WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

EARTH and SPACE SCIENCES

Using any resources find the meaning of the following terms.
** Remember to learn the spelling of these key words.

TERM DEFINITION/MEANING EXAMPLE

ALPHA - A triple star system in the southern constellation of
CENTAURI Centaurus. It consists of three stars.
AZIMUTH The angle between North, measured clockwise around the
observer’s horizon, and a celestial body (sun, moon). It
determines the direction of the celestial body.

BETELGEUSE A variable red supergiant star of the first magnitude near the
eastern shoulder of Orion. It’s also called Alpha Orionis.

BIG BANG A physical theory that describes how the universe expanded
THEORY from an initial state of high density and temperature.
BINARY STARS A system of two stars in which one star revolves round the
other or both revolve round a common centre.

BLACK HOLE An object whose gravity is so strong that nothing, not even
light, can escape.
BRIGHTNESS of The brightness of a star depends on its composition and how
STARS far it is from the planet. Astronomers define star brightness
in terms of apparent magnitude.
CELESTIAL POLE The two points where the projection of the Earth’s rotation
axis intersects with the celestial sphere. (A celestial sphere is
an imaginary sphere of which the observer is the centre and
on which all celestial objects are considered to lie.)

CHROMOSPHERE A layer of gases directly above the photosphere. It is a layer

of gas that gets hotter with increasing height, the opposite of
the photosphere.

COLOUR of Star’s colour indicates it’s temperature, composition and

STARS relative distance from earth: red, orange, yellow, green,
white, blue. Red being the coolest and blue being the hottest.
CONSTELLATION A group of stars that forms a particular shape in the sky and
has been given a name. (A group of stars forming a
recognizable pattern that is traditionally named after its
apparent form or identified with a mythological figure)
CORONA A luminous envelope of plasma that surrounds the Sun and
other celestial bodies.

COSMOLOGY A branch of astronomy that involves the origin and evolution

of the universe, from the Big Bang to today and on into the
future.
ECLIPTIC The great circle that is the apparent path of the Sun among
the constellations in the course of a year.

LIGHT-YEAR A distance light can travel in 1 year.

MAGNITUDE A measure of astronomical object brightness

NEBULA An enormous cloud of dust and gas occupying the space

between stars and acting as a nursery for new stars.

NUCLEAR The process by which two light atomic nuclei combine to

FUSION form a single heavier one while releasing massive amounts
of energy.

NEUTRON STAR A very small and dense star made almost completely of
neutrons. It’s formed when a massive star runs out of fuel
and collapses.

PHOTOSPHERE The lowest layer of the Sun visible from Earth. The thin layer
is the lowest level in the sun’s atmosphere.

PLASMA A state in which gas is heated to a very high temperature and

separated into electrons and positively charged ions.

PROTOSTAR A cloud of gas and dust in space believed to develop into a

star.

SOUTHERN Four bright stars in the southern hemisphere that are placed
CROSS as if at the ends of a cross. Also, the group of stars of which
these four are the brightest.
STARS A luminous ball of gas, mostly hydrogen and helium, held
together by its own gravity.
SUPERNOVA The explosion of a star. It’s the largest explosion that takes
place in space.

UNIVERSE All of space and time and their contents, including planets,
stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy.
WHITE DWARF A star about the size of the earth that has collapsed on itself
because of gravity. It begins hot and white and ends cold and
dark.

ZENITH The point in the sky or celestial sphere directly above an

observer.

ZODIAC A belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately

8° north and south of the ecliptic, which is the apparent path
of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the
year.

Many astronomical words are from ancient greek or latin languages. What do these greek or latin
words or prefixes literally mean, and what language are they from?
Word/prefix meaning language
stella- Star Latin

nebular Clouded / unclear Latin

galaxia Milky way (one of the very large Greek

groups of stars and other matter that
are found throughout the universe)
Cosmo- World / Universe Greek