Kosmologie

The moon formed from a large collision with a protoplanet, ejecting Earth's material that then coalesced.

Similar to Earth's material.

Very thin, offering no protection from meteor impacts.

Tidally locked, always showing Earth the same face.

Time it takes the Moon to orbit Earth relative to the stars (27.3 days).

Nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium in the sun's core.

Energy from the core travels outward as light particles (photons), being absorbed and emitted multiple times at lower temperatures.

Energy is transferred by moving hot gases (convection), significantly faster than in the radiative zone. It takes a week for energy to cross this zone.

The visible surface of the sun, showing granules (bright/dark areas).

Charged particles ejected from the sun, potentially affecting Earth's technology.

Period after 300,000 years where the universe is transparent and dark, no stars yet, charged particles trapped in atoms, radiation escapes.

Stars and galaxies form under the influence of gravity; this process continues as the universe expands and cools.

Theory where gravity causes the universe to contract again (Big Crunch) and possibly restart (new Big Bang).

Theory where the expansion of the universe stops due to gravity and expansion forces being equal and opposite.

Theory where gravity slows but doesn't stop the universe's expansion.

The imaginary flat plane where all the planets in our solar system orbit the Sun, resembling a tilted disk.

Rocky planets with high density, few moons, no rings, and located close to the Sun. Examples include Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.

Planets composed mostly of gas and liquids surrounding a solid core, with multiple moons, rings, and located far from the Sun. Examples include Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

A day on Venus (time to rotate once) is longer than a year on Venus (time to orbit the Sun) because Venus rotates extremely slowly.

Planets that orbit stars outside of our solar system. They are discovered by observing the star's wobble or dimming as the planet passes in front of it.

A region beyond Neptune with many icy objects like planetoids, dwarf planets, and short-period comets. These objects have stretched orbits around the Sun.

A vast, spherical region much farther out than the Kuiper Belt, containing millions of icy and rocky bodies. These are the sources of long-period comets.

A celestial body that is spherical but not massive enough to clear its orbit of other objects. It's not a planet but still significant in our solar system.

Bits of comets and asteroids that burn up as they enter Earth's atmosphere, creating a streak of light in the night sky.

A trail of dust and gas that is always pointing away from the Sun due to solar wind and radiation. It contains a dust tail and a plasma tail.

The portion of the universe that we can observe from Earth, limited by the speed of light and the age of the universe.

A massive collection of galaxies, bound together by gravity, containing thousands of galaxies.

A vast collection of stars, gas, dust, and dark matter, held together by gravity, like our Milky Way.

The dense, spherical region at the heart of the Milky Way, containing a supermassive black hole.

A cloud of gas and dust collapses due to gravity, forming a spinning disk. The center heats up, igniting nuclear fusion and creating the Sun. Dust particles collide and stick together, forming planetesimals, which eventually become planets.

A smaller spiral arm within the Milky Way where our Solar System is located.

A spherical region surrounding the Milky Way's disc, containing old, scattered stars and globular clusters.

The time it takes our Sun to complete one orbit around the center of the Milky Way (approximately 225 million years).

The Sun has several distinct layers, each with different temperatures and characteristics. From inside out: core, radiative zone, convective zone, photosphere, chromosphere, corona, sunspots, granulation, and prominences.

Small, rocky bodies that formed in the early solar system. They collide and merge through gravity, eventually building larger objects like planets.

A dense, spherical collection of hundreds of thousands of old stars, found in the Milky Way's halo.

The process that powers the Sun. Hydrogen atoms combine to form helium, releasing energy in the form of light and heat.

The phenomenon where light from distant galaxies shifts to longer wavelengths, indicating that the galaxy is moving away from us. The further the galaxy, the larger the redshift.

Leftover radiation from the early universe, evidence for the Big Bang theory. It's a faint glow of microwaves coming from all directions in space.

The extremely rapid expansion of the universe immediately after the Big Bang. It was a period of exponential growth in a very short time.

The formation of atoms after the universe cooled enough, allowing electrons and protons to combine. This marked the end of the universe being opaque, as light could now travel freely.

Prior to the formation of atoms, the universe was filled with unbound, charged particles like electrons. These particles blocked the passage of light, making the universe opaque.

The different shapes of the moon we see from Earth caused by the changing angles of sunlight reflecting off its surface.

When the entire face of the moon is illuminated by the sun, appearing as a bright, round disk.

When the moon is between the Earth and the sun, the sunlit side is facing away from us, making it invisible.

Half of the moon's face is illuminated, appearing as a crescent shape.

The opposite of the first quarter, where the other half of the moon is illuminated.

Occurs when the Earth blocks sunlight from reaching the Moon, causing the Moon to appear reddish.

Occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, blocking sunlight from reaching a small area on Earth.

Occurs when the Moon completely covers the Sun, allowing the Sun's corona (outer atmosphere) to be visible.

Occurs when the Moon is too far from Earth to completely cover the Sun, leaving a bright ring of sunlight visible around the Moon.

The Moon's orbit is slightly tilted relative to Earth's orbit around the Sun, so they don't always align perfectly.