Astronomy Terms

25 questions · Answers revealed below each question · Print this set

1.Which observation term is the light-sensitive chip that replaced photographic plates?
- A. an occultation
- B. the Arecibo message
- C. the CCD
- D. right ascension
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the CCD
Did you know? CCDs record far fainter light than film ever caught.
2.Which spaceflight term is the lowest point of an orbit around Earth?
- A. perigee
- B. the Kessler syndrome
- C. microgravity
- D. escape velocity
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perigee
Did you know? Speed peaks as a satellite passes perigee.
3.Which astronomy term is the hypothetical sphere of comets far beyond the planets?
- A. the Oort Cloud
- B. the Roche limit
- C. orbital resonance
- D. the giant-impact hypothesis
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the Oort Cloud
Did you know? The Oort Cloud may reach a quarter of the way to the nearest star.
4.Which cosmology term is the hypothetical collapse ending an expanding universe?
- A. dark energy
- B. dark matter
- C. the Big Crunch
- D. a gamma-ray burst
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the Big Crunch
Did you know? Whether a Big Crunch awaits depends on cosmic fate studies.
5.Which observation term never sets, circling the pole instead?
- A. a circumpolar star
- B. the celestial equator
- C. the Nebra sky disk
- D. the astrolabe
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a circumpolar star
Did you know? Circumpolar stars depend on the observer's latitude.
6.Which spaceflight term is the highest point of an orbit?
- A. the Kessler syndrome
- B. splashdown
- C. escape velocity
- D. apogee
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apogee
Did you know? A satellite moves slowest at apogee.
7.Which astronomy term is how close a moon can approach its planet without breaking up?
- A. the Oort Cloud
- B. the Roche limit
- C. stellar parallax
- D. a Cepheid variable
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the Roche limit
Did you know? Inside the Roche limit, tidal forces tear bodies apart.
8.Which cosmology term is the unseen mass that bends galaxy motions?
- A. cosmic inflation
- B. dark energy
- C. dark matter
- D. the Big Crunch
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dark matter
Did you know? Dark matter reveals itself by gravity, not light.
9.Which observation term is a ringed model of the celestial circles?
- A. precession
- B. the armillary sphere
- C. zodiacal light
- D. a planetarium
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the armillary sphere
Did you know? Armillary spheres taught the ancient sky's coordinate system.
10.Which spaceflight term is the speed needed to break free of a body's gravity?
- A. a spacesuit
- B. escape velocity
- C. cosmic rays
- D. the Kessler syndrome
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escape velocity
Did you know? Earth's escape velocity is about 11.2 kilometers per second.
11.Which astronomy term is the leading account of the Moon's formation?
- A. the Oort Cloud
- B. a protostar
- C. a protoplanetary disk
- D. the giant-impact hypothesis
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the giant-impact hypothesis
Did you know? A Mars-sized body's strike likely spun off the Moon.
12.Which cosmology term is the theory of a split-second early growth spurt?
- A. cosmic inflation
- B. Hubble's law
- C. hydrogen and helium
- D. Laniakea
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cosmic inflation
Did you know? Inflation explains why opposite sky points match so closely.
13.Which observation term is Earth's slow wobble that shifts the pole stars?
- A. the celestial equator
- B. the Messier catalog
- C. precession
- D. the armillary sphere
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precession
Did you know? Precession swings the pole between stars over 26,000 years.
14.Which spaceflight term lets crews pass between vacuum and cabin pressure?
- A. the Kessler syndrome
- B. perigee
- C. an airlock
- D. escape velocity
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an airlock
Did you know? Airlocks keep cabin air inside while crews step out.
15.Which astronomy term is the dense warm knot forming before a star ignites?
- A. nuclear fusion
- B. a protostar
- C. the ecliptic
- D. the Oort Cloud
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a protostar
Did you know? A protostar heats up until fusion begins in its core.
16.Which observation term is Earth's equator projected onto the sky?
- A. the celestial equator
- B. the synodic month
- C. zodiacal light
- D. the meridian
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the celestial equator
Did you know? The celestial equator runs through the sky's middle.
17.Which astronomy term keeps Pluto from ever colliding with Neptune?
- A. a protostar
- B. the astronomical unit
- C. orbital resonance
- D. the Chandrasekhar limit
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orbital resonance
Did you know? Pluto circles the Sun twice for every three Neptune orbits.
18.Which observation term is the ancient Chinese atlas of over 1,300 stars?
- A. an occultation
- B. interferometry
- C. the zenith
- D. the Dunhuang Star Chart
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the Dunhuang Star Chart
Did you know? The Dunhuang chart was drawn on paper around AD 700.
19.Which astronomy term is the apparent shift of nearby stars as Earth orbits?
- A. orbital resonance
- B. the ecliptic
- C. a Cepheid variable
- D. stellar parallax
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stellar parallax
Did you know? Parallax gives astronomers their most direct distance measure.
20.Which observation term was a strong unexplained radio burst caught in 1977?
- A. the Dunhuang Star Chart
- B. zodiacal light
- C. the Wow! signal
- D. the CCD
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the Wow! signal
Did you know? The Wow! signal lasted 72 seconds and never repeated.
21.Which astronomy term is the gas cloud that collapsed to form the solar system?
- A. apparent magnitude
- B. the solar nebula
- C. the interstellar medium
- D. the astronomical unit
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the solar nebula
Did you know? The solar nebula's leftover bits became comets and asteroids.
22.Which observation term lists bright deep-sky objects Charles Messier skipped past?
- A. the sidereal day
- B. right ascension
- C. interferometry
- D. the Messier catalog
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the Messier catalog
Did you know? Messier's comet-hunting list became a deep-sky treasure map.
23.Which astronomy term is the eclipse cycle of about 18 years that repeats eclipses?
- A. the solar nebula
- B. the saros
- C. the penumbra
- D. a Cepheid variable
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the saros
Did you know? Ancient Babylonian astronomers tracked the saros cycle.
24.Which observation term is the sky line running north to overhead to south?
- A. the meridian
- B. the zodiac
- C. the Dunhuang Star Chart
- D. right ascension
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the meridian
Did you know? Astronomers time observations as stars cross the meridian.
25.Which astronomy term is the swirling disk where planets form around a young star?
- A. the astronomical unit
- B. a protoplanetary disk
- C. the umbra
- D. the solar nebula
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a protoplanetary disk
Did you know? Protoplanetary disks of gas and dust clump into planets.

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