space tourism word meaning

Space tourism explained: What, why and where

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Space tourism is an exciting development in the travel and tourism industry. A futuristic type of tourism , the prospect of being able to spend leisure time in space is a daunting concept for many. But whilst some of us may have expected only have to be able to experience space tourism using virtual reality software, several companies are turning holidays in space into a reality.

What is space tourism?

Space tourism definitions, history of space tourism, rocket launches, space museums, space tourism holidays, virgin galactic, blue origin, is space tourism safe, the cost of space tourism holidays, space tourism: conclusion, further reading.

Space tourism is a type of tourism that involves an interest in space. Whilst most people associate space tourism solely with trips to space, the concept of space tourism is, in fact, broader than this.

Space tourism can include visiting space-focussed museums, watching rocket launches or travelling to destinations popular for stargazing, amongst other space-related activities.

Most recently, there has been a lot of commercial attention centred around the concept of travelling to space as a tourist; this is something that several companies are working to achieve in the near future, including Virgin Galactic and SpaceX.

If you Google the phrase ‘what is space tourism’ you will quickly be informed by Google, Wikipedia and a range of other sources that it is travelling to space for leisure or business purposes.

I, however, contest that space tourism is solely focussed upon the act of travelling to space. There is so much more to space tourism than this! Yes, this is an exciting prospect that has grabbed the attention of the media and the public, but hold on a minute…. what about all the other space-related activities that we can do without boarding a rocket and leaving the solar system?

The people over at The Space Tourism Guide have the right idea. They state that;

‘Space Tourism is not — and should not be — confined to space alone… While we can and should consider all of the activities from space tourism companies like Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, Zero2Infinity, and others space tourism, we should not discredit the companies and destinations here on earth who meet the needs and desires for all of us who love to travel for space-related activities. These can vary widely, from cities and museums like Space Center Houston to hotels with space-themed rooms.’

Space tourism is so much more than taking a trip to space! In fact, I argue that space tourism should encompass all activities related to space and astrology!

To date, there is little academic research into space tourism. Yes, some people have looked into astrology and the like, but on the whole, there is a dearth of information. Most research that has been conducted has focussed on looking at potential demand and market demographics.

In light of the misleading definitions that you will find when asking your favourite search engine what is meant by the term space tourism, I have provided my own definition below.

‘Space tourism is the act of taking part in activities that involve or are related to space, either for business or leisure purposes.’

So there you have it- a definition of space tourism.

There are a total of 600 people that have been to space. The first man visited space in 1961, but it was actually long before this day that many people developed an interest in space. In fact, people have been star gazing as long as records go back. Heck, even the ancient pyramids of Egypt were built around the stars .

So, the concept of space tourism is not new.

The 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s saw huge progress in space research. The Soviet Union and The United States were world leaders in this area; undertaking many trips to space, exploring our solar system, nearby planets and moons. Space travel became more affordable and we learnt a lot during this time.

It was only at the turn of the new millennium that commercial space tourism ,whereby a tourist could travel to space, started to become a reality. A handful of wealthy citizens from around the world embarked on their leisure outings to space between 2001-2009. Observing this demand, a number of space tourism operators began to emerge, namely Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic and Rocket Lab. Said companies have since become household names.

In recent years the commercial hype and excitement towards space tourism has died down. The public continue to eagerly await the days that they may be able to exchange their all-inclusive holiday in Benidorm for a week of zero-gravity in space, but for most, this is an unrealistic and unachievable prospect.

For now, it appears that travelling into space will be available only for the super-rich, and we do not yet know when this might be attainable. BUT the space tourism industry in all its other forms (museums, star gazing, rocket launches etc) remains to be obtainable to all.

Types of space tourism

We might not realistically be able to travel into space for our annual leave days just yet, but there are still ways that we can get involved with the space tourism industry. Here are some examples.

Stargazing is a popular space tourism pastime for many. There are many parts of the world that are renowned for their stargazing potential. These are usually remote areas, where the light pollution is reduced, enabling maximum visibility.

Some popular stargazing destinations have capitalised on the tourist market by organising stargazing tours or stargazing-focussed accommodation options, such as bubble hotels. This CNN article shows you some of the best bubble hotel spots around the world. Many people use this opportunity to visit the Northern Lights or the Southern Lights too.

Lots of these destinations are perfect for practicing your astrophotography too!

Whilst a rocket launch may not be an everyday occurrence, it is possible to spectate when they do happen. Once operated only by Governments, there are now a range of private companies that undertake rocket launches.

If you travel to a destination with the sole intention of watching a rocket launch, or if you watch a rocket launch alongside other business or leisure pursuits, you can be classified as a space tourist.

A prominent part of the space tourism industry are space museums.

There are many museums throughout the world that are focussed around the concept of space, although these are most numerous in the United States and Russia. Here are some of the most highly-rated space museums.

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC, US
Canada Aviation and Space Museum, Ottawa, Canada
Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics, Moscow, Russia
Pima Air and Space Museum, Arizona , US
Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, New York City, US
Le Bourget Air and Space Museum, Paris, France
Kennedy Space Center, Florida , US
Cité de l’espace, Toulouse, France

As I mentioned earlier, space tourism holidays are what many people think space tourism is all about. Whilst there are other activities that constitute space tourism, space tourism holidays have gained a lot of media attention in recent years, and rightly so. Who wouldn’t pick up the paper and read an article that tells them that they can swap their two weeks in the sun for two weeks in space?

OK, so it isn’t quite so simple. It will require some adjustment to spending time at zero gravity, you might get a little travel sick and you might not return home with quite the same tan lines, BUT space tourism holidays are set to become a reality.

There are a number of companies who have been developing their space tourism products for a number of years, although exactly when we can go on our next space tourism holiday, is yet to be determined.

Space tourism companies

There are several key players in the space tourism holiday market. See below for a brief summary of each.

Virgin Galactic is perhaps one of the best known space tourism holiday companies. It is part of the wider Virgin Group and therefore has the benefit of an already well-established brand and reputation. It is owned by Richard Branson.

The company plans to send range of tourists to space and already has an extensive waitlist for eager space travellers, including the likes of Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ashton Kutcher and Justin Bieber.

Virgin Galactic has, however, had some negative publicity in recent times, with multiple delays and the in-flight loss of its VSS Enterprise spaceplane in 2014.

Unlike Virgin Galactic, SpaceX are an experienced rocket launching company that are now extending their operations to the commercial space tourism holiday market.

SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk. Their first holiday was initially scheduled for 2018, but has since been delayed.

Blue Origin plans to offer similar space tourism holidays to that offered by Virgin Galactic. With a traditional, vertical take-off rocket, the company plans to begin operations soon, although there is not firm date set yet.

Blue Origin was founded in 2000 by Mr Bezos.

Orion Span plans to send tourists to space to stay in their ‘space hotel’. The space hotel would accommodate up to six tourists at a time and would be positioned the private commercial space station, Aurora Space Station.

The CEO of Orion Span is Frank Bunger who states that the company’s ‘goal is to make space accessible to all’. They plan to begin operations in 2021.

Better known for their aircraft that do not leave the hemisphere, Boeing have also branched out into the space tourism holiday market.

Boeing’s involvement emerged from their working arrangement with NASA, whereby they have been working on the Commercial Crew Development programme, aimed at increasing involvement from private sector companies in the production of crew vehicles to be launched into orbit.

Boeing have developed a crew capsule, called the Boeing CST-100 Starliner, providing them with the opportunity to sell seats to space tourists.

There have been some concerns over the safety of space tourism, particularly after the negative publicity surrounding the Virgin Galactic loss of aircraft in 2014.

Because it’s so early in development of the space tourism industry and the FAA can’t control how companies design and manufacture their aircraft , it’s hard to say how safe space tourism holidays will be.

There have been many critiques, however, who have suggested that there will be deaths amongst tourists who seek to holiday in space. The number of accidents that have occurred during the testing phases hasn’t done much to people’s minds at ease, either.

Space tourism holidays are for everyday folk, at least not yet anyway, because you need to have a hefty sum of money in your pocket to be able to afford the ticket.

Prices start from US$250,000 and range up to tens of millions of Dollars. Whilst each space tourism holiday company will differ slightly, prices will typically include pre-departure training and equipment. For now, space tourism trips are set to be short in duration, lasting only a few hours. The intention is, however, that trips can be extended in the future to allow for prolonged stays in space.

As you can see, the space tourism industry is a prominent part of the wider tourism industry. Whilst most attention typically goes to the exciting prospect of space tourism holidays, there are also a number of other leisure pursuits that constitute space tourism.

It is likely that we will see many developments in the space tourism industry in the coming years, as research and development continues to be undertaken by a number of commercial operators. Watch this space and maybe you will be the next person to spend your annual leave days in space!

If you want to read up on the space tourism industry a little more then I can recommend the following texts-

The Market for Space Tourism: Early Indications by Geoffrey Crouch- An overview of the Space Tourism market and its future potential
Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery by Scott Kelly- A diary account of NASA astronaut’s experiences in space.
Space Tourism by Patrick Stakem- A textbook introducing the concept of space tourism.

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Space Tourism: Can A Civilian Go To Space?

2021 has been a busy year for private space tourism: overall, more than 15 civilians took a trip to space during this year. In this article, you will learn more about the space tourism industry, its history, and the companies that are most likely to make you a space tourist.

What is space tourism?

Brief history of space tourism, space tourism companies, orbital and suborbital space flights, how much does it cost for a person to go to space, is space tourism worth it, can i become a space tourist, why is space tourism bad for the environment.

Space tourism is human space travel for recreational or leisure purposes . It’s divided into different types, including orbital, suborbital, and lunar space tourism.

However, there are broader definitions for space tourism. According to the Space Tourism Guide , space tourism is a commercial activity related to space that includes going to space as a tourist, watching a rocket launch, going stargazing, or traveling to a space-focused destination.

The first space tourist was Dennis Tito, an American multimillionaire, who spent nearly eight days onboard the International Space Station in April 2001. This trip cost him $20 million and made Tito the first private citizen who purchased his space ticket. Over the next eight years, six more private citizens followed Tito to the International Space Station to become space tourists.

As space tourism became a real thing, dozens of companies entered this industry hoping to capitalize on renewed public interest in space, including Blue Origin in 2000 and Virgin Galactic in 2004. In the 2000s, space tourists were limited to launches aboard Russian Soyuz aircraft and only could go to the ISS. However, everything changed when the other players started to grow up on the market. There are now a variety of destinations and companies for travels to space.

There are now six major space companies that are arranging or planning to arrange touristic flights to space:

Virgin Galactic;
Blue Origin;
Axiom Space;
Space Perspective.

While the first two are focused on suborbital flights, Axiom and Boeing are working on orbital missions. SpaceX, in its turn, is prioritizing lunar tourism in the future. For now, Elon Musk’s company has allowed its Crew Dragon spacecraft to be chartered for orbital flights, as it happened with the Inspiration4 3-day mission . Space Perspective is developing a different balloon-based system to carry customers to the stratosphere and is planning to start its commercial flights in 2024.

Orbital and suborbital flights are very different. Taking an orbital flight means staying in orbit; in other words, going around the planet continually at a very high speed to not fall back to the Earth. Such a trip takes several days, even a week or more. A suborbital flight in its turn is more like a space hop — you blast off, make a huge arc, and eventually fall back to the Earth, never making it into orbit. A flight duration, in this case, ranges from 2 to 3 hours.

Here is an example: a spaceflight takes you to an altitude of 100 km above the Earth. To enter into orbit — make an orbital flight — you would have to gain a speed of about 28,000 km per hour (17,400 mph) or more. But to reach the given altitude and fall back to the Earth — make a suborbital flight — you would have to fly at only 6,000 km per hour (3,700 mph). This flight takes less energy, less fuel; therefore, it is less expensive.

Virgin Galactic: $250,000 for a 2-hour suborbital flight at an altitude of 80 km;
Blue Origin: approximately $300,000 for 12 minutes suborbital flight at an altitude of 100 km;
Axiom Space: $55 million for a 10-day orbital flight;
Space Perspective: $125,000 for a 6-hour flight to the edge of space (32 km above the Earth).

The price depends, but remember that suborbital space flights are always cheaper.

What exactly do you expect from a journey to space? Besides the awesome impressions, here is what you can experience during such a trip:

Weightlessness . Keep in mind that during a suborbital flight you’ll get only a couple of minutes in weightlessness, but it will be truly fascinating .
Space sickness . The symptoms include cold sweating, malaise, loss of appetite, nausea, fatigue, and vomiting. Even experienced astronauts are not immune from it!
G-force . 1G is the acceleration we feel due to the force of gravity; a usual g-force astronauts experience during a rocket launch is around 3gs. To understand how a g-force influences people , watch this video.

For now, the most significant barrier for space tourism is price. But air travel was also once expensive; a one-way ticket cost more than half the price of a new car . Most likely, the price for space travel will reduce overtime as well. For now, you need to be either quite wealthy or win in a competition, as did Sian Proctor, a member of Inspiration4 mission . But before spending thousands of dollars on space travel, here is one more fact you might want to consider.

Rocket launches are harmful to the environment in general. During the burning of rocket fuels, rocket engines release harmful gases and soot particles (also known as black carbon) into the upper atmosphere, resulting in ozone depletion. Think about this: in 2018 black-carbon-producing rockets emitted about the same amount of black carbon as the global aviation industry emits annually.

However, not all space companies use black carbon for fuel. Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket has a liquid hydrogen-fuelled engine: hydrogen doesn’t emit carbon but simply turns into water vapor when burning.

The main reason why space tourism could be harmful to the environment is its potential popularity. With the rising amount of rocket launches the carbon footprint will only increase — Virgin Galactic alone aims to launch 400 of these flights annually. Meanwhile, the soot released by 1,000 space tourism flights could warm Antarctica by nearly 1°C !

Would you want to become a space tourist? Let us know your opinion on social media and share the article with your friends, if you enjoyed it! Also, the Best Mobile App Awards 2021 is going on right now, and we would very much appreciate it if you would vote for our Sky Tonight app . Simply tap "Vote for this app" in the upper part of the screen. No registration is required!

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space tourism

[ speys t oo r-iz- uh m ]

spaceships built for suborbital and orbital space tourism.

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Other words from.

space tour·ist noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of space tourism 1

Example Sentences

If Blue Origin wants to dominate the space tourism market, now is as good a time as any.

