Astronomy Flashcards

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Asteroid

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A small, rocky and/or metallic object that has an orbit.

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Comet

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A frozen remnant of the solar system's formation, made of dust, rock, and ice that has an orbit.

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Kuiper Belt

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A doughnut-shaped region of icy bodies that orbits the sun beyond Neptune.

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Meteor

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A small piece of space debris that enters Earth's atmosphere and burns up, creating a streak of light in the sky. AKA shooting star.

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Moon

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A large natural object that orbits around a planet.

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Oort Cloud

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A spherical shell of icy objects that surrounds our solar system and orbits the sun.

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Luminosity

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The total amount of energy a celestial body, like a star, releases.

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HR Diagram

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Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, is like a star chart that shows how hot a star is compared to how bright it is.

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Kelvin

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A unit of measurement for temperature on the Kelvin scale with absolute zero being the lowest temperature.

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White Dwarf

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The tiny, cool leftover core of a star after it has used up all its fuel.