CH 1 THE EARTH IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM

a straight line passing from side to side through the centre of a body or figure, especially a circle or sphere. 2.a unit of linear measurement of magnifying power.

A satellite is a moon, planet or machine that orbits a planet or star. For example, Earth is a satellite because it orbits the sun. Likewise, the moon is a satellite because it orbits Earth. Usually, the word “satellite” refers to a machine that is launched into space and moves around Earth or another body in …

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An orbit is a regular, repeating path that one object in space takes around another one. An object in an orbit is called a satellite. A satellite can be natural, like Earth or the moon. Many planets have moons that orbit them. A satellite can also be man-made, like the International Space Station.

Astronomy is the study of everything in the universe beyond Earth’s atmosphere. That includes objects we can see with our naked eyes, like the Sun , the Moon , the planets, and the stars . It also includes objects we can only see with telescopes or other instruments, like faraway galaxies and tiny particles.

Astronomy has and continues to revolutionize our thinking on a worldwide scale. In the past, astronomy has been used to measure time, mark the seasons, and navigate the vast oceans. As one of the oldest sciences astronomy is part of every culture’s history and roots.

Cosmology: Although it’s sometimes used to mean astronomy, strictly speaking, cosmology refers to the science of the origin and nature of the universe. The key concept in cosmology is the Big Bang Theory, the most widely accepted explanation of how the universe began.

An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either observational (by analyzing the data) or theoretical astronomy.

Geodesy is the science of accurately measuring and understanding the Earth’s geometric shape, orientation in space, and gravity field.

While the Earth appears to be round when viewed from the vantage point of space, it is actually closer to an ellipsoid. However, even an ellipsoid does not adequately describe the Earth’s unique and ever-changing shape.

The geoid is the shape that the surface of the oceans would take under the influence of Earth’s gravitation and rotation alone, in the absence of other influences such as winds and tides. It was defined by Gauss, in 1828. It is often described as the true physical shape of the Earth.