That begs the question of whether or not you can sustain a new space company on space tourism alone.

SpaceX has never really billed itself as a space tourism company as aggressively as Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic have.

The company hopes to use New Shepard to send people into suborbital flights of a few minutes’ duration as a space tourism service.

Now that Crew Dragon is open for business, space tourism for the ultrarich might be poised for a comeback.

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Everything You Need to Know About Space Tourism Right Now

Your next travel splurge could be a flight to space

Virgin Galactic vehicle SpaceShipTwo on its first glide flight on October 10, 2010 over Mojave in California. (Virgin Galactic / Getty Images)

While 2020 has been an abysmal year on many counts, there’s one industry that’s thriving: space exploration. Within the first eight months of the year, we’ve seen the successful launches of three Mars missions, promising tests of new rockets, and the return of crewed spaceflight to U.S. soil—aboard a privately built spacecraft, no less! But we’re also getting much closer to the launch of the space tourism industry, meaning your dream of becoming an astronaut could become reality quite soon. We’re still a little ways away from regular flights into space for paying customers, but here are all the developments you need to know about.

The History of Space Tourism

Traveling to space has long been the domain of professional astronauts, not ordinary citizens. But that all changed when American entrepreneur Dennis Tito flew to space in 2001 with space tourism company Space Adventures, who organized the trip with Russian space agency Roscosmos. Tito was the first of only seven true “space tourists,” each of whom traveled to the International Space Station (ISS) via Roscosmos's Soyuz spacecraft for about a weeklong stay—or for two separate weeklong stays, in the case of one space traveler—for a reported cost between $20 million to $35 million per trip (plus months of training). The final space tourism excursion was made by Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté in 2009, after which Roscosmos had to end touristic flights: when NASA retired its space shuttle program in 2011, each seat on its Soyuz spacecraft needed to be reserved for crews heading to the ISS, not tourists. Since then, space tourism has been halted.

Nearly There: Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic

The issue with Space Adventure’s program is that it relies on other operators for transportation, which limits its access to space. But the next wave of private spaceflight companies have been developing their own vehicles to propel clients into weightlessness. The two frontrunners in the space tourism race are Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, both of which are in advanced testing phases—Virgin Galactic has even opened ticket sales already, with more than 600 passengers booked. While both aerospace companies will provide their clients with suborbital trips into space, they’ll do so in entirely different fashions.

Blue Origin

Blue Origin plans to send tourists to space in its New Shepard vehicle, named after the first American in space, Alan Shepard, from its launch site in West Texas. New Shepard, which is an entirely autonomous craft that doesn’t need a human pilot, is similar to Roscosmos’s Soyuz and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon vehicles in that its six passengers will be housed in a capsule and vertically launched into space via a rocket.

After a day of training, passengers will get to experience a launch just as professional astronauts do: they’ll feel the intense G-forces pressing down on them as the rocket shuttles them to an altitude of approximately 62 miles, which is widely accepted as the boundary of space. When the engines cut off, passengers will be weightless, and they’re free to float about the capsule, taking in the views of the planet and of the darkness of space through the capsule’s large windows. After a few minutes, the capsule will fall back to Earth under parachutes. All in, the trip lasts just 11 minutes—it’s a pretty short flight considering tickets will likely cost about $250,000.

Blue Origin has successfully launched New Shepard on 12 un-crewed test flights since 2015, but it’ll need to get humans up into space before it’ll be certified to start carrying paying customers. The company originally hoped to launch a crewed test flight in 2019; however, it still has not done so, nor has it announced a new timeline for the test.

Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic, on the other hand, will fly passengers to space aboard a winged vehicle called SpaceShipTwo , which bears similarities to NASA’s space shuttle. But whereas the shuttle launched vertically via a rocket, SpaceShipTwo is launched horizontally. The vehicle, which seats six passengers plus two pilots, takes off from a runway like a regular plane via its carrier aircraft called WhiteKnightTwo. Virgin Galactic currently launches from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, but it will also launch from Spaceport America in New Mexico.

After takeoff, WhiteKnightTwo ascends to 50,000 feet, after which SpaceShipTwo is released, and its rocket-powered engines kick in to bring it all the way to a maximum altitude of roughly 68 miles. As with Blue Origin’s New Shepard, passengers will enjoy a few minutes of weightlessness before returning to Earth, but instead of a parachute landing, SpaceShipTwo will land on a runway like a plane—which is also how the space shuttle landed. Total run time: between two and three hours in flight, plus two-and-a-half days of training, with a price tag of $250,000.

Virgin Galactic has been conducting test flights since 2010, but progress has been a bit slow—and deadly. In 2014, a test pilot was killed after a SpaceShipTwo vehicle broke apart during a flight, primarily due to pilot error. Testing resumed in 2016 and is ongoing, with no official word on when commercial operations will begin.

Other Companies Dreaming Big

Of all the space tourism operations out there, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are by far the closest to launching passengers. (Elon Musk's SpaceX, which has already successfully launched NASA astronauts into space, is not focusing on tourism, though it will provide lifts for third-party companies.) But coming in hot on their heels is Boeing, whose Starliner vehicle is being developed for NASA's Commercial Crew Program; its contract, however, allows for tourists to potentially join flights.

The other viable space tourism companies on the horizon are not developing their own vehicles, rather, they plan on hitching rides with other providers. Space Adventures is still in the game, having entered a partnership with SpaceX to fly passengers on Crew Dragon as soon as next year. It’s also revived its tourism operations with Roscosmos: two tourists are booked on a trip to the ISS in 2023. Another company, Axiom Space, plans on taking passengers to the ISS via SpaceX’s Crew Dragon as soon as 2021, before launching its own private space station by the end of the decade. Similarly, Orion Span has announced its intentions to launch its Aurora Space Station in 2021, though construction on the project has yet to begin.

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Definition of 'space tourism'

Space tourism in british english, examples of 'space tourism' in a sentence space tourism, trends of space tourism.

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'Space Tourism' Added to Oxford Dictionary

"Space tourism" is now "buzzworthy," at least according to one prominent dictionary.

Oxford Dictionaries Online (ODO) added "space tourism" (and "buzzworthy") to the more than 350,000 entries that it defines, the Oxford University Press announced Wednesday (Aug. 28).

The newly-added entry describes " space tourism " as "the practice of travelling into space for recreational purposes." Oxford Dictionaries Online also includes with the entry an example of the "mass noun" used in a sentence: "Space tourism could be a $10 billion-per-year industry within two decades." [ Photos: The First Space Tourists ]

"Space tourist" is listed as a derivative of "space tourism" in the free online dictionary. The ODO is separate from the Oxford English Dictionary, which focuses on the historical use of words.

The addition of "space tourism" was a part of the ODO's quarterly update, which also included the aforementioned "buzzworthy" (meaning "likely to arouse the interest and attention of the public, either by media coverage or word of mouth"); " selfie " ("a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website"); and "twerk" ("dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance").

The new entries reflect that the words and phrases have become accepted within the English language, as spoken and used today.

"New words, senses, and phrases are added ... when we have gathered enough independent evidence from a range of sources to be confident that they have widespread currency in English," Angus Stevenson with the Oxford Dictionaries Online explained in a statement. "On average, we add approximately 1,000 new entries to [the] Oxford Dictionaries Online every year, and this quarter's update highlights some fascinating developments in the English language."

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The term "space tourism" may have a longer history, but its propagation into the modern lexicon began in the 1990s as private rocket companies and adventure tourism firms started marketing suborbital and orbital opportunities for the public to travel into space.

"Space tourism is a movement that has existed since the dawn of private spaceflight," Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom, co-author of the 2011 book "Realizing Tomorrow: The Path to Private Spaceflight" (University of Nebraska Press) wrote in an e-mail to collectSPACE.com, responding to "space tourism" being added to the ODO. "It's a realization that access to space is a catalyst that will open the next frontier for the trillion dollar tourism industry."

Since 2001, Virginia-based Space Adventures has offered seats onboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft bound for the International Space Station (ISS). To date, seven millionaires and billionaires have embarked on self-funded spaceflights through the firm, with an eighth slated for a mission in 2015.

Space Adventures' "space tourists" include businessman Dennis Tito, South African computer software developer Mark Shuttleworth, engineer Greg Olsen, Iranian American engineer Anousheh Ansari, Hungarian software developer Charles Simonyi (who visited the ISS twice), video game pioneer and second-generation astronaut Richard Garriott , and Cirque du Soleil co-founder Guy Laliberté.

Space Adventures announced in 2012 that famed-soprano Sarah Brightman would train for a flight to the International Space Station in 2015.

Virgin Galactic, a company within business magnate Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group, has signed up more than 600 customers for suborbital flights on its SpaceShipTwo, a rocketplane based on the design of the 2004 Ansari X Prize-winning SpaceShipOne. The company is planning to begin flying paying clients in 2014.

Other companies including XCOR Aerospace and its Lynx rocketplane, Boeing with its CST-100 capsule , Excalibur Almaz using upgraded Soviet-era spacecraft and Bigelow Aerospace with plans for inflatable space stations, have put forth plans to fly space tourists as well.

The Oxford Dictionaries Online is among the dictionaries compiled by Oxford University Press, which also includes the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Whereas the content in the ODO focuses on current English, including modern meanings, the OED is a historical dictionary, which serves as a record of all the core words and meanings in English spanning the past 1,000 years.

The OED added "space tourism" in 2004 as a subordinate to the word "space."

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Robert Pearlman is a space historian, journalist and the founder and editor of collectSPACE.com , an online publication and community devoted to space history with a particular focus on how and where space exploration intersects with pop culture. Pearlman is also a contributing writer for Space.com and co-author of "Space Stations: The Art, Science, and Reality of Working in Space” published by Smithsonian Books in 2018. He previously developed online content for the National Space Society and Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, helped establish the space tourism company Space Adventures and currently serves on the History Committee of the American Astronautical Society, the advisory committee for The Mars Generation and leadership board of For All Moonkind. In 2009, he was inducted into the U.S. Space Camp Hall of Fame in Huntsville, Alabama. In 2021, he was honored by the American Astronautical Society with the Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History.

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space tourism noun

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What does the noun space tourism mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun space tourism . See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

How common is the noun space tourism ?

Where does the noun space tourism come from.

Earliest known use

The earliest known use of the noun space tourism is in the 1960s.

OED's earliest evidence for space tourism is from 1967, in the Hartford Courant (Hartford, Connecticut).

space tourism is formed within English, by compounding.

Etymons: space n. 1 , tourism n.

Nearby entries

space staging, n. 1937–
space station, n. 1930–
spacesuit, n. 1929–
spacesuited, adj. 1939–
space technology, n. 1957–
space-telegrapher, n. 1899
space telegraphy, n. 1897–
space telescope, n. 1953–
space-time, adj. & n. 1893–
space-to-ground, adj. 1958–
space tourism, n. 1967–
space tourist, n. 1937–
space vehicle, n. 1928–
space velocity, n. 1909–
spacewalk, n. 1963–
spacewalk, v. 1966–
spacewalker, n. 1930–
spacewalking, n. 1965–
spacewalking, adj. 1963–
spaceward, adv. & adj. 1872–
space warp, n. 1936–

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Meaning & use

Entry history for space tourism, n..

Originally published as part of the entry for space, n.¹

space tourism, n. was first published in September 2004.

oed.com is a living text, updated every three months. Modifications may include:

further revisions to definitions, pronunciation, etymology, headwords, variant spellings, quotations, and dates;
new senses, phrases, and quotations.

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Citation details

Factsheet for space tourism, n., browse entry.

Encyclopedia of Tourism pp 1–3 Cite as

Space Tourism

Sam Spector 3
Living reference work entry
First Online: 14 June 2022

Space tourism often refers to nonprofessional astronauts traveling into outer space for recreational purposes (Cohen and Spector 2019 ). Activities such as traveling to watch a rocket launch, tour a space museum, or visit a planetarium are sometimes categorized as forms of “terrestrial” space tourism (Cater 2010 ). High altitude fighter jet flights, zero-gravity experiences, and virtual reality simulations can also be conceptualized as related to space tourism.

Touristic travel into outer space is commonly demarcated as necessitating reaching the “Kármán line” at 100 km above Earth’s surface. This boundary, while widely used, is artificial, as the atmosphere becomes progressively thinner rather than ending abruptly. Travel into outer space can be divided into three main categories: suborbital, orbital, and beyond orbit.

Suborbital spaceflights briefly travel beyond the Kármán line and then return. For a few minutes, passengers experience weightlessness, see the curvature of Earth, and...

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Cater, C. 2010. Steps to space; opportunities for astrotourism. Tourism Management 31: 838–845.

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Cohen, E., and S. Spector. 2019. Space tourism: The elusive dream . Bingley: Emerald.

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Crouch, G., T. Devinney, J. Louviere, and T. Islam. 2009. Modelling consumer choice behavior in space tourism. Tourism Management 30: 441–454.

Damjanov, K., and G. Crouch. 2019. Virtual reality and space tourism. In Space tourism: The elusive dream , ed. E. Cohen and S. Spector. Bingley: Emerald.

Ormrod, J., and P. Dickens. 2017. The Palgrave handbook of society, culture and outer space . Basingstoke: Palgrave.

Ross, M., and J. Vedda. 2018. The policy and science of rocket emissions . The Aerospace Corporation. https://aerospace.org/sites/default/files/2018-05/RocketEmissions_0.pdf

Toivonen, A. 2020. Sustainable space tourism . Bristol: Channel View.

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University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

Sam Spector

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School of Hospitality Leadership, University of Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie, WI, USA

Jafar Jafari

School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Honggen Xiao

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School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, UK

David Airey

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Spector, S. (2021). Space Tourism. In: Jafari, J., Xiao, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Tourism. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01669-6_755-1

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01669-6_755-1

Received : 06 March 2021

Accepted : 16 July 2021

Published : 14 June 2022

Publisher Name : Springer, Cham

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Online ISBN : 978-3-319-01669-6

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BREAKING | Poll: Election interest hits new low in tight Biden-Trump race

'Space tourism' flying high: It's added to Oxford dictionary

"Space tourism" is now "buzzworthy," at least according to one prominent dictionary.

Oxford Dictionaries Online (ODO) added "space tourism" (and "buzzworthy") to the more than 350,000 entries that it defines, the Oxford University Press announced Wednesday.

