Astronomy 101

Ever notice on globes of the Earth there is a figure 8 printed in the middle of one of the oceans?

The majority are between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. This region is known as the Asteroid Belt.

Auroral activity strongly correlates with solar activity. Peak activity repeats on an 11-year cycle.

The explanation is widely accepted today. It was critics of the interpretation who coined the name.

A region of space where the force of gravity is so intense that not even light can escape.

Bode and Titius, reported a numerical sequence into which the sizes of the planetary orbits fit.

A list of the 20 brightest stars in the sky, with their names, magnitudes, and distances, etc.

Big dirty snowballs made of ice, dust and bits of rock, and are about the size of cities and towns.

The sky is divided into 88 parts. They are sometimes grouped into 8 distinct families or groups.

Two primary ways to describe a position in the sky. The Horizon System, and the Equatorial System.

Terms used in cosmology, which is the study of the beginning and the evolution of the Universe.

An asteroid with a bizarre orbit. It appears to make a series of bean shapes which form a horsehoe.

Astronomers estimate that most matter is of some form that is impossible to detect directly.

Alignments of the Sun, Moon, and Earth, resulting in dramatic large scale shadow play.

Collections of stars, dust and gas, and other matter. Containing between millions and trillions of stars.

The giants of astronomy over the last 2000 years have guided and shaped our view of the cosmos.

The "Rosetta Stone" of stellar astronomy. It plots a star's luminosity against its surface temperature.

The motion of the galaxies in the Universe appears to be a smooth recession away from each other.

Is anybody out there? Why would they come all that way to make circles in our crops?

Kepler is remembered for "cracking the code" that describes the orbits of the planets.

A region beyond the planets of the outer solar system which contains thousands of icy bodies.

Years perfectly divisible by four, except years which are both divisible by 100 and not divisible by 400.

Light radiates from a source in waves. Each wave has two parts; an electric part, and a magnetic part.

Over time we can see more than 50% of the Moon's surface from Earth due to a combination of effects.

The french astronomer cataloged deepsky objects. Considered showpieces for deepsky enthusiasts.

Sometimes called "shooting stars," most are bits of gravel the size of your fingernails or smaller.

Billions of stars too far away to pick out individually but together they add up to a haze across the sky.

Large bodies of mass that orbit around a star, like several that reside in our own solar system.

The position of the Sun on the vernal equinox is slowing shifting westward across the sky.

There are a variety of optical effects possible when light shines onto moisture in the atmosphere.

A light source spectrum is seen as blueshifted as it approaches, and redshifted as it moves away.

The tilt of Earth's axis relative to its orbit, not differences in the distance to the Sun.

Dust is a relative newcomer to the Universe. It joined gases after some of the first stars exploded.

Stars begin as offspring of a cloud up to 300 light-years across. Such a cloud is known as a nebula.

The Sun has layers with different properties, about 75% hydrogen and 25% helium.

The size and quality of the objective element is the most important consideration. Bigger is better.

Why are there two high tides and low tides every day, the Moon passes overhead once per day?

Universal Time, time zones, daylight savings time, sidereal time, Julian Day numbers, and more.

Three types; civil, nautical, and astronomical, are defined by the position of the Sun.

The circle of animals along the ecliptic, the path described by the Sun during the course of a year.