Space Science

a theory about the origin of the universe which states that the universe was at one time a very small, very condensed, very massive particle; a large explosion forced all matter out at an extremely rapid rate, and the universe has continued to expand since

a body moving in orbit around a star; large enough to clear debris in its orbit’ has enough gravity to make it round. Earth

an extremely bright galactic nucleus in the center of a very old, very distant galaxy, thought to be powered by a black hole at its center

the process by which smaller particles clumped together to form bigger and bigger masses, and eventually, planets like Earth

a gas and dust cloud in space Orion Nebula

a region around a spiral galaxy containing clusters of old stars

a small star with high density; often the size of a planet Sirius B

small stars; red dwarfs have low mass and low surface temperature; blue dwarfs develop from red dwarfs after the hydrogen is used up Proxim Centauri

a star system without a defined shape Large Magellanic Cloud

a spiral galaxy with arms that extend from a nuclear region or bulge Andromeda Galaxy

a small planet not large enough to clear its orbit of debris Pluto

small bodies of debris from space which move into Earth’s atmosphere and can then turn into meteors

a physical object in space which has observable characteristics planet

a star, as well as the planets, satellites, asteroids, and all the other objects orbiting around it. They travel together through space.

a system of starts and their systems held together by gravity Milky Way Galaxy

another dwarf planet; much farther from the sun than Pluto’ takes 10,000 years to orbit the sun

the actual amount of light a star gives off. The absolute magnitude of our sun is 4.8

the spiral galaxy in which our solar system is located

a two-star system; the stars rotate around a common point or one star rotates around the other Castor

a shift in the light from a star toward the red end of the visible spectrum that is produced when the star is moving away from Earth

a spiral galaxy with a bar of material in the central region of the galaxy; the arms extend from the bar Galaxy NGC 1300

large stars; red giants have high luminosity and low surface temperature; blue giants have high luminosity and high surface temperature Rigel (blue giant)

low temperature radiation that permeates all of space; thought to be a red-shifted remnant of the big bang

the sixth planet from the sun; an outer planet (outside the asteroid belt); the least dense planet; has a complex ring system