Astronomy 101 Quotes

“The charged particles energize molecules of gas in our upper atmosphere, called the ionosphere. This causes them to glow. That glow is called the aurora. If it appears over the north pole, it’s called the aurora borealis; over the south pole it is called the aurora australis. Most of the time it glows white or green. However, if the solar storm is fairly energetic, more and different gases are energized and we can see reds and purples in spectacular auroral displays.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“The light from the next closest star, called Proxima Centauri, shows us how it looked just over four years ago. The light from a galaxy that lies 65 million light-years away left that galaxy when the dinosaurs were facing extinction. The most distant objects and events existed when the universe itself was only a few hundred thousand years old. Astronomers see them as they were more than 13 billion years ago. When you look out in space, you’re looking back into time.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“When you look out in space, you’re looking back into time. The farther across space you look, the further back in time you see. This means the telescopes and instruments we use to study the cosmos are really time machines.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“The solar system is our local place in space. It contains the Sun, eight planets, several dwarf planets, comets, moons, and asteroids.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“Nearly three-quarters of our planet is covered with water in the form of the global ocean, lakes, and rivers. This is called the hydrosphere.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“The atmosphere is a protective blanket, absorbing most solar ultraviolet light. It also keeps temperatures warm through what’s called the greenhouse effect. Heat from the Sun is absorbed by gases such as carbon dioxide, which radiate that heat to the Earth’s surface. The greenhouse gases are what make life livable on our planet. However, we are now affecting our atmosphere through the release of high levels of greenhouse gases. This is affecting global temperatures, speeding up the melting of Arctic ice and warming the oceans.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“appears either in the morning skies before sunrise or in the evening skies right after sunset. You can also sometimes spot Venus during the day.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“Venus is the second planet out from the Sun and is classified as a “terrestrial” planet. This means that it, like Mercury, Earth, and Mars, is made primarily of silicate rocks and metallic elements. It has a solid, rocky surface shaped by volcanic activity that may still be occurring, tectonism (earthquakes), erosion, and weathering.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“Mercury turns out to be the densest of the terrestrial planets. It’s made of about 60 percent iron—twice as much as Earth has—and 40 percent other minerals.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“Space weather can affect Earth and our technology in many different ways. It can damage spacecraft electronics, cause power outages, and disrupt telecommunications.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“heavy solar outburst causes ionospheric disturbances called geomagnetic storms.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“When the Sun sends a huge blast of charged particles in a giant outburst called a coronal mass ejection, or blasts out a giant X-class flare (the largest and most intense type of outburst), that material rushes out at high speeds. We see the light from the outburst 8.3 minutes after it happens.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“The charged particles energize molecules of gas in our upper atmosphere, called the ionosphere. This causes them to glow. That glow is called the aurora. If it appears over the north pole, it’s called the aurora borealis; over the south pole it is called the aurora australis.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“The charged particles energize molecules of gas in our upper atmosphere, called the ionosphere. This causes them to glow. That glow is called the aurora. If it appears over the north pole, it’s called the aurora borealis; over the south pole”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“The Sun constantly emits a stream of charged particles called the solar wind. As this wind rushes past Earth, it runs into our magnetosphere.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“These are areas threaded with magnetic fields and look dark because they are cooler than the surrounding regions.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“Sometimes the surface of the Sun is dotted with dark regions called sunspots.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“This is a very descriptive name because this region truly does radiate heat from the center of the Sun up to the convective zone.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“The Sun’s convective zone has these granular areas, too. They form as hot material from deep inside rises to the surface. These bubbles are actually currents moving through the Sun.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“Beneath the chromosphere is the photosphere, where temperatures range from 4,226°C (7,640°F) to 5,700°C (10,340°F). When you look at the Sun, the photosphere is what you actually see. The Sun is actually white, but it appears yellowish because its light travels through our atmosphere, which removes blue and red wavelengths from the incoming light.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“cutaway view of the Sun, showing the core, the radiative zone, the convective zone, chromosphere, and corona.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“Volcanism is when volcanoes spew mineral-rich lava. This happens on our own planet, Venus, and Jupiter’s moon Io. It has occurred in the past on Mercury and Mars.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“In the current definition (which will probably get revised again), a planet is defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) as a celestial body that has its primary orbit around the Sun, has sufficient mass for its own gravity to mold it into a round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit by sweeping up all the planetesimals, which means that it’s the only body of its size in its orbit. This complex definition excludes comets, asteroids, and smaller worlds that aren’t rounded by their own gravity. The IAU also defined another class called dwarf planets. These are objects that meet the first two criteria for planets but have not yet cleared their orbits. Pluto, along with Ceres (discovered in 1801 and long known as a minor planet) and the more recently discovered worlds of Eris, Makemake, and Haumea, is now classified as a dwarf planet.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“Today, we apply the word planet to eight worlds of the solar system, excluding Pluto.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“The worlds of the solar system shown on their orbital paths. Most of the planetary paths are close to being circular except for Pluto’s orbit, which is very elongated.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“All the planets of the solar system travel around the Sun following paths called orbits.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“Jupiter’s four largest are Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, and they’re often referred to as the Galileans, honoring their discoverer, astronomer Galileo Galilei.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“Mars has two moons, called Phobos and Deimos, and Mercury and Venus have none.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe

“Nearly all the major planets, some of the dwarf planets, and some asteroids have natural satellites called moons. The one we’re most familiar with is Earth’s Moon.”
― Carolyn Collins Petersen, Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe