General astronomy

General astronomy

Industry: Astronomy

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General astronomy

gravity

Astronomy; General astronomy

a fundamental force of nature between two objects that is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their respective centers. It ...

the trapping of heat energy close to a planet's surface by certain types of gases in the atmosphere (e.g., water, methane, and carbon dioxide). These gases allow visible light from the Sun to reach ...

ground state

Astronomy; General astronomy

the lowest energy state of an atom---all of the electrons are as close to the nucleus as possible.

differential rotation

Astronomy; General astronomy

(galaxy): stars closer to a disk galaxy's center complete a greater fraction of their orbit in a given time than stars farther out from the center, so that adjacent parts of the galactic disk do not ...

differentiation

Astronomy; General astronomy

the separation of materials in a fluid under the influence of gravity such that the denser material collects at the core while the less dense material rises to the surface.