ASTRONOMY VOCABULARY

Extragalactic: relating to or coming from a place outside our galaxy

Sentence: Hubble was the first astronomer to detect the existence of extragalactic stars.

Cosmological: the study of the nature and origin of the universe

Sentence: Cosmological arguments attempt to prove God exists through features of the universe.

Aurora: a natural appearance of coloured light in the sky that is usually seen in the latitudes

Sentence: We had a lovely evening with the best Aurora I have seen, and then the brightest stars.

Observatory: a building from which scientists can watch the planets, the stars, the weather,

Sentence: Local observatory alerted residents that there would be a dust storm the next day.

Navigation: the act of directing a ship, aircraft, etc. From one place to another, or the science of finding a way from one place to another.

Sentence: If you’re going to be a good sailor you need to master navigation.

Nebula: a cloud of dust or gas in outer space:

Sentence: The Orion Nebula is visible to the naked eye under dark skies.

Amplitude: the angular distance of a celestial object from the true east or west point of the horizon at rising or setting.

Sentence: Sound waves are measured by their amplitude.

Albedo: the amount of the light hitting a surface that it reflects back, especially the surface of a planet or other body in space

Sentence: Snow has a high albedo, which is why skiers wear sunglasses and sunscreen.

Galaxy: the very large group of stars that contains the solar system

Sentence: A galaxy of twinkling stars matched the thousands of sparkling city lights.

Supernova: a star that has exploded, strongly increasing its brightness for a few months

Sentence: A supernova sprays space with many different elements

Crater: a large round hole in the ground made by the explosion of a bomb or by something falling from the sky

Sentence: The moon’s surface is pocked with small craters.

Cluster: a group of similar things or people positioned or occurring closely together.

Sentence: there is cluster of stars in the sky