Space Glossary

Universe:
The universe is all matter and energy, including the
earth, the galaxies, and the contents of
intergalactic space, regarded as a whole.

Milkyway:
The totality of matter, energy, and space, including
the Solar System, the galaxies, and the contents of
the space between the galaxies. Current theories of
cosmology suggest that the universe is constantly
expanding.

Other Galaxies:
The spiral galaxy that contains our solar system.
Made up of an estimated two hundred billion stars
or more, it is seen from Earth as an irregular band
of hazy light across the night sky. The solar system
is located in one of the revolving spiral arms, about
50 light-years north of the galactic plane and some
27,700 light-years from the galaxy's center, which
lies in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius.
It takes approximately 250 million years for the
solar system to orbit the galactic center, which is
believed to contain a massive black hole. The Milky
Way measures about 100,000 light-years in
diameter and is the second largest galaxy, after
the Andromeda Galaxy, in the cluster known as the
Local Group.
 Sun:
The sun is a medium-sized star located in a spiral
arm of the Milky Way galaxy, orbited by all of the
planets and other bodies in our solar system and
supplying the heat and light that sustain life on
Earth. Its diameter is approximately 1.4 million km,
and its mass, about 330,000 times of Earth. It has
a temperature of some 16 million degrees C at its
core, where nuclear fusion produces tremendous
amounts of energy, mainly through the series of
reactions known as the proton-proton chain. The
energy generated in the core radiates through a
radiation zone to an opaque convection zone, where
it rises to the surface through convection currents
of the Sun's plasma. The Sun's surface
temperature is approximately 6,200 degrees C. The
Sun was formed along with the rest of the solar
system about 4.5 billion years ago and is expected
to run out of its current hydrogen fuel in another 5
billion years, at which point it will develop into a red
giant and ultimately into a white dwarf.

Stars:
A self-luminous celestial body consisting of a mass
of gas held together by its own gravity in which the
energy generated by nuclear reactions in the
interior is balanced by the outflow of energy to the
surface, and the inward-directed gravitational
 forces are balanced by the outward-directed gas
and radiation pressures.

Phases of the Moon (Lunar Phase):

phase of the moon is the appearance of the
illuminated portion of the Moon as seen by an
observer, usually on Earth. The lunar phases vary
cyclically as the Moon orbits the Earth, according
to the changing relative positions of the Earth,
Moon, and Sun. One half of the lunar surface is
always illuminated by the Sun (except during lunar
eclipses), and hence is bright, but the portion of
the illuminated hemisphere that is visible to an
observer can vary from 100% (full moon) to 0% (new
moon). The boundary between the illuminated and
unilluminated hemispheres is called the terminator.

Lunar eclipse:
A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes behind
the earth such that the earth blocks the sun’s rays
from striking the moon. This can occur only when
the Sun, Earth and Moon are aligned exactly, or
very closely so, with the Earth in the middle.
Hence, there is always a full moon the night of a
lunar eclipse. The type and length of an eclipse
depend upon the Moon’s location relative to its
orbital nodes.
 Solar eclipse:
As seen from the Earth, a solar eclipse occurs when
the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth,
and the Moon fully or partially covers the Sun as
viewed from a location on Earth. This can only
happen during a new moon, when the Sun and Moon
are in conjunction as seen from Earth. At least two,
and up to five, solar eclipses occur each year; no
more than two can be total eclipses. Total solar
eclipses are nevertheless rare at any particular
location because totality exists only along a narrow
path on the Earth's surface traced by the Moon's
umbra.

Constellation:

In colloquial usage, a constellation is a group of

celestial bodies, usually stars, which appear to form
a pattern in the sky. Astronomers today still utilize
the term, though the current system focuses
primarily on constellations as grid-like segments of
the celestial sphere rather than as patterns. A
star-pattern that is not officially classed as a
constellation is referred to as an asterism. One
famous example is the asterism known as the Big
Dipper, a term unused by the International
Astronomical Union (IAU) as the stars are
considered part of the larger constellation of Ursa
Major.
 Light years:

A light-year (symbol: ly) is a unit of length, equal

to just under 10 trillion kilometres or 6 trillion
miles. As defined by the International Astronomical
Union (IAU), a light-year is the distance that light
travels in a vacuum in one Julian year.

Comets:

A comet is an icy small Solar System body that,

when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible
coma (a thin, fuzzy, temporary atmosphere) and
sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both
due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar
wind upon the nucleus of the comet. Comet nuclei
are themselves loose collections of ice, dust, and
small rocky particles, ranging from a few hundred
meters to tens of kilometers across. Comets have
been observed since ancient times and have
historically been considered bad omens.

Satellites:

In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an

object which has been placed into orbit by human
endeavor. Such objects are sometimes called
artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural
satellites such as the Moon.
 Asteroids:

Asteroids sometimes grouped with centaurs,

Neptune Trojans and trans-Neptunian objects into
minor planets or planetoids are a class of small
Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. The
term "asteroid" was historically applied to any
astronomical object orbiting the Sun that was not
observed to have the characteristics of an active
comet or a planet, but it has increasingly come to
particularly refer to the small rocky and metallic
bodies of the inner Solar System and out to the
orbit of Jupiter. As small objects in the outer Solar
System have begun to be discovered their observed
composition differs from the objects historically
termed asteroids

By Henry Sadler