Grade Level 5 Astronomy BINGO! Vocabulary

...including correlations with "Windows on Science" (WOS), Earth Science, Volume II videodisc

Astronomy: The study of outer space.

Planetarium: A projector used to realistically model the sky (day and night) on a domed ceiling, showing the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars and their apparent motions in the sky.

Observatory: A domed building enclosing a large telescope.

Axis: A straight line, real or imaginary, passing through a body, around which it spins (rotates). The Earth's axis is tilted 23 1/2 (23.5) degrees.

Rotation: Turning of a body around an imaginary axis running through it. The Earth rotates counterclockwise once every 24 hours (one day), causing day and night.

Revolution: The motion of one body around another. The Earth revolves counterclockwise around the Sun once every 365 days (one year). Orbit is a synonym for revolution. (Remember that synonyms are two words which have the same meaning.)

Daily (Diurnal) Motion: Motion during one day. The apparent motion of the Sun, Moon, planets, stars, etc. from East to West across the sky, caused by the Earth's rotation.

Clockwise: Moving in the same direction as the hands of a clock.

Counterclockwise: Moving in the opposite direction as the hands of a clock.

Horizon (astronomical): The imaginary line where the sky appears to meet the land. The horizon is a large circle.

Zenith: The imaginary point directly overhead.

Cardinal Points: The four main points of the compass: North, East, South, and West.

Meridian: A line of longitude (either on the Earth's surface or projected into space).

Sunrise: The event or time of the daily first appearance of the Sun (upper limb) above the eastern horizon.

Sunset: The event or time of the daily disappearance of the Sun (upper limb) below the western horizon.

Twilight: The period of time either just before sunrise or just after sunset when the sky is lighted but the Sun is below the horizon. In Washington, D.C., civil twilight usually lasts approximately 30 minutes.

a.m.: ante meridiem (Latin), that is, before the Sun crosses the meridian (before noon).

p.m.: post meridiem (Latin), that is, after the Sun crosses the meridian (after noon).

Star: A huge, self-luminous (glowing) sphere of gas (mostly hydrogen and helium).

Sun: The star around which the Earth and the other planets in our Solar System revolve. The Sun is a medium-sized star; it appears larger than other stars because it is the star nearest to Earth. The diameter of the Sun is more than 100 times larger than the Earth's diameter; more than a million Earths would fit inside the Sun's volume!

Planets: Any of the nine large bodies revolving around the Sun. As a group, the Sun and its nine planets are known as the Solar System.

Moon: A smaller body which revolves around a planet. For example, "the Moon" revolves around the Earth approximately once a month.

Moon Phases: Regular cycle of change in the apparent shape of the Moon caused by the revolution of the Moon around the Earth. There are eight named Moon phases: New Moon, Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter, Waning Crescent.

Meteor/Meteor Shower: Also known as a "shooting-" or "falling star," a meteor is a streak of light across the sky caused by a small piece of Solar System debris, usually a sand-sized particle, which burns up while colliding at great speed with the Earth's atmosphere. A meteor shower occurs when many meteors appear to radiate from nearly the same point in the sky.

Constellation: A pattern of stars named for a particular object, person, or animal; one of 88 areas dividing the sky. Constellation literally means "stars (-stellation) together (con-)."

Ursa Major (Big Dipper):

Pointer Stars: The two stars in the end of the cup of the Big Dipper (Merak and Dubhe) which point toward Polaris (the North Star).

Ursa Minor (Little Dipper):

Polaris (North Star): A star approximately at the north celestial pole. Polaris is now the pole star; there is no south pole star. Polaris is the moderately bright star at the end of the handle of Ursa Minor (Little Dipper).

Cassiopeia (the Queen):

Circumpolar: The portion of the celestial sphere near the north celestial pole that is always above the horizon. Circumpolar literally means "around the pole (or Polaris)." Circumpolar constellations are visible every night of the year; all other constellations are seasonal.

Orion (the Hunter):

Betelgeuse: The bright red supergiant star about 600 light years distant which marks Orion's right shoulder (his right, your left). Arabic word for "armpit." Over 1000 times larger than the Sun, if placed at the center of our Solar System it would extend past the orbit of Jupiter! As a massive red supergiant, it is nearing the end of its life and will soon become a supernova.

Taurus (the Bull):

Aldebaran: The bright red giant star in the constellation Taurus (the Bull), with a diameter approximately 40 times greater than the diameter of the Sun! Aldebaran is the star near the right eye of the bull (Taurus' right, your left).

Pleiades (Seven Sisters): Star cluster of six visible stars located in the shoulder of Taurus (the Bull). Subaru is the Japanese word for Pleiades.

Canis Major (Big Dog):

Sirius: The bright blue-white star in the constellation Canis Major (one of Orion's two hunting dogs). At a distance of only 8.6 light years (relatively close, astronomically speaking), Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky.

Gemini (the Twins):

Leo (the Lion):

Ecliptic: The apparent annual path of the Sun on the celestial sphere.

Zodiac: A belt around the sky 18 degrees wide centered on the ecliptic.

Astrology: The pseudoscience that deals with the supposed influences of the configurations and locations in the sky of the Sun, Moon, and planets on human destiny; a primitive religion having its origin in ancient Babylonia.

Milky Way: The faint band of light arching across the sky, which is due to the many stars and diffuse nebulae (clouds of dust and gas) lying near the plane of our galaxy. The Milky Way is difficult to see in the light-polluted skies of urban areas.

Definitions courtesy of Exploration of the Universe, Fourth Edition, by George O. Abell, Saunders College Publishing, (c) 1982.