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Celestial Object
Celestial objects are naturally occurring physical entities, associations or structures that current science has demonstrated to exist in the observable universe.
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Astronomer
An expert or student or astronomy, observes celestial object.
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Revolution
the action of moving around something in a path that is similar to a circle.
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Rotation
the act of rotating; a turning around as on an axis.
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Constellation
a group of stars forming a recognizable pattern that is traditionally named after its apparent form or identified with a mythological figure.
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Light-Year
a unit of astronomical distance equivalent to the distance that light travels in one year, which is 9.4607 × 1012 km
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Apparent Magnitude
the magnitude of a star as it appears to anobserver on the earth.
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Asterism
a prominent pattern or group of stars, typically having a popular name but smaller than a constellation. Can be part of a constellation.
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Pointer Stars
Pointer Stars are stars that are used to pinpoint other areas in the sky, such as constellations or a certain direction.
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Circumpolar
situated around or inhabiting one of the earth's poles.
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Zenith
the point in the sky or celestial sphere directly above an observer.
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Tides
The rising and falling of the earth's oceans caused by the moon's and earth's gravity
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Phases of the moon
First Quarter-Waxing Crescent-New Moon- Waning Crescent-Third Quarter-Wanning Gibbons-Full Moon-Waxing Gibbous
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Lunar Eclipse
The phenomenon in which the full moon passes into Earth's shadow.
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Solar Eclipse
The phenomenon in which the shadow of the Moon falls on Earth's surface
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Why do we have seasons?
We have seasons because the earth is tilted as it makes its yearly journey around the sun. The Earth's axis is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees. This means that the Earth is always "pointing" to one side as it goes around the Sun.
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Planet
An object that orbits one or more stars (and is not a star itself), is spherical and does not share its orbit with another object
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Solar System
A group of planets that circle one or more stars
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Retrograde motion
The movement of an object in the sky, usually a planet, from east to west, rather than its normal motion from west to east, this effect is generally produced when Earth is passing the planet in its orbit
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Astronomical Unit
The average distance between Earth and the Sun, about 150x10 to the power of 6km
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Orbital Radius
The average distance between the Sun and an object that is orbiting the Sun
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Geocentric Model
A model of the solar system stating that Earth is in the centre of all planetary motion, with the planets and the Sun travelling in perfect circles around Earth.
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Heliocentric model
A model of the solar system in which the Sun is in the centre with the planets orbiting it.
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Comet
An object composed of rocky material, ice and gas; comes from the Kuiper Belt or Oort Cloud.
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Asteroid
An object in space that ranges in size from a tiny speck. like a grain of sand to 500 km wide most asteroids originate in the asteroid belt between mars and jupiter
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Meteoroid
A piece of rock moving through space
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Meteor
A meteoroid that hits Earth's atmosphere and burns up
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Meteorite
A meteoroid that is large enough to pass through Earth's atmosphere and reach the ground without being totally burned up
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Trans-Neptunian object
An object that circles the Sun beyond the orbit Neptune
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