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Electromagnetic Radiation
Radiation consisting of electromagenetic waves that travel at the speed of light (such as visible light, radio waves, Xrays).
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Refracting telescope
A telescope that uses a lens to collect the light from an object.
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Reflecting Telescope
A telescope that uses a mirror to collect the light from an object.
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Satellite
An artificial object or vehicle that orbits Earth, the moon or other celestial bodies; also a celestial body that orbits another body of larger size ie. the Moon is Earth's natural satellite.
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Orbiters
Observatories that orbit other celestial objects.
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Solar Nebula Theory
The theory that describes how stars and planets form from contracting, spinning disks of gas and dust.
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Star
A celestial body made of hot gases, mainly hydrogen and some helium.
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Nebula
An interstellar cloud of gases such as hydrogen, helium and other ionized gases.
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Protostar
A hot condensed object at the center of a nebula.
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Nuclear Fusion
The process of energy production in which hydrogen nuclei combine to form helium nuclei.
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Photosphere
The surface layer of the Sun.
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Sunspot
An area of strong magnetic fields on the photosphere.
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Solar wind
A stream of fast moving charged particles ejected by the sun into the solar system.
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Solar Flare
A large brightening on the surface of the sun which is known to release energy.
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Importance of the Sun
The sun is our supply of daylight which is required for photosynthesis and to keep our planet warm.
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Luminosity
A star's total energy output per second; its power in joules per second.
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Absolute magnitude
The magnitude of a star that we would observe if the star were 32.6 light years from Earth.
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Spectroscope
An optical instrument that produces a spectrum from a narrow beam of light, and usually projects the spectrum onto a photographic plate or a digital detector.
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Spectral Lines
Certain specific wavelengths within a spectrum characterized by lines spectral lines identify specific chemical elements.
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Hertzsprung-Russel (H-R) Diagrams
A graph that compares the properties of stars.
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Main Sequence
A narrow band of stars on the H-R diagram that runs diagonally from left (bright, hot stars) to the lower right (dim, cool stars); about 90 percent of stars, including the Sun, are in the main sequence.
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White Dwarf
A small, dim, hot star.
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Supernova
A massive explosion in which the entire outer portion of the star is blown off.
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Neutron Star
A star so dense that only neutrons can exist in its core.
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How low-mass stars evolve
How intermediate-mass stars evolve
How high-mass stars evolve
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Black hole
The remnant of a supernova explosion with a gravitational field so strong that nothing can escape its pull.
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