General astronomy

General astronomy

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General astronomy

Population II

Astronomy; General astronomy

(stars): older, redder stars that have very elliptical orbits randomly oriented and are found in the stellar halo and bulge of the Milky Way Galaxy.

precession

Astronomy; General astronomy

slow wobble of an object's rotation axis or an object's orbit. The precession of the Earth's rotation axis is caused by the gravitational pulls of the Sun and the Moon on the Earth's equatorial ...

primitive

Astronomy; General astronomy

in studies of the solar system, an object or rock that has remained chemically unchanged since it formed (solidified) about 4.6 billion years ago. The object holds a record of the very early ...

proper motion

Astronomy; General astronomy

angular distance an object moves across the sky (perpendicular to your line of sight) in a given amount of time.

proton

Astronomy; General astronomy

positively-charged subatomic particle that is found in the nucleus of an atom. It has about 1800 times more mass than its negatively-charged electron counterpart.

a nuclear fusion chain reaction used by most stars to generate energy. In a chain process involving three or more reactions, the net result is four hydrogen nuclei are fused together to form a helium ...

protostar

Astronomy; General astronomy

collapsing clump of dust and gas that will later become a star. The protostar is warm enough to produce a lot of infrared and some microwave radiation. Microwave energy is produced by the surrounding ...