The newly added entry describes " space tourism " as "the practice of traveling into space for recreational purposes." Oxford Dictionaries Online also includes with the entry an example of the "mass noun" used in a sentence: "Space tourism could be a $10 billion-per-year industry within two decades." [ Photos: The First Space Tourists ]

'Twerk' thrusts its way into dictionary, too, NBC News notes

"Space tourist" is listed as a derivative of "space tourism" in the free online dictionary. The ODO is separate from the Oxford English Dictionary, which focuses on the historical use of words.

The new entries reflect that the words and phrases have become accepted within the English language, as spoken and used today.

"New words, senses, and phrases are added ... when we have gathered enough independent evidence from a range of sources to be confident that they have widespread currency in English," Angus Stevenson of Oxford Dictionaries Online explained in a statement. "On average, we add approximately 1,000 new entries to (the) Oxford Dictionaries Online every year, and this quarter's update highlights some fascinating developments in the English language."

"Space tourism is a movement that has existed since the dawn of private spaceflight," Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom, co-author of the 2011 book "Realizing Tomorrow: The Path to Private Spaceflight" (University of Nebraska Press) wrote in an e-mail to collectSpace.com, responding to "space tourism" being added to the ODO. "It's a realization that access to space is a catalyst that will open the next frontier for the trillion dollar tourism industry."

Space Adventures announced in 2012 that famed-soprano Sarah Brightman would train for a flight to the International Space Station in 2015.

The OED added "space tourism" in 2004 as a subordinate to the word "space."

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Meaning of "space tourism" in the English dictionary

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Space tourism

Definition of space tourism in the english dictionary.

The definition of space tourism in the dictionary is travel into space for recreational purposes.

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE SPACE TOURISM

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UN Tourism | Bringing the world closer

UN standards for measuring tourism

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Glossary of tourism terms

Tourism is a social, cultural and economic phenomenon which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business/professional purposes. These people are called visitors (which may be either tourists or excursionists; residents or non-residents) and tourism has to do with their activities, some of which involve tourism expenditure.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Activity/activities : In tourism statistics, the term activities represent the actions and behaviors of people in preparation for and during a trip in their capacity as consumers ( IRTS 2008, 1.2 ).

Activity (principal): The principal activity of a producer unit is the activity whose value added exceeds that of any other activity carried out within the same unit ( SNA 2008, 5.8 ).

Activity (productive): The (productive) activity carried out by a statistical unit is the type of production in which it engages. It has to be understood as a process, i.e. the combination of actions that result in a certain set of products. The classification of productive activities is determined by their principal output.

Administrative data : Administrative data is the set of units and data derived from an administrative source. This is a data holding information collected and maintained for the purpose of implementing one or more administrative regulations.

Adventure tourism : Adventure tourism is a type of tourism which usually takes place in destinations with specific geographic features and landscape and tends to be associated with a physical activity, cultural exchange, interaction and engagement with nature. This experience may involve some kind of real or perceived risk and may require significant physical and/or mental effort. Adventure tourism generally includes outdoor activities such as mountaineering, trekking, bungee jumping, rock climbing, rafting, canoeing, kayaking, canyoning, mountain biking, bush walking, scuba diving. Likewise, some indoor adventure tourism activities may also be practiced.

Aggregated data : The result of transforming unit level data into quantitative measures for a set of characteristics of a population.

Aggregation : A process that transforms microdata into aggregate-level information by using an aggregation function such as count, sum average, standard deviation, etc.

Analytical unit : Entity created by statisticians, by splitting or combining observation units with the help of estimations and imputations.

Balance of payments : The balance of payments is a statistical statement that summarizes transactions between residents and non-residents during a period. It consists of the goods and services account, the primary income account, the secondary income account, the capital account, and the financial account ( BPM6, 2.12 ).

Bias : An effect which deprives a statistical result of representativeness by systematically distorting it, as distinct from a random error which may distort on any one occasion but balances out on the average.

Business and professional purpose (of a tourism trip): The business and professional purpose of a tourism trip includes the activities of the self-employed and employees, as long as they do not correspond to an implicit or explicit employer-employee relationship with a resident producer in the country or place visited, those of investors, businessmen, etc. ( IRTS 2008, 3.17.2 ).

Business tourism : Business tourism is a type of tourism activity in which visitors travel for a specific professional and/or business purpose to a place outside their workplace and residence with the aim of attending a meeting, an activity or an event. The key components of business tourism are meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions. The term "meetings industry" within the context of business tourism recognizes the industrial nature of such activities. Business tourism can be combined with any other tourism type during the same trip.

Business visitor : A business visitor is a visitor whose main purpose for a tourism trip corresponds to the business and professional category of purpose ( IRTS 2008, 3.17.2 ).

Central Product Classification : The Central Product Classification (CPC) constitutes a complete product classification covering goods and services. It is intended to serve as an international standard for assembling and tabulating all kinds of data requiring product detail, including industrial production, national accounts, service industries, domestic and foreign commodity trade, international trade in services, balance of payments, consumption and price statistics. Other basic aims are to provide a framework for international comparison and promote harmonization of various types of statistics dealing with goods and services.

Census : A census is the complete enumeration of a population or groups at a point in time with respect to well defined characteristics: for example, Population, Production, Traffic on particular roads.

Coastal, maritime and inland water tourism : Coastal tourism refers to land-based tourism activities such as swimming, surfing, sunbathing and other coastal leisure, recreation and sports activities which take place on the shore of a sea, lake or river. Proximity to the coast is also a condition for services and facilities that support coastal tourism. Maritime tourism refers to sea-based activities such as cruising, yachting, boating and nautical sports and includes their respective land-based services and infrastructure. Inland water tourism refers to tourism activities such as cruising, yachting, boating and nautical sports which take place in aquatic- influenced environments located within land boundaries and include lakes, rivers, ponds, streams, groundwater, springs, cave waters and others traditionally grouped as inland wetlands.

Coherence : Adequacy of statistics to be combined in different ways and for various uses.

Competitiveness of a tourism destination : The competitiveness of a tourism destination is the ability of the destination to use its natural, cultural, human, man-made and capital resources efficiently to develop and deliver quality, innovative, ethical and attractive tourism products and services in order to achieve a sustainable growth within its overall vision and strategic goals, increase the added value of the tourism sector, improve and diversify its market components and optimize its attractiveness and benefits both for visitors and the local community in a sustainable perspective.

Consistency : Logical and numerical coherence.

Country of reference : The country of reference refers to the country for which the measurement is done. ( IRTS 2008, 2.15 ).

Country of residence : The country of residence of a household is determined according to the centre of predominant economic interest of its members. If a person resides (or intends to reside) for more than one year in a given country and has there his/her centre of economic interest (for example, where the predominant amount of time is spent), he/she is considered as a resident of this country.

Country-specific tourism characteristic products and activities : To be determined by each country by applying the criteria of IRTS 2008, 5.10 in their own context; for these products, the activities producing them will be considered as tourism characteristic, and the industries in which the principal activity is tourism-characteristic will be called tourism industries ( IRTS 2008, 5.16 ).

Cultural tourism : Cultural tourism is a type of tourism activity in which the visitor's essential motivation is to learn, discover, experience and consume the tangible and intangible cultural attractions/products in a tourism destination. These attractions/products relate to a set of distinctive material, intellectual, spiritual and emotional features of a society that encompasses arts and architecture, historical and cultural heritage, culinary heritage, literature, music, creative industries and the living cultures with their lifestyles, value systems, beliefs and traditions.

Data checking : Activity whereby the correctness conditions of the data are verified. It also includes the specification of the type of error or of the condition not met, and the qualification of the data and their division into "error-free data" and "erroneous data".

Data collection : Systematic process of gathering data for official statistics.

Data compilation : Operations performed on data to derive new information according to a given set of rules.

Data confrontation : The process of comparing data that has generally been derived from different surveys or other sources, especially those of different frequencies, in order to assess and possibly improve their coherency, and identify the reasons for any differences.

Data processing : Data processing is the operation performed on data by the organization, institute, agency, etc., responsible for undertaking the collection, tabulation, manipulation and preparation of data and metadata output.

Data reconciliation : The process of adjusting data derived from two different sources to remove, or at least reduce, the impact of differences identified.

Destination (main destination of a trip): The main destination of a tourism trip is defined as the place visited that is central to the decision to take the trip. See also purpose of a tourism trip ( IRTS 2008, 2.31 ).

Destination management / marketing organization (DMO) : A destination management/marketing organization (DMO) is the leading organizational entity which may encompass the various authorities, stakeholders and professionals and facilitates tourism sector partnerships towards a collective destination vision. The governance structures of DMOs vary from a single public authority to a public/ private partnership model with the key role of initiating, coordinating and managing certain activities such as implementation of tourism policies, strategic planning, product development, promotion and marketing and convention bureau activities. The functions of the DMOs may vary from national to regional and local levels depending on the current and potential needs as well as on the decentralization level of public administration. Not every tourism destination has a DMO.

Documentation: Processes and procedures for imputation, weighting, confidentiality and suppression rules, outlier treatment and data capture should be fully documented by the survey provider. Such documentation should be made available to at least the body financing the survey.

Domestic tourism : Domestic tourism comprises the activities of a resident visitor within the country of reference, either as part of a domestic tourism trip or part of an outbound tourism trip ( IRTS 2008, 2.39 ).

Domestic tourism consumption : Domestic tourism consumption is the tourism consumption of a resident visitor within the economy of reference ( TSA:RMF 2008, figure 2.1 ).

Domestic tourism expenditure : Domestic tourism expenditure is the tourism expenditure of a resident visitor within the economy of reference, (IRTS 2008, 4.15(a)).

Domestic tourism trip : A domestic tourism trip is one with a main destination within the country of residence of the visitor (IRTS 2008, 2.32).

Domestic visitor : As a visitor travels within his/her country of residence, he/she is a domestic visitor and his/her activities are part of domestic tourism.

Durable consumer goods : Durable consumer goods are goods that may be used repeatedly or continuously over a period of a year or more, assuming a normal or average rate of physical usage. When acquired by producers, these are considered to be capital goods used for production processes, as is the case of vehicles, computers, etc. When acquired by households, they are considered to be consumer durable goods ( TSA:RMF 2008, 2.39 ). This definition is identical to the definition of SNA 2008, 9.42 : A consumer durable is a goodthat may be used for purposes of consumption repeatedly or continuously over a period of a year or more.

Dwellings : Each household has a principal dwelling (sometimes also designated as main or primary home), usually defined with reference to time spent there, whose location defines the country of residence and place of usual residence of this household and of all its members. All other dwellings (owned or leased by the household) are considered secondary dwellings ( IRTS 2008, 2.26 ).

Ecotourism : Ecotourism is a type of nature-based tourism activity in which the visitor's essential motivation is to observe, learn, discover, experience and appreciate biological and cultural diversity with a responsible attitude to protect the integrity of the ecosystem and enhance the well-being of the local community. Ecotourism increases awareness towards the conservation of biodiversity, natural environment and cultural assets both among locals and the visitors and requires special management processes to minimize the negative impact on the ecosystem.

Economic analysis : Tourism generates directly and indirectly an increase in economic activity in the places visited (and beyond), mainly due to demand for goods and services thatneed to be produced and provided. In the economic analysis of tourism, one may distinguish between tourism's 'economic contribution' which refers to the direct effect of tourism and is measurable by means of the TSA, and tourism's 'economic impact' which is a much broader concept encapsulating the direct, indirect and induced effects of tourism and which must be estimated by applying models. Economic impact studies aim to quantify economic benefits, that is, the net increase in the wealth of residents resulting from tourism, measured in monetary terms, over and above the levels that would prevail in its absence.

Economic territory : The term "economic territory" is a geographical reference and points to the country for which the measurement is done (country of reference) ( IRTS 2008, 2.15 ).

Economically active population : The economically active population or labour force comprises all persons of either sex who furnish the supply of labour for the production of goods and services as defined by the system of national accounts during a specified time-reference period (ILO, Thirteenth ICLS, 6.18).

Economy (of reference): "Economy" (or "economy of reference") is an economic reference defined in the same way as in the balance of payments and in the system of national accounts: it refers to the economic agents that are resident in the country of reference ( IRTS 2008, 2.15 ).

Education tourism : Education tourism covers those types of tourism which have as a primary motivation the tourist's engagement and experience in learning, self-improvement, intellectual growth and skills development. Education Tourism represents a broad range of products and services related to academic studies, skill enhancement holidays, school trips, sports training, career development courses and language courses, among others.

Employees : Employees are all those workers who hold the type of job defined as "paid employment" (ILO, Fifteenth ICLS, pp. 20-22).

Employer-employee relationship : An employer-employee relationship exists when there is an agreement, which may be formal or informal, between an entity and an individual, normally entered into voluntarily by both parties, whereby the individual works for the entity in return for remuneration in cash or in kind ( BPM6, 11.11 ).

Employers : Employers are those workers who, working on their own account with one or more partners, hold the type of job defined as a "self-employment job" and, in this capacity, on a continuous basis (including the reference period) have engaged one or more persons to work for them in their business as "employee(s)" (ILO, Fifteenth ICLS, pp. 20-22).

Employment : Persons in employment are all persons above a specified age who, during a specified brief period, either one week or one day, were in paid employment or self-employment (OECD GST, p. 170).

Employment in tourism industries : Employment in tourism industries may be measured as a count of the persons employed in tourism industries in any of their jobs, as a count of the persons employed in tourism industries in their main job, or as a count of the jobs in tourism industries ( IRTS 2008, 7.9 ).

Enterprise : An enterprise is an institutional unit engaged in production of goods and/or services. It may be a corporation, a non-profit institution, or an unincorporated enterprise. Corporate enterprises and non-profit institutions are complete institutional units. An unincorporated enterprise, however, refers to an institutional unit —a household or government unit —only in its capacity as a producer of goods and services (OECD BD4, p. 232)

Establishment : An establishment is an enterprise, or part of an enterprise, that is situated in a single location and in which only a single productive activity is carried out or in which the principal productive activity accounts for most of the value added ( SNA 2008, 5.14 ).

Estimation : Estimation is concerned with inference about the numerical value of unknown population values from incomplete data such as a sample. If a single figure is calculated for each unknown parameter the process is called "point estimation". If an interval is calculated within which the parameter is likely, in some sense, to lie, the process is called "interval estimation".

Exports of goods and services : Exports of goods and services consist of sales, barter, or gifts or grants, of goods and services from residents to non-residents (OECD GST, p. 194)

Frame : A list, map or other specification of the units which define a population to be completely enumerated or sampled.

