions and temperatures
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What is considered to be the universe?
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all of space and everything in it
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What is a light-year?
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the distance that light travels in one year.
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What is parallax?
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the apparent change in position of an object when you look at it from different places
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What characteristics are used to classify stars?
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size, temperature, and brightness
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What is a giant star?
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very large stars (larger than the sun)
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What are white dwarf stars?
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stars that are much smaller than the sun (about the size of Earth)
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What are neutron stars?
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Stars that are smaller than dwarf stars
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What is a star's apparent magnitude?
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It is the brightness as seen from Earth.
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What is a star's absolute magnitude?
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the brightness the star would have if it were at a sandard distance from Earth
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What is the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram?
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a graph that stars are put on to show the star temperature and absolute magnitude
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What is the diagonal band on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram called?
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main sequence
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What is a pulsar star?
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neutron star that gives off a pulsating radio source
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What is a nebula?
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a large amount of gas and dust spread out in an immense volume
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What is a protostar?
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the earliest stage of a star's life
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How long does a star live?
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it depends on how much mass it has
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What is a black dwarf?
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when a white swarf star dies
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What is a supernova?
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when a dying giant or supergiant suddenly explodes
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What is a black hole?
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forms when massive stars die; gravity pulls everything inward
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What are quasars?
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distant galaxies with giant black holes at their centers
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What are binary stars?
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star systems with two stars; also called double stars
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What is an eclipsing binary?
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a system in which one star blocks the light from another
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What is a spiral galaxy?
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a galaxy that has the shape of twin spirals
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What is an elliptical galaxy?
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galaxy that looks like a flattened ball
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What is an irregular galaxy?
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a galaxy that does not have regular shapes
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What is the Big Bang Theory?
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Happened when the universe formed in an enormous explosion about 10 to 15 billion years ago.
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What are binary stars?
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star systems with two stars; also called double stars
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What is an eclipsing binary?
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a system in which one star blocks the light from another
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What is a spiral galaxy?
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a galaxy that has the shape of twin spirals
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What is an elliptical galaxy?
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galaxy that looks like a flattened ball
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What is an irregular galaxy?
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a galaxy that does not have regular shapes
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What is the Big Bang Theory?
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Happened when the universe formed in an enormous explosion about 10 to 15 billion years ago.
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