Across
- 3. a system of millions or billions of stars, together with gas and dust, held together by gravitational attraction.
- 5. a celestial object consisting of a nucleus of ice and dust and, when near the sun, a ‘tail’ of gas and dust particles pointing away from the sun.
- 8. a star that suddenly increases greatly in brightness because of a catastrophic explosion that ejects most of its mass.
- 9. occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring Earth's view of the Sun, totally or partially.
- 10. small, dense star
- 11. a regular, repeating path that one object in space takes around another one
- 14. the time or date (twice each year) at which the sun crosses the celestial equator, when day and night are of approximately equal length
- 15. Marked by particular weather pattern
- 17. Moon's illumination is increasing
Down
- 1. Object that orbits a star, round in shape, has gravitational pull
- 2. takes place when the Earth comes between the Sun and the Full Moon and blocks the Sun's direct rays from lighting up the Moon
- 4. a group of stars forming a recognizable pattern that is traditionally named after its apparent form or identified with a mythological figure.
- 6. the universal force of attraction acting between all matter
- 7. small, rocky objects that orbit the Sun. Although asteroids orbit the Sun like planets, they are much smaller than planets
- 12. a very small cooled remnant of white dwarf that emits no detectable light.
- 13. Longest and shortest days of the year
- 15. Luminous ball of gas
- 16. Moon's illumination is decreasing
