Astronomy Crossword

Across

3. A massive star-like feature at the center of some galaxies
5. A star and any matter that orbits it
8. A planet’s natural satellite
10. A group of closely neighboring stars
13. The fastest planet
15. A vehicle used to leave the atmosphere
17. What the media falsely claimed Sugar Ribose to be (found on an asteroid)
18. The center of every solar system
23. Colorful clouds of gas and dust that are known as “Star Nurseries”
24. The first orbital telescope
26. One of Saturn’s moons with a thick atmosphere
27. Acid Methane Diamond Glass and Sapphire are all examples of planetary ______
30. A device made of mirrors and glass to magnify the stars
31. The planet with the most moons (in our solar system)
33. The most popular dwarf planet
39. A planet outside of our solar system
42. Planet H in our solar system
47. To transform an area into a livable ecosystem
49. A key element for determining the chemical make-up of stars and planets
50. Earth’s “Evil Twin”
51. An object in planetary orbit
53. The heaviest element that “living” stars can produce
54. The largest celestial thing we know of
56. The practice of using the light spectrum to identify chemical compounds in stellar objects
58. The “father of modern optics” created refracting telescopes (which are the telescope of choice for Astronomy)
59. The time period that greatly accelerated space exploration
61. A moon that orbits the sun
62. Often deemed the prettiest for its rings
63. Mysterious cause of universal expansion
64. A multi-terrain vehicle used for the exploration and study of foreign terrains
65. A piece of rock and metal that has breached Earth’s atmosphere with a streak of light

Down

1. Mysterious cause of universal compression
2. What occurs to objects pulled into a black hole
4. This planet was tilted due to an impact during the solar system’s formation
6. Bursts of magnetic lava from the surface of the sun that cause auroras
7. How the universe began
9. Radiation from stellar collapse
10. Pluto’s largest moon
11. Gagarin, The first person to complete a full orbit of the earth
12. Celestial objects that have an elliptical orbit around a star
14. All planets in any solar system are named ____________ based on their proximity to the sun
16. A word meaning both a planet and it’s surface
19. When a planet or other celestial object passes in front of a star and temporarily blocks part of its light (used for planetary discovery)
20. Every celestial object from the moon to the stars will experience this within one giga-year (one billion years)
21. A region of space so dense that it warps even light
22. The idea that time and gravity are warped by an object’s mass
23. the United States’ Space Agency
25. What supermassive stars become before dying
28. A massive system of stars gas and dust held together by gravity
29. Stellar collapse
32. A multinational scientific project that has lasted over twenty years
34. An object made of ice and dust with a gaseous tail
35. A relatively small piece of rock that orbits the sun
36. A rocket-launched spacecraft used for repeated trips
37. The hypothetical ninth planet
38. A lunar mission named after a greek god
40. The most common element in the universe (that we know of)
41. The second most common element in the universe (that we know of)
43. The force that hold the universe together
44. The newest orbital telescope by NASA
45. A lunar mission named after a greek goddess
46. A sellar object resulting of a failed black hole
48. The person to discover Jupiter’s four largest moons with his telescope
52. Effectively a baby star
55. The largest moon in our solar system
57. The second most popular planet (4)
60. Once main-sequence stars burn out they often become ___________ stars