Stars and Nebulae

Stars and Nebulae

Star Review

Multiple Choice

What color of star is the coolest?

• Red
• Yellow
• Blue
• White

Multiple Choice

What color of star is the hottest?

• Blue
• Red
• Yellow
• Orange

Multiple Choice

Why do other stars appear so much smaller than the sun?

• They are much smaller

• They are so far away

• They are not as bright

• They are dwarf stars

Multiple Choice

True or False

The Sun is the biggest star.

• True

• False

Nebula (plural: Nebulae)

Nebula comes to us from Latin, where it meant "mist" or "cloud." In its earliest English uses in the 1600s, nebula referred to a cloudy speck or film on the eye that caused vision problems. It was first applied to great interstellar clouds of gas and dust in the early 1700s.

- Merriam-Webster

Types of Nebulae

• Supernova Remnant Nebula

• Planetary Nebula

• Reflection Nebula

• Emission Nebula

• Dark Nebula

Multiple Choice

A gigantic explosion that causes the death of a large star is called

• pulsar

• red giant

• supernova

• black hole

Multiple Choice

What makes supernovas explode?

• It can happen because a chicken nugget decides it wants some sauce and it falls into a nuclear reactor and creates a supernova.

• It can happen from a Moon stealing mass from a companion star and then stealing so much it explodes into a million pickles.

• It can also happen when two neighboring galaxies collide.

• It can happen when a star comes to the end of its life and has no more nuclear energy and some mass flows to the core until it can’t withstand its own gravitational force and collapses in on itself and blows up

Supernova Remnant Nebulas

Material from the explosion of a massive star. The explosion spreads heavier elements out into space.

Multiple Choice

Currently, the Sun is fusing ___

• hydrogen into helium

• helium into hydrogen

• helium into carbon

• hydrogen into carbon

Multiple Choice

When all of the hydrogen in the Sun is used up, the Sun will expand to become a

• white dwarf

• red giant

• blue giant

• main sequence star

Planetary Nebula

A red giant star expands and the outer layers of the star drift away leaving a small, dense core in the middle.

Multiple Choice

When a Red Giant's outer atmosphere drifts away it is now known as:

• planetary cloud

• White dwarf cloud

• planetary nebula

• expanding nebula

Multiple Choice

All stars start as gas and dust in a(n)

• nebula

• black hole

• red giant

• black dwarf

Multiple Choice

A star is born and lit up when ______ happens and provides the star with energy that it will use for millions of years.

• nuclear fusion

• gravity

• hydrogen

• iron

Multiple Choice

All the base-elements of the periodic table come from...

• the fission inside stars.

• the fusion inside stars.

• the fire inside stars.

• the fusion of planets.

Emission Nebula

A hot nebula that emits light. They are usually red because they mostly contain hydrogen.

Reflection Nebula

A cloud of gas and dust that reflects light from nearby stars. They are usually blue because blue light scatters more than other colors.

Dark Nebula

Gas and Dust that blocks light from behind.

Multiple Choice

"Nebula" is Latin for ___

• glow

• emmission

• gas

• cloud

Multiple Choice

What are nebulae?

• groups of exploding stars

• clouds of gas and dust in space

• a collection of stars

• groups of stars forming a pattern

Multiple Choice

The dark nebula in the constellation Orion that is shaped like a gigantic chess piece is called ___

• the Rook's Reprise

• the Queen's Gambit

• the Horsehead Nebula

• the Bishop Nebula

Multiple Choice

Compared to a typical nebula, how much more dense is the air we breathe?

• ten times more dense

• a thousand times denser

• a trillion times denser

• a thousand trillion times denser

Multiple Choice

Three giant towers of gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula have been called ___

• the Elephant Salute

• the Pillars of Creation

• the Fingers of Cronus

• the Eagle's Wing

Multiple Choice

The dust surrounding the Pleiades star cluster is a ___

• emmision nebula

• absorption nebula

• transmission nebula

• reflection nebula

Multiple Choice

Dust clouds that reflect the light of nearby bright massive stars are called ___

• mirror nebulae

• emission nebulae

• reflection nebulae

• excited nebulae

Multiple Choice

A cloud of gas that has been excited by light from a nearby star is called ___

• a reflection nebula

• an emission nebula

• a lit nebula

• a glowing nebula