Earth Science and Astronomy

• Activities on the Sun

  • Solar wind
  • Prominences
  • Solar flares
  • Sunspots
• Solar wind – stream of high-energy particles sent into space which causes the light displays aurora borealis (if seen from the Northern Hemisphere) and aurora australis (Southern Hemisphere)
• Prominences – storms that look like huge arches extending outward the Sun’s surface that could last for several days
• Solar flares – more intense than prominences and last for only about 15 minutes
• Sunspots – dark, cooler parts of the Sun’s surface caused by changes in the sun’s magnetic field
• Sun – the only in the solar system; a ball of hot plasma that serves as the source of heat and light; holds 99.8% of the mass of the solar system
• Mercury – smallest planet; closest to the sun; no atmosphere
• Venus – hottest planet in the solar system; slowest rotation among the solar system’s planets; Earth’s “twin sister"
• Earth – only known planet in the universe that supports life; within the “Goldilocks zone” maintaining water to remain liquid
• Mars – the red planet, its reddishness resulting from abundant presence of iron oxide
• Jupiter – largest planet in the solar system; a gas giant mainly composed of hydrogen and helium; famous for its “Great Red Spot”
• Saturn – also a gas giant; known for its “ring system”
• Uranus – a gas giant; methane ice responsible for its bluish color; coldest planet
• Neptune – gas giant; farthest planet from the sun; only planet not visible to the naked eye
• Pluto – dwarf planet; a year in Pluto is equal to 248 Earth years
• Earth’s moon – Earth’s only natural satellite; brightest object in the night sky
• asteroids – “minor planets”; rocky objects that orbit the sun
• meteoroid – smaller than asteroids; “space rocks”
• meteor - meteoroids entering the Earth’s atmosphere at high-speed burning up; also referred to as “shooting stars”
• meteorite – a fragment of an asteroid, comet, or meteoroid that survived its passage through the atmosphere and reached the Earth’s surface
• comets – celestial bodies made mostly of ice and dust; have long tails when they are near the Sun
• Polaris – north star; the tip of Little Dipper’s “handle”
• Sirius – brightest star in the night sky; “Dog Star”
• Ursa Major – Big Bear; contains the Big Dipper
• Ursa Minor – Little Bear; contains the Little Dipper
• Canis Major – Big Dog; contains Sirius
• Canis Minor – Little Dog
• Orion – The Hunter
• Tres Marias/Three Marias – form the belt of the constellation Orion
• Betelgeuse – shoulder of Orion
• Rigil Kentaurus – foot of Orion
• Proxima Centauri – closest star to Eart but too small to be seen in the night sky
• Alpha Centauri – closest star to the Earth that is visible in the night sky
• Pegasus – The Winged Horse
• light year – the distance light travels in one year
• Milky Way – the galaxy where the solar system belongs in
• supernova – explosion of a big star
• black hole - areas in space with a very strong gravitational field that even light cannot escape
• The moon phases, as we can see on Earth, result from the different relative positions of the Earth, moon, and sun. Despite being the source of a bright glow during nighttime, the moon is not luminous; the light that we see coming from it is just a reflection of the light produced by the sun. We see different illuminated parts of the moon as it revolves around the Earth. This follows a cycle that repeats once a month: 29.5 days to be exact.

  A) first quarter

  B) waxing crescent

  C) new moon

  D) waning crescent

  E) third quarter

  F) waning gibbous

  G) full moon

  H) waxing gibbous

  
• Spring tides – strongest tides; occurs when the sun, Earth, and moon line up (every full moon and new moon); the sun and the moon’s gravities add up