CHAPTER: 16 THE UNIVERSE

I) KEY WORDS.

1. Celestial object
2. Galaxy
3. Satellite
4. Asteroids
5. Meteorite
6. Constellation
7. Orion
8. Sirius
9. Cassiopeia
10.Astronomy.

II) GIVE REASON FOR THE FOLLOWING.

1.Mars is called a red planet.

The iron minerals in Mars contain soil oxides, or rust causing the soil and
atmosphere to look red.

2.Sun is also called a star.

Stars are space objects that produce their own energy through fusion reactions of
gas. Sun- the star of our solar system is a star because it produces energy by the
fusion reaction of hydrogen turning into helium.

3. The pole star appears to be stationary in the sky.

It appears stationary because it is pointing exactly in the north direction.

The Earth spins on its axis and the pole star is almost exactly above this axis
of the Earth. Hence, it appears stationary.

4 Draw the following:

(a) Orion constellation
(b) Ursa Minor
(c) Cassiopeia

Referral questions.

1.Define the following:

(a) Constellation
A group of stars that makes a certain recognizable pattern in the sky is called a
constellation

(b) Light year

A light year is defined as the distance traveled by light in one year with a speed of
3,00,000 km/s.

(c) Galaxy
A galaxy is a huge collection of stars , dust and smoke.

(d) Satellite

Man-made satellites launched into space to explore outer space are called satellites.
2. Differentiate between a comet and planet.

Comet Planet

A comet is a celestial object that A planet is a large celestial object

revolves around the Sun like a planet that orbits a star having its own
gravity that moulds it into a
spherical shape

It revolves around the sun in a very It revolves around the sun in a short
long period of revolution period of revolution.

A comet appears like a ball of fire with A planet revolves around the sun in
a long bright tail, and the size of the a fixed orbit and it does not have
tail increases as it approaches the sun any kind of tail

3. Give reason for the following

a. Earth appears blue from the space

Sunlight reaches the atmosphere and is scattered in all directions by all the gases
and particles in the air. Blue light is scattered more than the other colours because
it travels as shorter, smaller waves.

b.Meteors are not visible during daytime.

We cannot see meteors during daytime due to powerful rays of sun which makes
the sky very bright.

Critical Thinking

If you step on Venus, from which side would you expect the sun to rise?
How will it be different from what you see on the earth?

If we step into the venus, the sun appears to rise in the west as venus
rotates from east to west. Planets having axial tilt less than 90 degree, rotate from
west to east. The planets with retrograde rotation are Venus and Uranus. Venus has
an axial tilt of 177 degree, so it rotates east to west compared to the majority of
other planets.

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