Forms of tourism : There are three basic forms of tourism: domestic tourism, inbound tourism, and outbound tourism. These can be combined in various ways to derive the following additional forms of tourism: internal tourism, national tourism and international tourism.

Gastronomy tourism : Gastronomy tourism is a type of tourism activity which is characterized by the visitor's experience linked with food and related products and activities while travelling. Along with authentic, traditional, and/or innovative culinary experiences, Gastronomy Tourism may also involve other related activities such as visiting the local producers, participating in food festivals and attending cooking classes. Eno-tourism (wine tourism), as a sub-type of gastronomy tourism, refers to tourism whose purpose is visiting vineyards, wineries, tasting, consuming and/or purchasing wine, often at or near the source.

Goods : Goods are physical, produced objects for which a demand exists, over which ownership rights can be established and whose ownership can be transferred from one institutional unit to another by engaging in transactions on markets ( SNA 2008, p. 623 ).

Gross fixed capital formation : Gross fixed capital formation is defined as the value of institutional units' acquisitions less disposals of fixed assets. Fixed assets are produced assets (such as machinery, equipment, buildings or other structures) that are used repeatedly or continuously in production over several accounting periods (more than one year) ( SNA 2008, 1.52 ).

Gross margin : The gross margin of a provider of reservation services is the difference between the value at which the intermediated service is sold and the value accrued to the provider of reservation services for this intermediated service.

Gross value added : Gross value added is the value of output less the value of intermediate consumption ( TSA:RMF 2008, 3.32 ).

Gross value added of tourism industries : Gross value added of tourism industries (GVATI) is the total gross value added of all establishments belonging to tourism industries, regardless of whether all their output is provided to visitors and the degree of specialization of their production process ( TSA:RMF 2008, 4.86 ).

Grossing up : Activity aimed at transforming, based on statistical methodology, micro-data from samples into aggregate-level information representative of the target population.

Health tourism : Health tourism covers those types of tourism which have as a primary motivation, the contribution to physical, mental and/or spiritual health through medical and wellness-based activities which increase the capacity of individuals to satisfy their own needs and function better as individuals in their environment and society. Health tourism is the umbrella term for the subtypes wellness tourism and medical tourism.

Imputation : Procedure for entering a value for a specific data item where the response is missing or unusable.

Inbound tourism : Inbound tourism comprises the activities of a non-resident visitor within the country of reference on an inbound tourism trip ( IRTS 2008, 2.39 ).

Inbound tourism consumption : Inbound tourism consumption is the tourism consumption of a non-resident visitor within the economy of reference ( TSA:RMF 2008, figure 2.1 ).

Inbound tourism expenditure : Inbound tourism expenditure is the tourism expenditure of a non-resident visitor within the economy of reference ( IRTS 2008, 4.15(b) ).

Innovation in tourism : Innovation in tourism is the introduction of a new or improved component which intends to bring tangible and intangible benefits to tourism stakeholders and the local community, improve the value of the tourism experience and the core competencies of the tourism sector and hence enhance tourism competitiveness and /or sustainability. Innovation in tourism may cover potential areas, such as tourism destinations, tourism products, technology, processes, organizations and business models, skills, architecture, services, tools and/or practices for management, marketing, communication, operation, quality assurance and pricing.

Institutional sector : An aggregation of institutional units on the basis of the type of producer and depending on their principal activity and function, which are considered to be indicative of their economic behaviour.

Institutional unit : The elementary economic decision-making centre characterised by uniformity of behaviour and decision-making autonomy in the exercise of its principal function.

Intermediate consumption : Intermediate consumption consists of the value of the goods and services consumed as inputs by a process of production, excluding fixed assets whose consumption is recorded as consumption of fixed capital ( SNA 2008, 6.213 ).

Internal tourism : Internal tourism comprises domestic tourism and inbound tourism, that is to say, the activities of resident and non-resident visitors within the country of reference as part of domestic or international tourism trips ( IRTS 2008, 2.40(a) ).

Internal tourism consumption : Internal tourism consumption is the tourism consumption of both resident and non-resident visitors within the economy of reference. It is the sum of domestic tourism consumption and inbound tourism consumption ( TSA:RMF 2008, figure 2.1 ).

Internal tourism expenditure : Internal tourism expenditure comprises all tourism expenditure of visitors, both resident and non-resident, within the economy of reference. It is the sum of domestic tourism expenditure and inbound tourism expenditure. It includes acquisition of goods and services imported into the country of reference and sold to visitors. This indicator provides the most comprehensive measurement of tourism expenditure in the economy of reference ( IRTS 2008, 4.20(a) ).

International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities : The International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) consists of a coherent and consistent classification structure of economic activities based on a set of internationally agreed concepts, definitions, principles and classification rules. It provides a comprehensive framework within which economic data can be collected and reported in a format that is designed for purposes of economic analysis, decision-taking and policymaking. The classification structure represents a standard format to organize detailed information about the state of an economy according to economic principles and perceptions (ISIC, Rev.4, 1).

International tourism : International tourism comprises inbound tourism and outbound tourism, that is to say, the activities of resident visitors outside the country of reference, either as part of domestic or outbound tourism trips and the activities of non-resident visitors within the country of reference on inbound tourism trips ( IRTS 2008, 2.40(c) ).

International visitor : An international traveller qualifies as an international visitor with respect to the country of reference if: (a) he/she is on a tourism trip and (b) he/she is a non-resident travelling in the country of reference or a resident travelling outside of it ( IRTS 2008, 2.42 ).

Job : The agreement between an employee and the employer defines a job and each self-employed person has a job ( SNA 2008, 19.30 ).

Measurement error : Error in reading, calculating or recording numerical value.

Medical tourism : Medical tourism is a type of tourism activity which involves the use of evidence-based medical healing resources and services (both invasive and non-invasive). This may include diagnosis, treatment, cure, prevention and rehabilitation.

Meetings industry : To highlight purposes relevant to the meetings industry, if a trip's main purpose is business/professional, it can be further subdivided into "attending meetings, conferences or congresses, trade fairs and exhibitions" and "other business and professional purposes". The term meetings industry is preferred by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and Reed Travel over the acronym MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) which does not recognize the industrial nature of such activities.

Metadata : Data that defines and describes other data and processes.

MICE : See meetings industry.

Microdata : Non-aggregated observations, or measurements of characteristics of individual units.

Mirror statistics : Mirror statistics are used to conduct bilateral comparisons of two basic measures of a trade flow and are a traditional tool for detecting the causes of asymmetries in statistics (OECD GST, p. 335).

Mountain tourism : Mountain tourism is a type of tourism activity which takes place in a defined and limited geographical space such as hills or mountains with distinctive characteristics and attributes that are inherent to a specific landscape, topography, climate, biodiversity (flora and fauna) and local community. It encompasses a broad range of outdoor leisure and sports activities.

National tourism : National tourism comprises domestic tourism and outbound tourism, that is to say, the activities of resident visitors within and outside the country of reference, either as part of domestic or outbound tourism trips ( IRTS 2008, 2.40(b) ).

National tourism consumption : National tourism consumption is the tourism consumption of resident visitors, within and outside the economy of reference. It is the sum of domestic tourism consumption and outbound tourism consumption ( TSA:RMF 2008, figure 2.1 ).

National tourism expenditure : National tourism expenditure comprises all tourism expenditure of resident visitors within and outside the economy of reference. It is the sum of domestic tourism expenditure and outbound tourism expenditure ( IRTS 2008, 4.20(b) ).

Nationality : The concept of "country of residence" of a traveller is different from that of his/her nationality or citizenship ( IRTS 2008, 2.19 ).

Non-monetary indicators : Data measured in physical or other non-monetary units should not be considered a secondary part of a satellite account. They are essential components, both for the information they provide directly and in order to analyse the monetary data adequately ( SNA 2008, 29.84 ).

Observation unit : entity on which information is received and statistics are compiled.

Outbound tourism : Outbound tourism comprises the activities of a resident visitor outside the country of reference, either as part of an outbound tourism trip or as part of a domestic tourism trip ( IRTS 2008, 2.39(c) ).

Outbound tourism consumption : Outbound tourism consumption is the tourism consumption of a resident visitor outside the economy of reference ( TSA:RMF 2008, figure 2.1 ).

Outbound tourism expenditure : Outbound tourism expenditure is the tourism expenditure of a resident visitor outside the economy of reference ( IRTS 2008, 4.15(c) ).

Output : Output is defined as the goods and services produced by an establishment, a) excluding the value of any goods and services used in an activity for which the establishment does not assume the risk of using the products in production, and b) excluding the value of goods and services consumed by the same establishment except for goods and services used for capital formation (fixed capital or changes in inventories) or own final consumption ( SNA 2008, 6.89 ).

Output (main): The main output of a (productive) activity should be determined by reference to the value added of the goods sold or services rendered (ISIC rev.4, 114).

Pilot survey : The aim of a pilot survey is to test the questionnaire (pertinence of the questions, understanding of questions by those being interviewed, duration of the interview) and to check various potential sources for sampling and non-sampling errors: for instance, the place in which the surveys are carried out and the method used, the identification of any omitted answers and the reason for the omission, problems of communicating in various languages, translation, the mechanics of data collection, the organization of field work, etc.

Place of usual residence : The place of usual residence is the geographical place where the enumerated person usually resides, and is defined by the location of his/her principal dwelling (Principles and recommendations for population and housing censuses of the United Nations, 2.20 to 2.24).

Probability sample : A sample selected by a method based on the theory of probability (random process), that is, by a method involving knowledge of the likelihood of any unit being selected.

Production account : The production account records the activity of producing goods and services as defined within the SNA. Its balancing item, gross value added, is defined as the value of output less the value of intermediate consumption and is a measure of the contribution to GDP made by an individual producer, industry or sector. Gross value added is the source from which the primary incomes of the SNA are generated and is therefore carried forward into the primary distribution of income account. Value added and GDP may also be measured net by deducting consumption of fixed capital, a figure representing the decline in value during the period of the fixed capital used in a production process ( SNA 2008, 1.17 ).

Production : Economic production may be defined as an activity carried out under the control and responsibility of an institutional unit that uses inputs of labour, capital, and goods and services to produce outputs of goods or services ( SNA 2008, 6.24. ).

Purpose of a tourism trip (main): The main purpose of a tourism trip is defined as the purpose in the absence of which the trip would not have taken place ( IRTS 2008, 3.10. ). Classification of tourism trips according to the main purpose refers to nine categories: this typology allows the identification of different subsets of visitors (business visitors, transit visitors, etc.) See also destination of a tourism trip ( IRTS 2008, 3.14 ).

Quality of a tourism destination : Quality of a tourism destination is the result of a process which implies the satisfaction of all tourism product and service needs, requirements and expectations of the consumer at an acceptable price, in conformity with mutually accepted contractual conditions and the implicit underlying factors such as safety and security, hygiene, accessibility, communication, infrastructure and public amenities and services. It also involves aspects of ethics, transparency and respect towards the human, natural and cultural environment. Quality, as one of the key drivers of tourism competitiveness, is also a professional tool for organizational, operational and perception purposes for tourism suppliers.

Questionnaire and Questionnaire design : Questionnaire is a group or sequence of questions designed to elicit information on a subject, or sequence of subjects, from a reporting unit or from another producer of official statistics. Questionnaire design is the design (text, order, and conditions for skipping) of the questions used to obtain the data needed for the survey.

Reference period : The period of time or point in time to which the measured observation is intended to refer.

Relevance : The degree to which statistics meet current and potential users' needs.

Reliability : Closeness of the initial estimated value to the subsequent estimated value.

Reporting unit : Unit that supplies the data for a given survey instance, like a questionnaire or interview. Reporting units may, or may not, be the same as the observation unit.

Residents/non-residents : The residents of a country are individuals whose centre of predominant economic interest is located in its economic territory. For a country, the non-residents are individuals whose centre of predominant economic interest is located outside its economic territory.

Response and non-response : Response and non-response to various elements of a survey entail potential errors.

Response error : Response errors may be defined as those arising from the interviewing process. Such errors may be due to a number of circumstances, such as inadequate concepts or questions; inadequate training; interviewer failures; respondent failures.

Rural tourism : Rural tourism is a type of tourism activity in which the visitor's experience is related to a wide range of products generally linked to nature-based activities, agriculture, rural lifestyle / culture, angling and sightseeing. Rural tourism activities take place in non-urban (rural) areas with the following characteristics:

Low population density;
Landscape and land-use dominated by agriculture and forestry; and
Traditional social structure and lifestyle

Same-day visitor (or excursionist): A visitor (domestic, inbound or outbound) is classified as a tourist (or overnight visitor), if his/her trip includes an overnight stay, or as a same-day visitor (or excursionist) otherwise ( IRTS 2008, 2.13 ).

Sample : A subset of a frame where elements are selected based on a process with a known probability of selection.

Sample survey : A survey which is carried out using a sampling method.

Sampling error : That part of the difference between a population value and an estimate thereof, derived from a random sample, which is due to the fact that only a subset of the population is enumerated.

Satellite accounts : There are two types of satellite accounts, serving two different functions. The first type, sometimes called an internal satellite, takes the full set of accounting rules and conventions of the SNA but focuses on a particular aspect of interest by moving away from the standard classifications and hierarchies. Examples are tourism, coffee production and environmental protection expenditure. The second type, called an external satellite, may add non-economic data or vary some of the accounting conventions or both. It is a particularly suitable way to explore new areas in a research context. An example may be the role of volunteer labour in the economy ( SNA 2008, 29.85 ).

SDMX, Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange : Set of technical standards and content-oriented guidelines, together with an IT architecture and tools, to be used for the efficient exchange and sharing of statistical data and metadata (SDMX).

Seasonal adjustment : Seasonal adjustment is a statistical technique to remove the effects of seasonal calendar influences on a series. Seasonal effects usually reflect the influence of the seasons themselves, either directly or through production series related to them, or social conventions. Other types of calendar variation occur as a result of influences such as number of days in the calendar period, the accounting or recording practices adopted or the incidence of moving holidays.

Self-employment job : Self-employment jobs are those jobs where remuneration is directly dependent upon the profits (or the potential of profits) derived from the goods or services produced.

Self-employed with paid employees : Self-employed with paid employees are classified as employers.

