Year 11 - Science
Observing the universe
Gravity in space
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
This unit covers the solar system's features, including planets, moons, and satellites. It explains gravity's effect on orbits, the sun's formation from dust and gas, and fusion equilibrium. It also explores red-shift, evidence of an expanding universe, and the link to the Big Bang model.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to describe what redshift is and how it is measured.
Key Notes
- Telescopes extended what was visible after their invention in the seventeenth century.
- Images detected by telescopes in space are not distorted by effects of the Earth's atmosphere.
- A galaxy is a group of hundreds of billions of stars, and there are many galaxies spread across the universe.
- A visible spectrum of light emitted from stars or galaxies shows dark lines of frequencies of light.
- Red shift is the movement of hydrogen lines towards the red end of the visible spectrum.
Vocabulary To Learn
- space telescope: is a telescope positioned in space to avoid atmospheric interference and observe parts of the spectrum which cannot reach the Earth's surface
- galaxy: is a collection of many millions or billions of stars held together by gravitational forces
- redshift: is the increase in the wavelength of light (and decrease in its frequency) cause by the movement of a star or galaxy away from us
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Stars twinkle (change brightness rapidly).
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the scientific idea in this lesson using two key points.
Telescopes extended what was visible after their invention in the seventeenth century. Images detected by telescopes in space are not distorted by effects of the Earth's atmosphere.
2. Define this scientific word and use it in context. 'space telescope'
is a telescope positioned in space to avoid atmospheric interference and observe parts of the spectrum which cannot reach the Earth's surface. Include the word in a full scientific explanation, not as a single label.
3. Correct this common scientific misunderstanding.
Mistake: Stars twinkle (change brightness rapidly). Correction: Explore the ideas that Earth's atmosphere is made of moving air that refracts light from stars in changing directions to distort the light coming from stars.
More Lessons In This Unit
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