Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Vocabulary
astronomer-Scientists who study the universe beyond Earth. catadioptric Telescopes-that use a combination of mirrors and lenses to focus light.
constellation-A group of stars that appear to form a pattern in the sky. Most often these stars are unrelated and are not near each other in space.
gamma ray-A penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation . infrared light-Electromagnetic waves with frequencies between radio waves and red light . light-year-The distance light can travel in one year; 9.5 trillion kilometers.
planet-A round celestial object orbiting a star that has cleared its neighboring region of planetesimals.
radio wave-The longest wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum; 1 mm to more than thousands of kilometers.
refracting telescope-Telescopes that use convex lenses to collect and focus light. space telescope-Telescopes in orbit above Earths atmosphere.
spectrometer-A tool that uses a prism to break light into its component colors. ultraviolet (UV) visible light-The portion of light in the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to humans.
wavelength-Horizontal distance from wave crest to wave crest, or wave trough to wave trough.
Notes
Earth is separated from the rest of the universe by long distances When we look at objects in space such as stars and galaxies we are not just looking over great distances, we are actually looking back in time There are different types telescopes, such as: Optical, Modern, Radio, and Space Optical- collect visible light Modern- collect data that can be stored on a computer Radio- collect and focus radio waves from distant objects Space- orbits Earth, collecting wavelengths of light that are normally blocked by the atmosphere Galileo was the first person to use the telescope and he changed myany people thoughts about the universe Telescopes help us to see things from far away, things in space Very few astronomers use the actual eyepiece of the telescope, instead they attach the telescopes instruments that capture and process the light
Review questions:
c)____________________
3. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of putting a telescope into orbit around Earth. _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________
4. Describe two observations that Galileo was the first to make with his telescope. a)____________________________ c)________________________