Self-employed without employees : Self-employed without employees are classified as own-account workers.

Services : Services are the result of a production activity that changes the conditions of the consuming units, or facilitates the exchange of products or financial assets. They cannot be traded separately from their production. By the time their production is completed, they must have been provided to the consumers ( SNA 2008, 6.17 ).

Social transfers in kind : A special case of transfers in kind is that of social transfers in kind. These consist of goods and services provided by general government and non-profit institutions serving households (NPISHs) that are delivered to individual households. Health and education services are the prime examples. Rather than provide a specified amount of money to be used to purchase medical and educational services, the services are often provided in kind to make sure that the need for the services is met. (Sometimes the recipient purchases the service and is reimbursed by the insurance or assistance scheme. Such a transaction is still treated as being in kind because the recipient is merely acting as the agent of the insurance scheme) (SNA 2008, 3.83).

Sports tourism : Sports tourism is a type of tourism activity which refers to the travel experience of the tourist who either observes as a spectator or actively participates in a sporting event generally involving commercial and non-commercial activities of a competitive nature.

Standard classification : Classifications that follow prescribed rules and are generally recommended and accepted.

Statistical error : The unknown difference between the retained value and the true value.

Statistical indicator : A data element that represents statistical data for a specified time, place, and other characteristics, and is corrected for at least one dimension (usually size) to allow for meaningful comparisons.

Statistical metadata : Data about statistical data.

Statistical unit : Entity about which information is sought and about which statistics are compiled. Statistical units may be identifiable legal or physical entities or statistical constructs.

Survey : An investigation about the characteristics of a given population by means of collecting data from a sample of that population and estimating their characteristics through the systematic use of statistical methodology.

System of National Accounts : The System of National Accounts (SNA) is the internationally agreed standard set of recommendations on how to compile measures of economic activity in accordance with strict accounting conventions based on economic principles. The recommendations are expressed in terms of a set of concepts, definitions, classifications and accounting rules that comprise the internationally agreed standard for measuring indicators of economic performance. The accounting framework of the SNA allows economic data to be compiled and presented in a format that is designed for purposes of economic analysis, decision-taking and policymaking ( SNA 2008, 1.1 ).

Total tourism internal demand : Total tourism internal demand, is the sum of internal tourism consumption, tourism gross fixed capital formation and tourism collective consumption ( TSA:RMF 2008, 4.114 ). It does not include outbound tourism consumption.

Tourism : Tourism refers to the activity of visitors ( IRTS 2008, 2.9 ).

Tourism characteristic activities : Tourism characteristic activities are the activities that typically produce tourism characteristic products. As the industrial origin of a product (the ISIC industry that produces it) is not a criterion for the aggregation of products within a similar CPC category, there is no strict one-to-one relationship between products and the industries producing them as their principal outputs ( IRTS 2008, 5.11 ).

Tourism characteristic products : Tourism characteristic products are those that satisfy one or both of the following criteria: a) Tourism expenditure on the product should represent a significant share total tourism expenditure (share-of-expenditure/demand condition); b) Tourism expenditure on the product should represent a significant share of the supply of the product in the economy (share-of-supply condition). This criterion implies that the supply of a tourism characteristic product would cease to exist in meaningful quantity in the absence of visitors ( IRTS 2008, 5.10 ).

Tourism connected products : Their significance within tourism analysis for the economy of reference is recognized although their link to tourism is very limited worldwide. Consequently, lists of such products will be country-specific ( IRTS 2008, 5.12 ).

Tourism consumption : Tourism consumption has the same formal definition as tourism expenditure. Nevertheless, the concept of tourism consumption used in the Tourism Satellite Account goes beyond that of tourism expenditure. Besides the amount paid for the acquisition of consumption goods and services, as well as valuables for own use or to give away, for and during tourism trips, which corresponds to monetary transactions (the focus of tourism expenditure), it also includes services associated with vacation accommodation on own account, tourism social transfers in kind and other imputed consumption. These transactions need to be estimated using sources different from information collected directly from the visitors, such as reports on home exchanges, estimations of rents associated with vacation homes, calculations of financial intermediation services indirectly measured (FISIM), etc. ( TSA:RMF 2008, 2.25 ).

Tourism destination : A tourism destination is a physical space with or without administrative and/or analytical boundaries in which a visitor can spend an overnight. It is the cluster (co-location) of products and services, and of activities and experiences along the tourism value chain and a basic unit of analysis of tourism. A destination incorporates various stakeholders and can network to form larger destinations. It is also intangible with its image and identity which may influence its market competitiveness.

Tourism direct gross domestic product : Tourism direct gross domestic product (TDGDP) is the sum of the part of gross value added (at basic prices) generated by all industries in response to internal tourism consumption plus the amount of net taxes on products and imports included within the value of this expenditure at purchasers' prices ( TSA:RMF 2008, 4.96 ).

Tourism direct gross value added : Tourism direct gross value added (TDGVA) is the part of gross value added generated by tourism industries and other industries of the economy that directly serve visitors in response to internal tourism consumption ( TSA:RMF 2008, 4.88 ).

Tourism expenditure : Tourism expenditure refers to the amount paid for the acquisition of consumption goods and services, as well as valuables, for own use or to give away, for and during tourism trips. It includes expenditures by visitors themselves, as well as expenses that are paid for or reimbursed by others ( IRTS 2008, 4.2 ).

Tourism industries : The tourism industries comprise all establishments for which the principal activity is a tourism characteristic activity. Tourism industries (also referred to as tourism activities) are the activities that typically producetourism characteristic products. The term tourism industries is equivalent to tourism characteristic activities and the two terms are sometimes used synonymously in the IRTS 2008, 5.10, 5.11 and figure 5.1 .

Tourism product : A tourism product is a combination of tangible and intangible elements, such as natural, cultural and man-made resources, attractions, facilities, services and activities around a specific center of interest which represents the core of the destination marketing mix and creates an overall visitor experience including emotional aspects for the potential customers. A tourism product is priced and sold through distribution channels and it has a life-cycle.

Tourism ratio : For each variable of supply in the Tourism Satellite Account, the tourism ratiois the ratio between the total value of tourism share and total value of the corresponding variable in the Tourism Satellite Account expressed in percentage form ( TSA:RMF 2008, 4.56 ). (See also Tourism share).

Tourism Satellite Account : The Tourism Satellite Account is the second international standard on tourism statistics (Tourism Satellite Account: Recommended Methodological Framework 2008 –TSA:RMF 2008) that has been developed in order to present economic data relative to tourism within a framework of internal and external consistency with the rest of the statistical system through its link to the System of National Accounts. It is the basic reconciliation framework of tourism statistics. As a statistical tool for the economic accounting of tourism, the TSA can be seen as a set of 10 summary tables, each with their underlying data and representing a different aspect of the economic data relative to tourism: inbound, domestic tourism and outbound tourism expenditure, internal tourism expenditure, production accounts of tourism industries, the Gross Value Added (GVA) and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) attributable to tourism demand, employment, investment, government consumption, and non-monetary indicators.

Tourism Satellite Account aggregates : The compilation of the following aggregates, which represent a set of relevant indicators of the size of tourism in an economy is recommended ( TSA:RMF 2008, 4.81 ):

Internal tourism expenditure;
Internal tourism consumption;
Gross value added of tourism industries (GVATI);
Tourism direct gross value added (TDGVA);
Tourism direct gross domestic product (TDGDP).

Tourism sector : The tourism sector, as contemplated in the TSA, is the cluster of production units in different industries that provide consumption goods and services demanded by visitors. Such industries are called tourism industries because visitor acquisition represents such a significant share of their supply that, in the absence of visitors, their production of these would cease to exist in meaningful quantity.

Tourism share : Tourism share is the share of the corresponding fraction of internal tourism consumption in each component of supply ( TSA:RMF 2008, 4.51 ). For each industry, the tourism share of output (in value), is the sum of the tourism share corresponding to each product component of its output ( TSA:RMF 2008, 4.55 ). (See also Tourism ratio ).

Tourism single-purpose consumer durable goods : Tourism single-purpose consumer durables is a specific category of consumer durable goods that include durable goods that are used exclusively, or almost exclusively, by individuals while on tourism trips ( TSA:RMF 2008 , 2.41 and Annex 5 ).

Tourism trip : Trips taken by visitors are tourism trips ( IRTS 2008, 2.29 ).

Tourist (or overnight visitor): A visitor (domestic, inbound or outbound) is classified as a tourist (or overnight visitor), if his/her trip includes an overnight stay, or as a same-day visitor (or excursionist) otherwise ( IRTS 2008, 2.13 ).

Tourism value chain : The tourism value chain is the sequence of primary and support activities which are strategically fundamental for the performance of the tourism sector. Linked processes such as policy making and integrated planning, product development and packaging, promotion and marketing, distribution and sales and destination operations and services are the key primary activities of the tourism value chain. Support activities involve transport and infrastructure, human resource development, technology and systems development and other complementary goods and services which may not be related to core tourism businesses but have a high impact on the value of tourism.

Travel / traveller : Travel refers to the activity of travellers. A traveller is someone who moves between different geographic locations, for any purpose and any duration ( IRTS 2008, 2.4 ). The visitor is a particular type of traveller and consequently tourism is a subset of travel.

Travel group : A travel group is made up of individuals or travel parties travelling together: examples are people travelling on the same package tour or youngsters attending a summer camp ( IRTS 2008, 3.5 ).

Travel item (in balance of payments): Travel is an item of the goods and services account of the balance of payments: travel credits cover goods and services for own use or to give away acquired from an economy by non-residents during visits to that economy. Travel debits cover goods and services for own use or to give away acquired from other economies by residents during visits to other economies ( BPM6, 10.86 ).

Travel party : A travel party is defined as visitors travelling together on a trip and whose expenditures are pooled ( IRTS 2008, 3.2 ).

Trip : A trip refers to the travel by a person from the time of departure from his/her usual residence until he/she returns: it thus refers to a round trip. Trips taken by visitors are tourism trips.

Urban/city tourism : Urban/city tourism is a type of tourism activity which takes place in an urban space with its inherent attributes characterized by non-agricultural based economy such as administration, manufacturing, trade and services and by being nodal points of transport. Urban/city destinations offer a broad and heterogeneous range of cultural, architectural, technological, social and natural experiences and products for leisure and business.

Usual environment: The usual environment of an individual, a key concept in tourism, is defined as the geographical area (though not necessarily a contiguous one) within which an individual conducts his/her regular life routines ( IRTS 2008, 2.21 ).

Usual residence : The place of usual residence is the geographical place where the enumerated person usually resides (Principles and recommendations for population and housing censuses of the United Nations, 2.16 to 2.18).

Vacation home : A vacation home (sometimes also designated as a holiday home) is a secondary dwelling that is visited by the members of the household mostly for purposes of recreation, vacation or any other form of leisure ( IRTS 2008, 2.27 ).

Valuables : Valuables are produced goods of considerable value that are not used primarily for purposes of production or consumption but are held as stores of value over time ( SNA 2008, 10.13 ).

Visit : A trip is made up of visits to different places.The term "tourism visit" refers to a stay in a place visited during a tourism trip ( IRTS 2008, 2.7 and 2.33 ).

Visitor : A visitor is a traveller taking a trip to a main destination outside his/her usual environment, for less than a year, for any main purpose (business, leisure or other personal purpose) other than to be employed by a resident entity in the country or place visited ( IRTS 2008, 2.9 ). A visitor (domestic, inbound or outbound) is classified as a tourist (or overnight visitor), if his/her trip includes an overnight stay, or as a same-day visitor (or excursionist) otherwise ( IRTS 2008, 2.13 ).

Wellness tourism : Wellness tourism is a type of tourism activity which aims to improve and balance all of the main domains of human life including physical, mental, emotional, occupational, intellectual and spiritual. The primary motivation for the wellness tourist is to engage in preventive, proactive, lifestyle-enhancing activities such as fitness, healthy eating, relaxation, pampering and healing treatments.

If you ever wonder the meaning of an astronomical word, search no further and browse below to find the definition of the space term. The following are terms from A-Z related to space & astronomy:

Absolute magnitude – also known as absolute visual magnitude, relates to measuring a heavenly object’s brightness when viewed from 10 parsec or 32+ light years.

Absolute zero – The international community agreed to define absolute zero as equivalent to −273.15°C on the Celsius scale or−459.67°F on the Fahrenheit scale. It is the theoretical temperature entropy reaches its minimum value.

Absorption lines are a dark feature in the spectrum of a star formed by cooler gases in a star’s outer layer.

Accretion disks arise when material, usually gases, are transferred from one celestial object to another. There are two places astronomers find accretion disks, binary star systems and galactic nuclei.

Achromatic lens is a combination of lenses made of different glass. These bring two wavelengths into focus (normally red & blue) on the same plane. Achromatic lenses are used to take chromatic aberrations away from images.

Active galactic nuclei is a region in the center of a galaxy that has a higher than normal brightness. It is a class of galaxies that emit a large amount of energy from their center more than ordinary galaxies.

Active optics – Technology developed in the 80’s for reflecting telescopes. The construction enables telescopes to move 8 meter primary mirrors. As the name suggests, it works by “actively” adjusting the telescope mirrors.

Adaptive optics – technology used to improve performance of optical systems through the reduction of rapidly changing optical distortion. It is used to remove atmospheric distortion through the use of astronomical telescopes and laser communication.

Airy disk – Named after George Airy, it is the central spot in a diffraction pattern of a stars image in focus in a telescope.

Albedo is the ratio that light is reflected by a planet or satellite to that received by it. It is the ratio of total-reflected light.

Altazimuth mount is a two-axis mount used to support and rotate an instrument in two common perpendicular axes, vertical (altitude) and horizontal (azimuth).

Altitude is the height of anything above given a planetary reference plane. In astronomy the angular distance of a heavenly body above the horizon.

Anaglyph is a composite picture printed in two colors to produce a 3D image viewed through eye glasses having lenses of the same colors.

Andromeda galaxy is a spiral galaxy that is nearly two and a half million light years away in the constellation Andromeda.

Angular size is the angle between two lines of sight to its two opposite sides. It is a measure of how large an object actually appears to be.

Anisotropy is the state of being directionally dependent. The property of being anisotropic and having a different value when measured in different directions.

Annular eclipse , a solar eclipse in which the moon covers all but the bright ring around the circumference of the sun. When Sun and Moon are exactly in line, because the Moon is smaller, the Sun appears as a bright ring (annulus) surrounding the moon.

