Astronomy Exam #1 Questions And Answers

Astronomy Exam #1 Questions And Answers What is a star? - ANS A star is a large luminous ball of gas that generates heat and light through nuclear fusion. What is a planet? - ANS A planet is a moderately large object that orbits a star. It shines by reflected light. Planets may be icy or rocky What is a moon? - ANS A moon (or satellite) is an object that orbits the planet. What is an asteroid? - ANS An asteroid is a small and ROCKY object that orbits a star. What is a comet? - ANS A comet is a small and ICY object that orbits a star. What is the SOLAR SYSTEM? - ANS The solar system is a star and all of the material that orbits it; including it planets, moons and asteroids. Our Solar System is the Sun, Earth, Mars... What is a nebula? - ANS A nebula is an in stellar cloud of gas and or dust and it is indicative of star birth or star death. What is a galaxy? - ANS A galaxy is a great is a great island of stars in space, all held together by gravity orbiting the common center. An example: The Milky Way What is a Local Supercluster? - ANS A local supercluster is groups of galaxies that are typically clustered What is the definition of a Universe? - ANS The universe is the sum total of all matter and energy that is everything within and between all galaxies. What are the two elements that everything comes from since the Big Bang? - ANS The two elements are Hydrogen and Helium. H + He How big is a Light Year? - ANS a light year is 300 thousand kilometers per second or 300 million minutes per second. 3x10⁸ m/s About 10 trillion kilometers What is the equation for one light year and what does a light year measure? - ANS A light year equals the speed of light times one year. A light year measures distance.