Science astronomy vocab

23 cards·by Melisssa

Light Year

A light-year is how astronomers measure distance in space. It’s defined by how far a beam oflight travels in one year – 6 trillion miles

Nuclear Fusion

When multiple atoms combine to create a massive atom

parallax

can be used to measure the distance to nearby stars

Neutron Star

Material that's left over from Supernovas

Protostar

The beginning of a star

Red Giant

When a star runs low of fuel and expands

Supernova

It is created when a supergiant star blows up

Nebula

a cloud of gas and dust where all stars are born.

pulsar

A celestrial object that is also known as a "raplidly rotating neutron"

White Dwarf

When the blue-white core is leftover from red giants

Black Dwarf

When a white dwarf runs out of energy

Black Hole

Where there's a gravitational field that's so strong that nothing not even light can escape it.

Main Sequence Star

Any star that is fusing hydrogen in the core.

Hertzsprung-Russel Diagram

Made to measure certain stars created by Ejnar Hertzsprung and Henry Norris Russell.

Galaxy

Millions and billions of stars conbined with gas and dust

Universe

Space is considered as a whole with many different glazies.

constellation

A pattern of stars in the sky

Absolute Magnitude

Measure of brightness

Apparent Magnitude

A star's brightness as seen from earth

Big Bang Theory

THe explanation on how the universe began

Elliptical Galaxy

A galaxy with older stars

Spiral Galaxy

The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy

Irregular Galaxy

a galaxy with younger stars