Antimatter is matter composed of anti-particles: antiprotons, antineutrons, and positrons. Hypothetically a type of matter identical to physical matter except that the atoms are made of: anti-electrons, anti-protons, and anti-neutrons.

Aperture is a hole, gap, or slit and any other small opening. Diameter of the objective of a telescope.

Aphelion is the point of orbit of a planet or comet which is farthest away from the sun.

Panchromatic – sensitive to light of all colors in the visible spectrum.

Apogee is the point in the orbit of an object (moon, satellite, etc…) orbiting the earth that is at the greatest distance from the center of the earth.

Apparent magnitude is the measure of brightness of a celestial body as seen from Earth as seen without atmosphere.

Apparition is the appearance or time when a comet is visible such as Halley’s Comet.

Archeoastronomy , the study of how people of the past “understand phenomena in the sky and how those phenomena affect their cultures.” Branch of archaeology that deals with use by prehistoric civilizations of astronomical techniques to establish seasons or cycle of the year, as evidenced in megaliths and other ritual structures.

ArcMinute is a unit of angular distance equal to a 60 th of a degree.

ArcSecond a 60 th part of a minute of an arcminute.

Asterism is a group of starts. Also a pattern of stars seen from earth which is not part of an established constellation.

Asteroids are any of thousands of smaller bodies or planetoids that orbit around the Sun. they range in size from 1.6 miles to 480 miles.

Asteroid belt is the region in space between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter where most asteroids are located.

Astrometry is the branch of astronomy dealing with the measurement of the positions and motions of heavenly bodies.

Astronomical unit (AU) a unit of length which is equal to the mean distance of the earth from the Sun.

Astronomy is the science that deals with the material universe beyond the earth’s atmosphere. Natural science engaged with the study of celestial objects.

Astrophotography a specialized branch of photography that captures images of astronomical objects and large portions of the night sky.

Aurora is a radiant emission from the upper atmosphere that occurs intermittently over the middle and high altitudes of both hemispheres. They appear in the form of luminous bands, streamers, or the like. This is caused by the constant bombardment of the atmosphere by charged particles attracted by earth’s magnetic lines.

Aurora Australis or Southern Lights are dynamic displays of light that appear in the Antarctic Skies in winter. They are nature’s light show. It is the name given to light emitted by atoms, molecules, and ions that have been excited by energetic charged particles. Common colors are pale green and pink in spiral curtains, arcs and streamers.

Aurora Borealis also know as Northern Polar lights are natural occurring light display in the heavens in the Northern hemisphere. They are nature’s light show. It is the name given to light emitted by atoms, molecules, and ions that have been excited by energetic charged particles. Common colors are pale green and pink in spiral curtains, arcs and streamers.

Auto guider is a tool used in astrophotography to track celestial objects that are photographed from drifting away from the field of view.

Autumnal equinox is the time that signals the end of the summer months and the beginning of winter. It is when the Sun passes the equator.

Averted vision – a technique to view faint objects using peripheral vision. You do not look at the object directly, but just off to the side, you do this while concentrating on the object.

Axis is the line which an object rotates. A straight line about which a body or geometric object rotates or may be conceived to rotate.

Azimuth is the arc of the horizon measured clockwise from the south point, in astronomy, or from the north point, in navigation, to the point where a vertical circle through a given heavenly body intersects the horizon.

Barlow lens named after its creator Peter Barlow, is a removable lens that can be attached to the eyepiece of a telescope and improves magnification.

Barnard’s Star is a red dwarf star that is six light years away from earth. It is also known as “Barnard’s Runaway Star”.

Barred spiral galaxy is a spiral galaxy that has a centric bar-shaped configuration made-up of stars.

Baryon is a proton, neutron, or any elementary particle that decays into a set of particles that includes a proton.

Baseline is a line that serves as a basis for measurement, calculation, or location. A line between two points or telescopes of an interferometer.

Big Bang is a theory offered by cosmologists related to the early development of the universe.

Binary star is a star system composed of two stars that orbit a common center. The primary star is brightest; the secondary is referred to as the companion star.

Binoculars are optical devices providing good depth effect for both eyes. This consists of two small telescopes fitted side by side.

Black hole theoretically a massive object formed at the beginning of the universe or by a gravitational collapse of a star exploding as a supernova. The gravitational field is intense that no electromagnetic radiation can escape.

Blazar is a compact quasar. An active galaxy with very active and highly variable radio, electromagnetic, and optical emissions.

Blink comparator is used by astronomers, it is an optical instrument used to detect differences in two photographs of the same object by rapidly switching between the two, one picture at a time.

Blueshift is a shift toward shorter wavelengths on the spectral lines of a celestial object. This is caused by the movement of the object toward the object.

Bok globule is small interstellar clouds of very cold gas and dust that are thick. Because of the thickness, they are totally opaque to visible light; however, they can be studied using infrared and radio techniques.

Bolide is a fireball. A large brilliant meteor that explodes.

Bose-Einstein condensate also known as superatom . A phase of matter in which all bosons in a given physical system have been cooled to a temperature near absolute zero and enter the same quantum state.

Brown dwarf is a cold and dark star too small to initiate nuclear reactions that generate heat and light.

Buckyball is a natural occurring type of carbon recognized as C60. The molecular structure looks like the geodesic domes designed by Buckminster Fuller.

Bulge The generally spherical and central region of a spiral galaxy.

Cannibal coronal mass ejections are fast moving solar eruptions that overtake and often absorb their slower moving kin.

Carbon star is a cool, red giant having a spectrum with strong bands of carbon compounds.

Carbonaceous chondrites are recognized as a group of chondritic meteorites composed of at least 7 recognized groups.

Cassegrain telescope is a reflecting telescope in which the light, passing through a central opening in the primary mirror, is brought into focus a short distance behind it by a secondary mirror.

Cataclysmic variable are stars that invariably increase in brightness and decrease to a nearly dormant state.

Catadioptric telescope is a telescope that uses a combination of mirrors and lenses to increase the focal length of the telescope while allowing it to be folded into a more convenient and compact size.

Charge-coupled device (CCD) is a silicon chip used to detect light. A more efficient device at collecting light than regular film.

Celestial pole are two points in which the extended axis of the earth cuts the celestial sphere and about which the stars seem to revolve.

Celestial sphere is an imaginary spherical shell formed by the sky represented as an infinite sphere. The observer’s position is the given center of the sphere.

Cepheid variable is a variable star in which changes in brightness are due to alternate contractions and expansions in volume.

Chandrasekhar limit : named after Indian astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, is the mass limit above which a star has too much mass to become a white dwarf after gravitational collapse.

Charles Messier : French astronomer recognized for publishing the astronomical catalogue that consist of nebulae, star clusters that later become known as “103 Messier objects.”

Chondrite is a stony meteorite containing chodrules. Unchanged meteorites due to melting.

Chromosphere is a layer of the sun’s atmosphere. A gaseous envelope that surrounds the sun outside the photosphere from which large quantities of hydrogen and other gases erupt from.

Circumpolar : Circumpolar stars are permanently above the horizon from a given observing point on Earth; that is to say, they never set. At Earth’s Geographical North Pole (90° north latitude), all stars in the sky are circumpolar. On Earth’s equator, no stars are circumpolar.

Clock drive is a mechanism that causes an equatorial telescope to revolve about its polar axis so that it keeps the same star in its field of view.

Coated optics are optical elements that have refracting and reflecting surfaces coated with one or more coatings of dielectric or metallic material.

Collapsar is a gravitationally collapsed star.

Collimation : Perfectly aligning a telescope’s optics.

Coma : The shroud of gas surrounding a comet’s nucleus.

Coma Berenices is a constellation in the northern sky near Boötes and Leo that contains a prominent cluster of galaxies and the north pole of the Milky Way.

Comet is a celestial body moving about the sun consisting of a central mass surrounded by an envelope of dust and gas that may form a tail that streams away from the sun.

Comet nucleus : The solid, central part of a comet, also known as a “dirty snowball.” It is made of rock, dust, and frozen gases.

Conjunction : A moment when two or more objects appear close together in the sky.

Constellation is any of various groups of stars to which definite names have been given, as Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Boötes, Cancer, Orion.

Convection : The transfer of heat by the circulation or movement of heated parts of a liquid or gas.

Core : The central region of a planet, star, and galaxy.

Corona : A faintly colored luminous ring appearing to surround a celestial body visible through a haze or thin cloud, especially such a ring around the moon or sun, caused by diffraction of light from suspended matter in the intervening medium.

Coronagraph is an instrument for observing and photographing the sun’s corona, consisting of a telescope fitted with lenses, filters, and diaphragms that simulate an eclipse.

Coronagraph mask is a circular shaped instrument designed to block light from a star’s disk. This allows the area close to the target to be studied.

Coronal mass ejection (CME) is a large-scale solar event involving an ejection of hot plasma that may accelerate charged particles and travel as far as the Earth’s orbit, preceded by a shock front that may create a magnetic storm on Earth

Cosmic microwave background : Microwave radiation that permeates the universe and represents the still cooling heat generated in the universe.

Cosmic ray : A radiation of high penetrating power that originates in outer space and consists partly of high-energy atomic nuclei.

Cosmological constant is a term introduced by Einstein into his field equations of general relativity to permit a stationary, nonexpanding universe: it has since been abandoned in most models of the universe

Cosmology is a branch of astronomy that deals with the general structure and evolution of the universe.

Cosmos : The world or universe seen as an orderly, harmonious system.

Crescent : A lunar or planetary phase wherein less than half the surface is illuminated.

Critical density : The density of a pure element or compound at a critical point. Density of the universe that provide enough gravity to bring the expansion to halt.

Crust is the outermost geological thin layer of an asteroid, moon, or planet.

Cryovolcanism is an icy volcano. When water and other liquids or vapor-phase volatiles, together with gas-driven solid fragments, onto the surface of a planet or moon due to internal heating.

Damocloid – An elliptical shaped asteroid with a comet-like orbit. It is rare and named after asteroid 5335 Damocles, the first of its kind discovered.

Dark adaptation – The ability of the human eye to adjust seeing dim objects in the dark.

Dark energy – Negative gravity that plays a role in the acceleration in the expansion of the universe.

Dark matter – a term used to describe matter in the universe that cannot be seen, but can be detected by its gravitational effects on other bodies.

Dark nebula – Dust grains that appear as clouds and is thick enough to shade light from stars in the background.

Declination – Angular distance of an object in the sky, above or below the celestial equator.

Deep-sky objects – Objects that are located beyond the solar system, usually consisting of galaxies, nebulae, stars, and star clusters.

Degree angular Scale interferometer (DASI) – Used to measure temperature and polarization in the Cosmic Microwave background. This is located at NSF Amundsen-Scott South Pole station.

Denison Olmsted – American physicist and astronomer born in Hartford, Connecticut. He is attributed for founding meteor science. He demonstrated that meteors are cosmic in origin and not an atmospheric phenomenon.

Density – Amount of matter contained in a given volume. Usually measured in grams per cubic centimeter.

Deuterium – An isotope of hydrogen with one proton and one neutron in the nucleus having an atomic weight of 2.014.

Diffraction – Spreading out of light as it passes the edge of an obstacle.

Dobsonian telescope – A telescope with a stable altazimuth mount that rotates easily.

Doppler effect – The change in wavelength of sound or light emitted by an object in relation to an observer’s position. An object approaching the observer will have a shorter wavelength (blue) while an object moving away will have a longer (red) wavelength. The Doppler effect is used to estimate an object’s speed and direction.

Double Star – Grouping of two stars. The grouping may look distinct, where the stars appear close together, or physical, such as a binary system.

Double asteroid – Two asteroids that orbit around each other and linked by the gravity between them.

Dust – Minute particles floating in space.

Dwarf galaxy – Small galaxy that contain a few million stars, it is the most common kind of galaxy in the universe.

Dwarf star – A Smaller star. Any star of average to low brightness, mass, and size.

Eccentric – Deviation from a circle, applied when describing the shape of an orbit.

Eclipse – the total or partial blocking of one celestial body by another.

Eclipsing binary – binary star with an orbital plane oriented so that one star passes in front of the other, thus completely or partially blocking the light from the other star during each orbital period.

Ecliptic – the great circle formed by the intersection of the plane of the earth’s orbit with the celestial sphere; the apparent annual path of the sun in the heavens.

Edwin Hubble – American astronomer who pioneered the understanding of the universe. He showed that other galaxies existed, specifically the Milky Way. Born in Marshfield, Missouri then later moved to Chicago at the age of 9. Young Edwin Hubble had always been fascinated with science. He attended Oxford University on a Rhodes scholarship and studied law. He later realized that his true passion was astronomy; in 1917 Hubble received his doctorate in astronomy from the University of Chicago.

Ejecta – material from beneath the surface of a body such as a moon or planet that is ejected by an impact from a meteor and distributed on the surface. Ejecta usually appear lighter in color than the surrounding surface.

Electromagnetic radiation – Radiation that travels through space at the speed of light, and increases the interplay of oscillating and magnetic fields. The radiation has a wavelength and frequency.

Electromagnetic Spectrum – The range of all kinds of wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation. These include short to long wavelength gamma rays, x-rays, ultra-violet, optical, infrared and radio waves.

Electron – Negatively charged elementary particle found outside, but is attached to, the nucleus of an atom.

Electron Flux – Rate of flow of electrons through a reference surface.

Electron volt – A unit of energy equal to the energy gained by an electron that falls through a potential difference of one volt.

Element – Fundamental unit of matter consisting of fixed number of protons. Number of neutrons and electrons may vary.

Ellipse – An oval shape. Johannes Kepler discovered the orbits of planets are elliptical in shape and not circular.

Elliptical galaxy – A galaxy whose structure is shaped like an ellipse and is smooth and lacks complex structures such as spiral arms. Elongation – The angular separation of an object from the sun.

Emission – Discharge of electromagnetic radiation from an object.

Emission nebula – Cloud of hot gas being illumined from within by the radiation of energetic, young stars.

Ephemeris – Table that identifies the positions of astronomical objects at certain intervals.

Equatorial mount – a telescope mount in which one axis lies parallel to Earth’s rotational axis; the motion of the telescope about this axis compensates for Earth’s rotation.

Equinox – Two points in which the sun crosses the celestial equator in its yearly path in the sky. Equinoxes signal the start of spring and autumn seasons that occur on or near March 21 and September 22, respectively.

