ASTRO 001H Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Kuiper Belt, Weightlessness, Oort Cloud
Document Summary
Structures in order (smallest to largest): earth, sun, galaxy, solar system, universe. Revolution is an orbit, rotation is spinning in place. Light-year: the distance light travels in one year. Unit of distance, not a unit of time. Daily apparent motion of the sun, moon, and stars are due to the rotation of the earth. Different latitudes see different celestial patterns-poles get full range motion, mid areas get semi circles. Period/time for a full cycle of this motion= a month. Seasons change because of the angle of sunlight. (ex: more direct angle=warmer=summer). If the axis of the earth wasn"t tilted, seasons wouldn"t really change. The sun appears higher in the sky depending on its angle to the earth based on time of year and latitude, so that affects the changing seasons (heat and length of day). New moon, waxing crescent, 1st quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, 3rd quarter, waning crescent. Full cycle of moon phases takes one month.
