ASTRONOMY NOTES

What is astronomy?

Why do we have a Calendar?

“Chunk” on a calendar / How long it takes / Type of Motion (rotation or revolution) / Picture

Draw a picture showing why we have day and night

DAY TIME / NIGHT TIME

EARLY ASTRONOMERS

Name and date of Astronomer / Belief / Correctness?

NEWTON’S LAW OF UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION is based two parts

______and ______

Describe what needs to be done to get the MOST amount of gravitational pull between two objects

______

SOLAR SYSTEM FORMATION

All matter in the universe starts off as ______

Draw a picture in the box showing what nebula looks like. Label the two forces that are acting on it, and the direction each one is pushing.

For this nebular to turn into ANYTHING,

______needs to be greater

PLANETS

______ are used to measure the distances between ______

1 AU is the average distance between the ______

Inner planets also called the ______planets, share these characteristics ______

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Outer planets also called the ______planets, share these characteristics ______

The inner and outer planets are separated by an ______

ALL the planets have what in common (use words and a picture)

Name of Planet / Key Characteristic

Create an expression for memorizing the eight planets in order:

Rotational Review

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A

Prograde

Retrograde

B

Normal (counterclockwise)

Backward (clockwise)

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Type of rotation (A) / Direction of rotation (B) / Planets

STARS:

What are stars and how are they different from each other?

Stars can be classified by

1. ______2. ______

The word magnitude is the same as ______

Sort the six terms into two opposite categories

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Bright stars

Dim stars

Large positive number

Large negative number

Smaller stars (dwarfs)

Larger stars (giants)

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Two KINDS of brightness

Kind of brightness / Definition / Why it might be used?

NORMAL LIFE OF A STAR(fill in the blanks and add pictures below)

Everything starts of as To be considered a star As the amount of Less helium means ______GRAVITY ______hydrogen is changed to the star will

MUST happen ______CONDENSE/WARM

EXPANDS/COOLS and creates ______

creates ______

Use symbols to show what NUCLEAR FUSION is:

DEATH OF A STAR

Normal stars run out of energy and become ______

ONLY really MASSIVE stars can explode, this is called a ______

This explosion can then become (use words and illustrations):

HR DIAGRAM is a graph showing the relationship between a star's ______and its ______

Most of these stars are ______which

range from ______and ______to ______and ______

THE SUN

In what ways is the Sun “average”?

Label the following Solar parts:

Corona

Chromosphere

Photosphere:

Convective zone

Radiative zone

Core

Sunspots

Solar flares

CONSTELLATIONS

Constellations are more than just pictures, they are the entire ______of the sky

And they change through out the day and year

because the Earth______and ______

CONSTELLATIONS TO KNOW (draw a picture of each) *label key points of each!

Ursa Minor:

Ursa Major:

Orion:TaurusCanis Major

Part of a constellation that appears to make a picture is called an ______

Examples: ______

Distances between PLANETS are measured in ______, because stars are SO far away, distance are measure in ______(9.5 trillion km)

Locating Celestial Objects:Use a tool known as an astrolabe or ______

1. Label the following terms on the illustration

horizon zenith angle of inclination

2. Label the star as Polaris

3. Draw a star directly to the left of Polaris

4. Draw an arrow showing how that star’s angle of inclination would change

throughout the night

All of the above measurements change with a person's ______and______

GALAXIES: are larger than ______

Galaxies are classified by their ______

Type of galaxy / Description / Picture and/or Example

SATELLITES:

Use pictures and words to explain why we always see the same side of the moon.

The only reason we see the moon is ______

Because the moon is a sphere, we can only see how much of it at one time ______

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1. Darken the half of the moon that is dark (based on the position of the sun)

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2. Draw two arrows to the moon (this is what an observer on the Earth would see)

3. Draw four lines that are perpendicular to each arrow(example: ) This is what the moon LOOKS like!

When naming the moon, figure out

1. the shape

Description / Called / Picture(s)
A little
Almost all
None
All
Half

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2. The type of the shape (waxing/waning or first/last). To be right, look on the ______

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Phases in order (draw and name all 8):

Eclipses

When one object blocks the sunlight, it is called an ______-

Two kinds of shadows, label the picture to the right with a “partial” darkening known as ______

and a total darkening known as ______

  1. When we can’t see the moon, this is a ______eclipse
  1. When we can’t see the sun, this is a ______eclipse

Draw each (showing where the Sun, Moon, and Earth are, and where the shadows fall)

1. / 2.

Which one can block out more sunlight? ______

TIDES

Are caused when the ______and the ______pull on the Earth’s waters.

  1. When they pull TOGETHER (same direction), we get a ______er tide called a ______tide
  1. When they pull AGAINST each other (90°),we get a ______er tide called a ______tide

OTHER CELESTIAL OBJECTS

I. COMETS:also called ______

Draw a comet .

Label the nucleus, ion tail, dust tail

Draw a picture of a comet revolving around the sun at 6 different locations and the direction of the orbit. Label the tails

Comets are believed to come from what two sources?

1.2.

______:small rocky bodies in orbit around the sun, many can be found ______

Smaller than asteroids are meteoroids. Depending on their location, they are given different names. Label in the illustration where each of the following could be found:

Meteoroid, Meteor, Meteorite

______: study of the origin and future of the universe

Label the illustrations with the correct theory: Big Bang, Big Crunch, Pulsating

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