Escape velocity – Speed required for something or an object, to be free of the gravitational pull of a planet or other body.

Evening star – Venus, when it appears in the evening sky.

Event horizon – An invisible boundary around a black hole from which nothing can escape the gravitational pull, not even light.

Exit pupil – Image of the objective lens or primary mirror of a telescope formed on the eye side of the eyepiece.

Exobiologist – a person who studies the origin, development, and distribution of ‘living’ systems that may exist outside of Earth.

Extragalactic – Beyond the Milky Way galaxy.

Extrasolar – beyond the sun.

Extraterrestrial – beyond earth.

Eye relief – the distance between the eyeball and the lens nearest the eye of an eyepiece at which an observer can clearly see the entire field of view

Eyepiece – a magnifying lens used to view the image produced by a telescope’s primary lens or mirror.

Far ultraviolet – Ultraviolet radiation with the shortest wavelengths.

Field of view – The area of the sky visible through a telescope or binoculars.

Filter – A device that transmits light of only certain wavelengths. Used by astronomers to observe view specific wavelengths and to minimize the light of exceptionally bright objects.

Finder scope – a small, low-powered telescope attached to a larger telescope that helps the observer locate objects in the sky.

Fireball – A very bright meteor.

First quarter – Phase of the moon a quarter of the way around its orbit from new moon. Eastern portion is visibly bright during this phase.

Flare – The sudden, violent outburst of energy from a star’s surface.

Focus – Point at which rays of light passing through a lens meet.

Focal length – Distance from a lens or mirror to the point it draws light to a focus.

Focal ratio – The ratio of the focal length of a lens or mirror to its diameter.

Focuser – the device on a telescope that holds an eyepiece and moves to allow an observer to bring light to a sharp focus.

Fork mount – an equatorial mount in which the telescope swings in declination between the two prongs of a fork.

Frequency – the number of wave crests or troughs that pass a particular point in a given interval of time (usually one second); usually expressed in hertz (cycles per second)

Full moon – Phase of the moon when it is halfway around its orbit from new moon and opposite the sun in the sky; the full disk is illuminated.

Galactic disk – Disk of a spiral galaxy.

Galactic nucleus – central region of a galaxy. Contains a high density of stars and gas and a super massive black hole.

Galactic plane – Projection of the Milky Way’s disk on the sky.

Galaxy – an enormous gravitationally bound assemblage of millions or billions of stars.

Galaxy cluster – Gravitationally bound assemblage of dozens to thousands of galaxies.

Galilean moons/satellites – Jupiter’s four largest moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto as discovered by Galileo in 1610.

Gamma rays – the highest energy, shortest wavelength form of electromagnetic radiation.

Gamma-ray burst – Short and intense burst of high energy radiation emanating from the distant universe.

Gas giant – Planets made primarily of gas, these include Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

General relativity – Theory of relativity governing accelerated motion that describes gravity as a curvature of space-time.

German equatorial mount – Mount in which the declination axis sits on top of the polar axis, with the telescope on one end of the declination axis and a counterweight on the other.

Giant molecular cloud – Interstellar clouds of cold gas and dust that contain tens or hundreds of thousands of solar masses.

Gibbous – The phase of the moon between first quarter and last quarter, when the moon appears more than half illuminated.

Globular cluster – A roughly spherical congregation of hundreds of thousands of stars; most globular clusters consist of old stars and exist in a galaxy’s halo.

Granulation – A pattern of small cells that can be seen on the surface of the Sun. They are caused by the convective motions of the hot gases inside the Sun.

Gravitational lens – A concentration of matter such as a galaxy or cluster of galaxies that bends light rays from a background object. Gravitational lensing results in duplicate images of distant objects.

Gravity – the attractive force that all objects exert on one another; the greater an object’s mass, the stronger its gravitational pull.

Gravity or Gravitational waves – Weak, wavelike disturbances which represent the radiation related to the gravitational force; produced when massive bodies are accelerated or otherwise disturbed.

Greenhouse Effect – An increase in temperature caused when incoming solar radiation is passed but outgoing thermal radiation is blocked by the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide and water vapor are two of the major gases responsible for this effect.

Habitable zone – Zone around a star in which a planet can maintain liquid on its surface.

Halo – Outer region of a galaxy, contains globular clusters, a few stray stars, and dark matter.

Heliacal rising – the period of time when an object, such as a star, is briefly seen in the eastern sky before dawn and is no longer hidden from the glare of the sun.

Heliopause – The point at which the solar wind meets the interstellar medium or solar wind from other stars.

Heliosphere – a vast region around the sun dominated by the solar wind.

Helium – Second lightest element, consists of two protons, two neutrons and two electrons. Eight percent of the atoms in the universe are helium.

Hertz – A unit of frequency equal to one cycle per second.

Hertzsprung-Russell diagram – a diagram that plots luminosity against temperature for a group of stars.

HII region – an area filled with clouds of ionized hydrogen; the ionization is usually caused by radiation from newborn stars.

Hubble law – the principle that a distant galaxy’s recessional velocity is proportional to its distance from Earth

Hubble space telescope (HST) – The Hubble Space Telescope makes its observations from above Earth’s atmosphere. The telescope orbits 600 kilometers (375 miles) above Earth, working around the clock. It was originally designed in the 1970s and launched in 1990. The telescope is named for astronomer Edwin Hubble.

Hydrazine – Colorless liquid which burns quickly and used as rocket and missile fuel.

Hydrogen – the simplest and lightest element; usually consists of just a single proton and electron; about 90 percent of the atoms in the universe are hydrogen.

Hypered film – Film that has been treated, usually with gas, to enhance its response to low light levels.

Hypergalaxy – A system consisting of a spiral galaxy surrounded by several dwarf white galaxies, often ellipticals. Our galaxy and the Andromeda galaxy are examples of hypergalaxies.

Igneous rock – Rock formed by the solidification of magma.

Inclination – Angle between a planet’s orbit and the ecliptic place; Angle between a satellite’s orbit and its host planet’s rotational plane.

Inferior conjunction – The configuration of an inferior planet when it lies between the sun and Earth.

Inferior planet – A planet that orbits the sun inside earth’s orbit, these would be Mercury and Venus.

Inflation – a brief and extraordinarily rapid period of expansion a fraction of a second after the Big Bang.

Infrared – a form of light with slightly lower energy than visible light but with greater energy than radio waves.

Interacting galaxies – galaxies caught in each other’s gravitational embrace, often results in galactic mergers or extreme star formation.

Interference or interferometric fringes – a wave-like pattern resulting from the successful combination of two beams of light which amplifies the light.

Interferometer – A system of two or more widely separated telescopes that achieves the resolving power of a much larger telescope.

Interferometry – The technique of using two or more widely separated telescopes to achieve the resolving power of a much larger telescope.

Intergalactic – Space between the galaxies.

International Space Station – A global cooperative program between the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan, and Europe, for the joint development, operation, and utilization of a permanently habitat in space close to low-Earth orbit.

Interplanetary – Space between the planets.

Interstellar – Space between the stars of a galaxy.

Interstellar medium – Gas and dust located between the stars.

Ion – an electrically charged atom due to the loss or gain of one or more electrons.

Ionization – Process an atom gains or loses electrons.

Ionized gas – Gas heated to a state where it contains ions and free-floating electrons. Also referred to as plasma.

Ionosphere – An atmospheric layer with a high concentration of ions and free electrons.

Irregular galaxy – Galaxy without a clearly defined spiral or elliptical shape.

Isotope – Forms of an element wherein all atoms have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons.

Jet – a narrow stream of gas or particles ejected from an accretion disk surrounding a star or black hole.

JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) – The lead U.S. center for robotic exploration of the solar system located in Pasadena, California; JPL spacecraft have visited recognized planets with the exception of Pluto.

Jet stream – a high-speed, wandering wind current in the upper troposphere that blows from west to east and affects weather

Jovian planet – A planet with the same attributes of Jupiter (gas giant).

Kelvin – a unit of temperature equal to one degree on the Celsius scale and 1.8 degrees on the Fahrenheit scale; also the absolute temperature scale defined so that 0 kelvin is absolute zero.

Kuiper Belt – a region in the outer solar system beyond Neptune’s orbit that contains billions of small, icy bodies; Pluto is the largest known Kuiper Belt Object. -L-

L chondrite – a chondrite (a stony meteorite containing small, round, silicate granules called chondrules) that has a low amount of iron.

Lagrange point – One of five locations in space relative to two bodies where less massive body can maintain a stable orbit around a common center of mass.

Large magellanic cloud – Irregular galaxy that orbits the Milky Way Galaxy.

Last quarter – Phase of the moon three quarters of the way around its orbit from the new moon, the western side is lit.

Latitude – the angular distance north or south from the equator to a point on Earth’s surface, measured on the meridian of the point.

Lens – Curved piece of glass that brings light to a focus.

Lenticular galaxy – a galaxy possessing a large bulge and small disk.

Libration – the small oscillations in the moon’s motion that allow Earth-based observers to see slightly more than half the moon’s surface.

Light pollution – Light, typically from artificial sources, that reaches the night sky, obscuring the view of faint astronomical objects.

Light-gathering power – the ability of a telescope to collect light; the larger a telescope’s aperture, the greater its light-gathering power.

Light-year – the distance light travels in one year, equivalent to approximately 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).

Limb – Edge of a celestial object.

Limiting magnitude – the apparent magnitude of the faintest objects that can be seen given the local observing conditions and any telescope, film, or other detector you may be using.

LINER galaxy – A low-ionization nuclear emission-line region galaxy belongs to a common class of otherwise normal galaxies that display low-ionization line emissions near their central regions.

Local Group – the galaxy cluster containing 35 galaxies to which the Milky Way Galaxy belongs.

Local supercluster – the galaxy supercluster to which the Local Group belongs; it spreads over 100 million light-years and boasts the Virgo Cluster as its dominant member.

Long-period comet – Comets that have orbital periods greater than 200 years.

Longitude – the angular distance of a particular place on Earth as measured east or west from the prime meridian running through Greenwich, England.

Luminosity – the total amount of light that an object radiates.

Lunar eclipse – a phenomenon caused by the Earth passing between the sun and moon.

Lunar month – the period of one complete revolution of the moon around Earth, 29.5 days.

Lunation – the time between two successive new moons; approximately 29.5 days.

Magnetograph – A recording magnetometer used for recording variations in the earth’s magnetic field.

Magnetometer – An instrument that measures the intensity of earth’s magnetic field.

Magnetopause – The boundary space between the earth’s magnetosphere and interplanetary space (40,000 miles / 65,000 km) above the earth, marked by an abrupt decrease in the earth’s magnetic induction.

Magnetosphere – The dynamic region around a planet where the magnetic field traps and controls the movement of charged particles from the solar wind.

Magnitude – The measurement of an object’s brightness; the lower the number, the brighter the object.

Main sequence – The band of stars on a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram stretching from the upper left to the lower right; stars spend most of their lives in the main sequence phase, in which they are fusing hydrogen into helium in their cores.

Maksutov telescope – A catadioptric telescope that uses a deeply curved meniscus lens as the correcting plate. (See Catadrioptric Telescope)

Mantle – The portion of a planet’s interior above the core but below the crust.

Mare – Dark and smooth area on the surface of the moon or on a planet.

Mass – A measure of the total amount of matter within an object.

Mass loss – The loss of mass by a star during its evolution; some of the causes of mass loss include stellar winds, bipolar outflows, and the ejection of material in a planetary nebula or supernova.

Megaparsec – One million parsecs, equivalent to 3.26 million light-years.

Meridian – Imaginary circle on the celestial sphere that connects the zenith to the north, or south, celestial pole.

Messier Catalog – A catalog of 107 bright deep-sky objects that belong to a catalog compiled by French astronomer Charles Messier in the 1700s.

Meteor – A flash of light that occurs when a meteoroid burns up in earth’s atmosphere, also known as shooting star.

Meteor showers – Period of meteor activity that occurs when Earth collides with many meteoroids; an individual shower happens at the same time each year and has all its meteors appearing to radiate from a common point.

Meteor storm – Rare events that occur when Earth encounters dense regions within a meteor stream. Such encounters can increase normal meteor rates by more than 1,000 meteors per minute.

Meteorite – Rock from space that survives as it passes through the earth’s atmosphere and falls to the ground.

Meteoroid – Small rock that orbits the sun.

Microgravity – A condition the force of gravity is very low, producing a near-weightless environment.

Microlensing – Effect of gravity from a small astronomical body focusing light rays, similar to lenses.

Micron – One millionth of a meter.

Microwaves – Most energetic form of radio waves.

Milky Way – Spiral galaxy containing our solar system. It can be observed by the naked eye as a faint luminous band stretching across the heavens, containing approximately a trillion stars, most of which are too distant to be seen individually.

Millisecond pulsar – Neutron star rotates hundreds of times per second, which typically accretes matter from a stellar companion.

Minor planet – Rocky body that orbits the sun; also recognized as an asteroid.

Mirror – Piece of glass coated with a highly reflective material.

Molecule – Combination of two or more atoms that represent the smallest part of a compound that has the chemical properties of that compound.

Moon – Smaller body orbiting a larger body; often refers to earth’s moon.

Morning star – Venus, when it appears in the morning sky.

Multicultural astronomy – the variety of ways cultures of the past and present have observed, recorded, interpreted, and made use of astronomy to structure their lives, and in some cases satisfy their curiosity about the universe.

Multiple star system – Gravity bound system in which two or more stars orbit a common center of mass.

MUSES-C – The MUSES-C Mission will investigate an asteroid known as an Earth-approaching type. Through this mission, the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) in Japan intends to establish the technology to bring back samples of an asteroid’s surface to Earth.

MUSES stands for a series of missions performed launched by the MU rocket and C means the third mission of this series.

Naked eye – something visible without the aid of binoculars or a telescope.

Near-infrared – light from the part of the infrared band of the electromagnetic spectrum closest to the visible range.

Nebula – a cloud of interstellar gas and dust; some nebulae represent stellar nurseries, others represent stellar graveyards.

Neutrino – a subatomic particle produced in nuclear reactions and in supernovae that very rarely interacts with matter; neutrinos have no electrical charge and travel at or very close to the speed of light.

Neutron – a subatomic particle with no electric charge that resides in an atomic nucleus; it has about the same mass as a proton.

