University of Phoenix Material
Basics of Astronomy Worksheet
Complete the table based on the readings for this week: Ch. 1–4 of The Essential Cosmic Perspective.
Term or concept
Definition and explanation
The Universe
1. What is Earth’s Sun, and what is its role in the solar system?
2. What is the Milky Way galaxy and the sun’s position in it?
3. What is the Big Bang, and what does it say about the age of the universe?
4. What is meant by the phase “looking out in the universe is looking back in time?”
1. The earth’s sun is a star, it generates heat and light through nuclear fusion.
2. The Milky Way galaxy is the constellation that earth belongs to, the sun is just another star within it.
3. The big bang is the
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The sun is orbiting the center of the Milky Way galaxy at 70,000km/hr.
12. From a humans point of view the galaxies are all moving away from earth.
Significance of the Celestial Sphere
13. What important directions and coordinate systems help you find your way around the sky?
14. Why do stars have different levels of brightness, and how does one describe their brightness as compared to one another?
15. What are constellations?
16. What is Polaris, and what is its significance in the sky?
17. Why does the Moon change its phase, how does it move, and how do these combine to create eclipses?
13. The horizon and meridian, azimuth, latitude, and longitude.
14. Different levels of brightness are due to different levels of heat, and different distances.
15. Constellations are borders that the celestial sphere is divided into
16. Polaris is the northern star, it is always visible to people.
17. The moon changes its phase because it orbits the earth, and half the moon always faces the sun, the other half is always dark, we just see the combination of the two.
History of Astronomy
18. What is the science of astronomy?
19. What is the scientific method, and how does it relate to the science of astronomy?
20. Who was Aristotle, and what was his relationship to the science of astronomy?
21. What was the Copernican revolution?
22. What observations did Galileo make that proved that planets go around the Sun?
23. What laws tell
Earths shadow is cast upin the moons surface, alignment between the Sun and the Earth.
Lunar phase (or Moon phase) refers to the appearance of the illuminated portion of the Moon as seen by an observer, usually on Earth. The lunar phases vary cyclically as the Moon orbits the Earth, according to the changing relative positions of the Earth, Moon, and Sun. One half of the lunar
The Milky Way is a galaxy. The Milky Way measure 100,000–120,000 light-years in diameter, it is home to planet Earth and the other planets that we all know. The Milky Way is warped. the Milky Way is a disk about 120,000 light years across with a central bulge which has a diameter of 12,000 light years. The Milky Way has over 200 billion stars. It also has enough gas and dust to make billions more. The Milky way galaxy was made from other galaxies by eating them and that's how they got there shape. We all have seen pictures of the Milky Way but they are either pictures of another galaxy or a talented artist. The Milky Way has a supermassive black hole at the center. The center of our galaxy is called Sagittarius A, it's a massive source
One important thing to notice is that exactly one half of the moon is always illuminated
If Moon phases are caused by the shadow of the Earth on the Moon, when there is a new Moon, it should lie directly behind the Earth. The sunlight would be completely blocked off from the Moon because of Earth’s shadow.
This is caused as the moon orbits around earth. It takes the moon approximately 29.5days to travel around earth. Therefore we are limited to how much of the moon we can see. The moon gets its source of light from the sun but not directly. It does it get sunlight from the reflections of earths. Without the sun we would never be able to see the moon. As the moon is orbiting the angles will change causing the phases of the moon. Example: for a new moon half of the moon receives light but only half and that half is not visible from earth as it’s facing the opposite direction from earth(facing the sun). Another example would be a quarter moon. Half of the moon is still receiving sunlight except a quarter is visible from earth as the other quarter is facing the sun making it only a quarter moon not a full moon. Do the certain phases of the moon come at certain times during the orbiting
Star: A self-luminous celestial body consisting of a mass of gas held together by its own gravity in which the energy generated by nuclear reactions in the interior is balanced by the outflow of energy to the surface, and the inward-directed gravitational forces are balanced by the outward-directed gas and radiation pressures.
There are eight phases of the moon. New Moon is the first stage of the moon. The moon is completely covered from the sun but the earth. The moon reflects the light of the sun to make it glow. That's why we can see it on earth. Then there is the waxing crescent.
