Term |
Definition |
Electromagnetic Radiation |
Energy that has the ability to travel through space in waves. |
Wavelength |
The distance between one wave's crest and the wave's crest right next to it. |
Visible Light |
The light we can see. |
Telescopes |
Scientific tools that gather and focus light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation. |
Spectrum |
A range of different colors that have different wavelengths. |
Optical Telescope |
A telescope that use mirrors or lenses to gather and focus visible light. |
Universe |
All of space and everything inside of it. |
Refracting Telescope |
A telescope that uses convex lenses to gather and focus light. |
Reflecting Telescope |
A telescope that uses a curved mirror to gather and focus light, |
Radio Telescope |
A telescope that can detect radio waves. |
Parallax |
The apparent movement of an object when seen from different places. |
Light-Year |
The distance light can travel in 1 year. |
Spectrograph |
A device that breaks light into colors and produces an image of the resulting spectrum. |
Apparent Brightness |
How bright a star seems in the night sky. |
Absolute Brightness |
How bright a star would actually look if compared with other stars in a standard distance from Earth. |
H-R Diagram |
A graph that categorizes stars using the absolute brightness, surface temperature, and color of a star. |
Main sequence |
A diagonal area on the H-R diagram that includes more than 90% of all the stars. |
Nebula |
A large cloud of gas and dust spread out over a big area. |
Protostar |
A contracting cloud of gas and dust that has enough mass and gravity to make a star. |
White Dwarf |
The blue-white core left from a red giant. |
Supernova |
The explosion that happens when a super- giant star runs out of fuel. |
Neutron Star |
The remains of a super-giant star's supernova. |
Pulsar |
Spinning neutron stars. |
Black Hole |
An object that has gravity so strong that nothing in the universe can escape it's gravitational pull once it gets past a certain point. |