Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit 3 Space – What I already know StarsPlanetsDeep SpaceEarth and MoonOther Stuff

1.5 X 10 8 km

What is: The distance from Earth to our Sun? This distance is called an Astronomical Unit. This is the unit of measurement used inside our Solar System

Eight minutes

What is: The time it takes light to travel from the Sun through space to reach Earth?

A massive collection of gases held together by the force of its own gravity and emitting large amounts of energy.

What is a star? VY Canis Major is the largest known star. It is about 2000X larger than our Sun Betalgeuse, in the Orion constellation, is 1180X larger than our Sun

The well-defined surface areas on the Sun that appear darker than their surroundings because of lower temperatures

What are Sun Spots?

It is the star nearest to Earth

What is the Sun?

The Romans named this planet after the God of Battle.

What is Mars?

The density of this planet is so low that it would float if you put the planet in a giant glass of water

What is Saturn? Saturn’s density is g/cm 3 while the density of water is g/cm 3

It is the hottest planet

What is Venus? While Venus is the second planet from the Sun, its atmosphere traps solar energy and makes the surface temperature 465 O C

It was the first planet discovered with the aid of a telescope

What is Uranus? The “closer” planets can be seen without a telescope. Composed of mostly gas, Uranus is blue-green because red wavelengths are absorbed by Uranus’ thick methane clouds

It was destroyed by Saturn’s gravity, and now, its remnants make up the rings around Saturn

What is: A Moon that once orbited Saturn?

These form when a star implodes (i.e., collapse in on itself) at the end of its lifetime, and once formed, its gravitational pull is so large that light is not emitted

What are Black Holes?

50 billion

What is: The number of galaxies in the Universe?

The theory of the start of the Universe

What is the Big Bang?

Over four Light-Years away, this star is closest to our Milky Way

What is Alpha Centauri?

It is where stars are “born”

What is a Nebula?

Almost 75% of the Earth’s surface is covered by this compound.

What is water?

Our Moon formed when an object the size of Mars struck this planet and a large section of the planet broke away

What is Earth?

A meteor becomes a meteorite when it impacts this celestial body.

What is the Earth?

These are produced on Earth by the gravitational pull of the Moon

What are Tides?

This eclipse occurs when the Earth crosses in front of the Sun and the Moon “disappears”

What is a Lunar Eclipse?

The name of our galaxy

What is the Milky Way?

300,000 km/s

What is the Speed of Light?

The astronomer who discovered the Universe is expanding.

Who is Edwin Hubble?

Kepler’s First Law: This is the trajectory of a planet

What is an Ellipse? It is not the shape of an egg; rather, it is like a stretched balloon with two axes of symmetry: a major axis and a minor axis

It is NOT a measure of time; rather, it is a measure of distance

What is a Light Year? A Light Year is the distance that light travels in a vacuum (i.e., empty space) in one year…about 9.46 X km.