Celestial Sphere
A model of the sky; An imaginary sphere surrounding Earth on which celestial bodies are projected.
Polaris
The North Star
Revolution
Earth's yearly orbit around the Sun
Rotation
The act of rotating the earth on its axis
Foucault Pendulum
--proof the Earth rotates-- If a pendulum is suspended and allowed to swing back and forth you will see a gradual change in the direction of its swinging. (shifts clockwise in northern hemisphere and counter clockwise in southern hemisphere)
Coriolis Effect
The way Earth's rotation makes winds in the Northern Hemisphere curve to the right and winds in the Southern Hemisphere curve to the left.
Seasons
Peroids of time when the tilt of the earth determines where the sun rays hit the earth.
Perihelion
nearest point to the sun in the orbit of a planet or comet
Aphelion
the place in the orbit of a planet where the planet is farthest from the sun
Zenith
the highest point
Eqinox
either of the 2 times each year ( spring and fall) when the days and nights are equal lengths
On those days sun directly over Equator
Spring March 21 Fall September 23
Summer solstice
June 21, when the sun is at its northernmost point
Winter solsitce
When the Earth is tilted (in the Northern Hemisphere) the farthest from the sun.
Orbit
the path of an object as it revolves around another object in space
Focus
bring into focus or alignment
Eccentricity
oddity; idiosyncrasy
Inertia
(physics) the tendency of a body to maintain is state of rest or uniform motion unless acted upon by an external force
Spring Tides
tides that have the greastest tidal range due to the alignment of the earth-moon-sun system
Neap tides
tides with minimum daily tidal range that occur during the first and third quarters of the moon
Solar eclipse
occurs when the Moon passes directly between the Sun and Earth and casts a shadow over part of Earth
Solar system
sun, planets, and all the other objects that revolve around the sun
Geocentric Model
A representation of the universe in which starts and planets revolve around Earth. Ptolemy proposed the model.
Heliocentric Model
A representation of the relationship between the Sun and planets in which the planets revolve around the Sun. Copernicus proposed the model.
Terrestrial
on or relating to the earth
Jovian
The name given to the Gas Giants/Outer Plants
Universe
All of space and everything in it.
Milky Way Galaxy
the galaxy we live in
Doppler Shift
causes waves to bounce off moving object changing the frequency of wave
Red Shift
the change in the wavelength of light due to an object moving away from the observer.
Blue Shift
An increase in the measured frequency of light from an approaching source; called the blue shift because of the increase is towards the high, or blue, end of the color spectrum
Big Bang" theory
the theory that the universe originated 20 billion years ago from the cataclysmic explosion of a small mass of matter at extremely high density and temperature