Astronomy Definitions

These are the definitions I have needed. Some of the words I already knew but wondered if other beginning astronomers would know them. Some of the words I had heard but didn't know their meaning well enough to answer someone else with a definition should they ask me during the course of conversation.

Asteroid - is an object in space that is inside of our solar system and is smaller than a planet or a moon and orbits the sun.

Astronomy - the study of stars, planets, moons, asteriods: any object in space including man-made satellites.

Binoculars - is short for Binocular Telescopes meaning "two telescopes" but joined together so that they focus together and you can see through both at the same time. I love binoculars for night sky watching because they let you see more of the sky (called the "field of vision") and are simple to use - you really just point them at what you want to see and focus. Binoculars up to about 10x or 10 power (which means what you see through them seems ten times as big as seeing it with just your "naked" eyes) are good to use without a tripod and make it easy to find many objects unseen to you before.

Refractor - the oldest form of telescope. You look in an eyepiece at one end, through a tube and through a larger lens at the other end. You can make a refractor telescope by using a pair of reading glasses and a magnifying glass. It's that simple.

Messier - pronounced messy-ay was a French Astronomer. His first name was Charles. He lived from June 26, 1730 to April 12, 1817. In 1774 he published a list of 45 space objects which he numbered from M1 to M45. So when you see M44 you will soon know we are talking about The Beehive Cluster. If you are a member of the Ameteur Astronomers of America you can get a sort of "merite badge" for identifying several Messier Objects.

Meteor - when a "shooting star" leaves a streak of light in the sky we call that a meteor. A "shooting" star is called a meteoroid. If any part makes it to the ground without burning up in the sky it is called a meteorite.