The moon is the planet Earth’s only natural satellite and is one of the largest in the Solar System. This natural satellite was not formed long after Earth about 4.5 billion years ago. The gravitational forces continue to keep the moon in orbit of Earth. Even though it appears so, the moon does not physically produce light but it does reflect light from the sun (which is why we are able to see it). It takes our Moon 27.3 days to completely cycle through the Lunar month, which has eight phases. Through these different phases we see it lit from different angles and this depends upon the position of the Moon in its orbit. These phases include; the new moon, waning crescent, third quarter, waning gibbous, full moon, waxing gibbous, first quarter, waxing crescent and this process repeats.
Buckle your seatbelts, because in three shorts pages, I am going to teach you, something I learned a few days ago. So sit down, and enjoy the experience. Usually during the night the most noticeable thing in the sky is the moon and its brightness. However, the moon does not actually make any light of its own or ever change shape. The moon appears like that because it reflects light from the sun. The moon appears to be lighter or darker at different times of the month because of the positions of the moon, sun, and Earth. The moon revolves around the Earth. As the moon orbits it reflects different amounts of light due to the angle at which it receives sunlight. Which cause the lunar cycle. The cycle is made up of different stages which are new
The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our solar system. Its name “ Milky” was derived from its appearance as a dim glowing band arching across the night sky whose individual stars cannot be distinguished by the naked eye. The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy, which means it spiral out from the middle.
First is the New moon, the waxing crescent moon, first quarter, waxing gibbous, the full moon, waning gibbous, the third quarter, and last the waning crescent. The Moon takes about 4 weeks go orbit around earth. 27.3 days to be specific. During the new Moon, the Moon is aligned with the Earth and Sun. We see the side of the Moon that is not bright by the Sun. As the Moon moves eastward aside from the Sun, we see a little bit more of the Moon’s bright side each night. A couple of days after the New Moon passes, we slowly start to see a thin crescent towards the western night sky. Then the crescent Moon waxes starts to show wider each night. Then the first quarter moon come along. From Earth’s point of view, we start see to see the bright/sunlit side of the Moon. When more of the disc is irradiate, the shape of the Moon is starting to form called gibbous. The gibbous Moon starts to grow faster and we start to see a full Moon. This part of the phase is called the full Moon. The Moon rises almost completely as the Sun sets and sets just when the Sun rises the following day. The Moon is now finalized one half of the lunar month. Next comes the second half of the lunar month. The Moon grows more narrow each night, but the shape is still a gibbous just the Moon gets thinner each night. As the Moon reaches the three-quarter goal during the month, the Moon shows us one side of the Moon’s disc. As the Moon completes its expedition, then the Moon approaches a new Moon again, which is called a waning
A star is a sparkling bundle of gas bound by gravity into a solitary object and is fueled by atomic combination at the center. There are trillions of stars in our universe and all are distinctive and extraordinary. Their mass, color, shape makes them all distinctive but mass is the only thing that makes them unique. There are numerous phases of stars life including main sequence stars, red giants, white dwarfs, neutron stars, and dark holes. All stars additionally have a lot of varieties in each one phase of life. The life of a star starts in a cloud, an incredible gathering of gas and dust. When enough mass has aggregated into a solitary item, gravity compels the mass to crumple into the middle. Because of weight and rubbing, the center gets so hot that it starts atomic combination and a protostar is made.
How does the moon change it phases? Moon phases is where the moon can change into different phases. “The moon doesn’t produce its own light, Instead it reflects light from the sun,” said a moon article. The moon change it phases by it’s between the earth, and the sun. The moon help us by providing light to our planet, but the sun help the moon glow to shine light in our planet. Do you ever wonder how old is the moon? If you don’t know I will tell you right now the moon is 4.53 billion years. All the name of the moon phases are last quarter, waning crescent, new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, and waning gibbous they
How does the sun move? It moves just like earth does, it spins on axis like a top. As earth moves around the Milky Way galaxy, the sun revolves around the center of it. It takes one day for the Earth to spin all the way around on the