The study of the universe

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.
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