Chapter 3 – Stars and Galaxies Vocabulary
Name ________________________ Class ______
Lesson 1
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
apparent appearing to the eye or mind
apparent magnitude measure of how bright an object appears from Earth
astronomical unit average distance between Earth and the Sun
light-year distance that light travels in 1 year
luminosity true brightness of an object
parallax apparent change in an object’s position caused by looking at it from two different
points
7. spectroscope instrument that spreads light into different wavelengths
Lesson 2
1. chromosphere orange-red layer of a star’s atmosphere, between the photosphere and the
corona
2. convection zone region above the radiative zone of a star where hot gas moves up toward the
surface and cooler gas moves deeper into the interior
3. corona wide, outermost layer of a star’s atmosphere
4. globular round, sphere-shaped
5. Hertzsprung-Russell diagram graph that plots luminosity v. temperature of stars
6. nuclear fusion process that occurs when the nuclei of several atoms combine into one larger
nucleus
7. photosphere apparent surface of a star’s atmosphere
8. radiative zone shell of cooler hydrogen above a star’s core
9. star large ball of gas held together by gravity with a core so hot that nuclear fusion occurs
10. stellar anything related to stars
Lesson 3
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
black hole object whose gravity is so great that no light can escape
nebula cloud of gas and dust, where stars form
neutron neutral particle in the nucleus of an atom
neutron star dense core of neutrons that remains after a supernova
supernova enormous explosion that destroys a star
white dwarf hot, dense, slowly cooling sphere of carbon
Lesson 4
1. Big Bang theory states that the universe began from one point billions of years ago and has
been expanding ever since
2. dark matter matter that emits no light
3. Doppler shift shift to a different wavelength as waves travel toward or away from the point of
observation
4. galaxy huge collection of stars
Chapter 3 – Stars and Galaxies Vocabulary
Name ________________________ Class ______
Lesson 1
Apparent
apparent magnitude
astronomical unit
light-year
Luminosity
parallax
spectroscope
Chromosphere
convection zone
corona
globular
Hertzsprung-Russell
nuclear fusion
photosphere
radiative zone
Star
stellar
Lesson 2
Lesson 3
black hole
nebula
neutron
neutron star
supernova
white dwarf
Chapter 3 – Stars and Galaxies Vocabulary
Name ________________________ Class ______
Lesson 4
Big Bang theory
dark matter
Doppler shift
galaxy