Observing the Night Sky Glossary

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Across
  1. 5. Sun-centered. A model of the solar system where the Sun is at the center and the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun. The stars are outside the solar system.
  2. 9. The line at which the earth's surface and the sky appear to meet.
  3. 11. An object that is in a highly elliptical orbit orbit around a star which generates a tail of dust and gas as it approaches the star.
  4. 12. A collection of millions to billions of stars, mostly seen as spiral or elliptical shapes.
  5. 13. The angle of the object around the observer's local horizon, measured from north and increasing eastward. It is similar to right ascension and longitude.
  6. 14. The angle between the object and the observer's local horizon. It is similar to declination and latitude.
  7. 15. Length of time defined by the rotation of a planet around its axis.
  8. 16. The point in the sky that Earth’s axis of rotation points at, which the stars seem to rotate around. Also called the North Star.
  9. 17. The two days of the year when there is an equal amount of daylight and nighttime.
  10. 18. An imaginary line running from North to South, dividing the sky in half.
  11. 20. A small circle whose center moves around the circumference of a larger one.
Down
  1. 1. The four main directions on a map - North, South, East, and West.
  2. 2. Earth-centered. A model of the solar system where the Earth is at the center and the Sun, planets, and stars revolve around Earth.
  3. 3. A small, rocky object that is in a orbit around a star, but doesn’t qualify as a planet.
  4. 4. An imaginary sphere projected onto the background stars, with gridlines on it.
  5. 6. Pollution The scattering of artificial light that makes night skies brighter and makes it hard to see stars.
  6. 7. A grouping of stars that seems to represent an item or figure. The entire sky is divided into 88 constellations.
  7. 8. The circles measuring degrees from the celestial poles, similar to lines of latitude.
  8. 10. A ranking of the apparent brightness of the stars in the night sky.
  9. 17. An imaginary line that is the approximate path of the Sun, Moon, and planets across the sky.
  10. 19. Tilt When the axis of a planet’s rotation is not perpendicular to the planet’s orbit. A tilted planet will have seasons.