Neutron star – the collapsed, extraordinarily dense, city-sized remnant of a high-mass star.

New moon – the phase in which the moon is in the same direction as the sun in Earth’s sky, so it is unilluminated and invisible.

Newtonian telescope – a reflecting telescope in which a flat secondary mirror (called the diagonal) in the center of the tube reflects light to a focus outside the tube.

NGC – New General Catalogue, a 19th-century compendium of deep-sky objects such as galaxies, globular clusters, and nebulae.

NGC Objects – deep-sky objects such as galaxies, globular clusters, and nebulae included in the New General Catalogue.

North Celestial Pole – the point in the sky to which Earth’s Geographical North Pole points.

Nova – An explosion on the surface of a white dwarf that is accreting matter from a companion star, which causes the system to temporarily brighten by a factor of several hundred to several thousand.

Nuclear fusion – The process by which two atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier atomic nucleus; this is the energy source that causes most stars to shine.

Nucleosynthesis – the creation of heavy elements from lighter ones by nuclear fusion.

Nucleus – the central region of an atom, comet, or galaxy.

O-type star – A hot, massive blue star that emits strongly at ultraviolet wavelengths and has a surface temperature of roughly between 28,000 to 40,000 Kelvin’s.

OB Association – Loose grouping of O and B stars, which are the most luminous, most massive, and shortest-lived stars.

Objective – Telescopes primary lens or mirror that gathers light and brings it to a focus.

Obliquity – the angle between the plane of the earth’s orbit and that of the earth’s equator, equal to 23°27′; the inclination of the earth’s equator.

Occultation – The passage of one object in front of a smaller one, temporarily obscuring all or part of the background object from view.

Omega – 1. The ratio of the density of the universe to the critical density 2. The 24th letter of the Greek alphabet.

Omega centauri – Massive globular cluster in the southern constellation Centaurus located about 17,000 light-years from Earth; also known as NGC 5139.

Omega nebula – Also known as the Swan Nebula, M17, NGC 6618, the Horseshoe Nebula, and the Lobster Nebula. One of the Milky Way’s numerous stellar nurseries; the Omega Nebula is about 5,000 light-years from Earth and can be seen in the constellation of Sagittarius the Archer.

Oort cloud – Cloud of cometary nuclei that surrounds the sun at a distance of many thousands of astronomical units.

Open cluster – System containing a few dozen to a few thousand stars that formed from the same stellar nursery.

Opposition – Best time to observe a planet. The moment a planet far from the sun than Earth appears opposite the sun in the sky.

Optical double – Two stars at different distances that lie along nearly the same line of sight and thus appear close together.

Optics – Study of light and its properties; Lenses or mirrors.

Orbit – Curved path, usually elliptical in shape, an object follows around a bigger object or a common center of mass.

Orbital period – The length of time it takes one body to orbit another.

Outgassing – Release of gas from rocky body.

PAHs – Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). A class of stable organic molecules. Flat molecules made of carbon and hydrogen atoms. These are common and highly carcinogenic. It is one of the by-products of combustion from automobiles and airplanes.

Parallax – Shift of a nearby object against a fixed background due to the movement of the observer. Astronomers observe the parallax of stars to measure the distances of these same stars.

Parsec – Distance an object would have to be from earth so that its parallax when seen from two points separated by 1 AU is equivalent to one arcsecond, equivalent to 3.26 light years.

Patera – A shallow crater with a scalloped and complex edge; saucer shaped volcanic structure.

Penumbra – Outer filament region of a sunspot. Lighter region of a sunspot surrounding the umbra (dark center).

Penumbral eclipse – When the moon passes into the outer ring of earth’s shadow, causing a slight shading in the moon’s appearance.

Periastron – Location in an objects orbit where it is closest to the star it orbits.

Perigree – Position of a satellite’s orbit when it is closest to earth.

Perihelion – Position of an object, or body, when it is closest to the sun.

Period – Measured interval a regular event takes place.

Periodic comet – Comet that has been observed to circle, orbit, the sun more than once.

Phase – Cycle of changes in the appearance of a moon or a planet.

Photometer – An instrument that measures light emitted by an object.

Photometry – Degree and measurement of light intensities.

Photons – Single waves of light.

Photosphere – Visible surface of the sun.

Photovoltaic – When light energy or emissions are converted into electricity.

Pixel – Short name for “picture element.” Individual light detectors on a CCD chip.

Planck scale – A unit of measurement scientists utilize to describe the universe. One unit (length) of Planck is 10^-33 centimeters.

Planet – A gaseous, rocky body that orbits a star.

Planetary nebula – Gas ejected by dying, low mass stars that appear as glowing shells.

Planetesimals – Asteroid sized bodies in a new planetary system that collide and form larger bodies.

Planisphere – Map of the sky in two-dimensions with an adjustable overlay and shows a part of the sky that is visible anytime of the night or year.

Plasma – Gas heated to a state wherein it contains ions and free floating electrons.

Plasmasphere – Area of cold and high density plasma above the ionosphere.

Plate tectonics – Theory describing the possibility on how earth’s crust is broken into plates, suggesting that those plates move thru and across earth’s surface.

Polar cap – Icy region of a planet, specifically the north and south pole.

Polarization – When the direction of electric or magnetic fields in an electromagnetic wave changes in a regular pattern.

Position angle – Direction in the heavens one celestial object from another, measured eastward from due north.

Power – Capability of a telescope or binoculars to increase the size of an object that is far away.

Poynting-Robertson effect – Interplanetary particles that are dragged and is caused by its interaction with solar radiation. This causes particles to lose momentum in their orbit and is drawn towards the sun.

Precession – Periodic change in the direction of an objects axis caused by the gravitational influence from another body.

Primary lens – Main lens of a telescope that gathers light bringing the object into focus.

Primary mirror – Main mirror of a telescope that gathers and reflects light to bring the object in focus.

Prime meridian – The line of longitude that runs through Greenwich, England.

Prism – A piece of glass that breaks white light into it’s basic colors, it is wedge shaped.

Prograde – Same direction a planet rotates. An object that move, or looks like it moves in the same direction of solar system bodies or moons.

Prominence – A massive eruption of gas streaming off the surface of the sun towards the corona.

Proper motion – Annual movement of a star across the sky.

Proton – Subatomic particle that is found in an atom’s nucleus and possesses a positive electric charge.

Protoplanet – Gas, dust, and rocks that gradually becomes a whole planet.

Protoplanetary disk – Disk of gas and dust surrounding a new planet; planets that form through the collision of particles inside the disk.

Protostar – Cloud of hot, dense gas and dust that gravitationally collapses to form a star.

Proxima Centauri – Nearest star to the sun at 4.2 light years away.

Pulsar – A rotating neutron star that showers earth with regular pulses of electromagnetic radiation.

Quadrillion – a number represented in the U.S. with a 1 followed by 15 zeros, in the U.K., 1 followed by 24 zeros.

Quantum mechanics – Law in physics describing the behavior of matter at the atomic and subatomic level.

Quasar – Highly energetic core in a young galaxy believed to be powered by a big black hole; Short for quasi-stellar object.

Radial velocity – Acceleration of an object going away from or headed towards an observer.

Radiant – Location in the sky where meteors belonging to a meteor shower appear to come from. 2. Very bright and shining.

Radiation – Electromagnetic waves as it relates to astronomy.

Radiation pressure – Amount of pressure applied on a surface by electromagnetic radiation or light.

Radio galaxy – Galaxy that emanates a large amount of radio waves.

Radio telescope – Designed to observe radio waves coming from space.

Radio waves – Type of light with the longest wavelength with the least energy.

Radiometer – Instrument to measure total energy or power from an object in the form of radiation, especially infrared radiation.

Red dwarf – Smaller star with a low mass, cooler, and less luminous than the sun.

Red giant – Cool star nearing the end of its cycle. These have expanded up a hundred times the diameter of the sun.

Red supergiant – Cool star nearing the end of its cycle. These have expanded from a hundred to a thousand times the diameter of the sun.

Redshift – Multiplication of wavelength of light coming from an object due to its motion away from earth; expansion of the universe; strong gravitational field.

Reflection nebula – Gas and dust clouds made visible due to the dust reflection from the light of nearby star.

Reflector – Telescope using curved mirrors to gather light.

Refractor – Telescope using a glass lens to gather light.

Regolith – Soil from the moon produced meteorites hitting the surface.

Relativity – Theory in physics developed by Albert Eistein. Describes measurement made by two observers who are in relative motion.

Resolution (Resolving power) – A camera or a telescopes ability to capture fine details of a subject.

Reticle – Using two fine wires as part of a grid attached to part of the focal plane or a telescope eyepiece. This is used to locate the position and size of a celestial object.

Retrograde – Viewing objects that move or appear be moving in the opposite direction of a solar system bodies.

Reusable launch vehicle (RLV) – A spacecraft that may be reused on successive missions. A single stage to orbit spacecraft.

Revolution – Orbital motion of a body around a common center of mass or another body.

Ribonucleic acid – Nucleic acid containing genetic information.

Rich clusters – Galaxy clusters with high population densities.

Rich-field telescope – Designed to show a larger field of view at low magnification.

Right ascension – Angular Distance of a celestial object located east of the vernal equinox; outer space sphere equivalent to longitude.

Rotation – Spin of an asteroid, planet, star, moon, or galaxy on its central axis.

Rotation period – Measurable interval an asteroid, planet, star, moon, or galaxy completes one rotation.

Satellite – Small body or object that goes (orbit) around a planet or asteroid.

Scarp – Cliffs created by erosion and fault movement.

Schmidt camera – Catadioptric telescope used as a camera to photograph wide-angle pictures of the sky.

Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope – Small telescope wherein light passes through a correcting lens located at the front of the telescope; it then reflects off a primary mirror back to a secondary mirror, which then directs the light through a hole in the primary and out the back of the scope; this is a popular telescope for backyard observers.

Secondary mirror – A small mirror used in a telescope that redirects light gathered by a primary mirror.

Seeing – State of observing phenomena created by earth’s atmosphere that blurs images of astronomical objects.

Semimajor axis – Average distance an orbiting body has from its main body.

SETI – “search for extra-terrestrial intelligence”

Seyfert galaxy – Galaxy with a bright nucleus coupled with spectral emission lines, first discovered by Carl Seyfert in 1943.

Shock wave – Powerful wave emanating from a sudden change in density, temperature, or pressure traveling through a medium faster than sound travels on that same medium.

Short-period comet – A comet that orbits less than 200 years.

Sidereal – Relating to or measured in association with the stars.

Sidereal year – Amount of time a body revolves around another with respect to the stars.

Siderostat – A movable flat mirror that reflects light from a celestial object to a given location.

Singularity – An area wherein space and time are infinitely distorted.

Small Magellanic Cloud – An irregular and small galaxy orbiting the Milky Way galaxy.

Solar eclipse – When the moon passes between the earth and the sun.

Solar filter – A safety precaution, a filter used to block almost all the suns light when being viewed.

Solar irradiance – Radiant energy given by the sun over all wavelengths that falls each moment on one square meter of earth’s atmosphere.

Solar mass – Amount of mass contained in the sun, equivalent to 330,000 times to that of earth.

Solar system – System that includes the sun and the smaller bodies (planets, moons, etc…) that orbit the sun.

Solar wind – Stream of charged minute particles coming from the sun.

Solstice – Two points on the celestial sphere wherein the sun is farthest north or south of the equator.

South Celestial Pole – Point in the sky earth’s South Pole points.

Space weathering – Process of changing the surface of an object in space by impacts from small meteors, cosmic rays, and even the solar wind.

Space-time – When the three dimensions of space come together with one dimension of time wherein the events can be exactly calculated.

Special relativity – Theory of relativity applied concerning uniform motion. It proposes that the equivalence of mass and energy and differs from Newtonian physics only when speeds approach that of light.

Spectra – Plural of spectrum. Radiant source energy.

Spectral class – Classification of stars based on its spectrum as dictated by the surface temperature.

Spectral line – Specific wavelength of light that corresponds to the energy exchange of an atom or molecule.

Spectrograph/Spectrometer – Instrument coupled to a telescope that records the spectrum of an astronomical object.

Spectroheliograph – Instrument to photograph the sun on a single wavelength of light.

Spectroscope – An apparatus to explore spectra.

Spectroscopy – In astronomy, it is the study of astronomical subjects.

Spectrum – 1. Whole range of electromagnetic radiation, also known as light. 2. Energy created from a radiant source.

Speed of light – Light travels through a vacuum at 186,000 miles per second, or 300,000 km per second. Distance light travels in a unit of time through a specific substance.

Spicules – Supersonic jet about 300 miles(500 km) in diameter found in the chromosphere of the Sun.

Spiral arm – Concentration of young stars, gas and dust that are finds its way out of the nucleus of a spiral galaxy.

Spiral galaxy – Spiral shaped system composed of stars, gas clouds, and dust, numbering in the billions.

Standard candle – In astronomy, refers to an object known for its brightness and is sometimes used to determine distances.

Star – Sphere of hot gas held together by gravity and emanates brightness by itself; common stars utilize nuclear fusion from its core to generate energy.

Star atlas – Collection of maps using a coordinate system to mark positions of astronomical objects, stars, galaxies, and nebula.

Star hopping – Techniques using familiar patterns of stars to hop from one part of the sky to another; this is done through the use of a telescope and the naked eye.

Star party – Gathering of friends and other like-minded people to observe the night sky.

Starburst galaxy – Galaxy going through a high rate of star formation.

Stellar evolution – Process, that include changes a star goes through during its existence.

Stellar wind – Torrent of charged atomic particles emanating from stars. Release of gas from a star’s surface.

Sterocomparator – Device that allows astronomers to view two separate images of the same region in the sky at the same time.

Stone Meteorite – Meteorite resembling a terrestrial rock made of similar materials.

Sublimate – Transition of solid substance that is evaporated into a gas without reaching the liquid phase.

Summer – Season in the northern hemisphere that commences around June 21.

Sunspot – Dark, temporary cool spot found on the surface of the sun.

Sunspot cycle – Cycle that averages eleven years at which the number of sunspots decreases and increases.

Supercluster – Huge congregation of galaxy clusters that span hundreds and millions of light years away.

Superfluid – State of matter exhibiting frictionless flow. Liquid helium is the one element that produces this when cooled to absolute zero.

Superior conjunction – Constitution of an inferior planet when it lies on the far side of the sun.

Superior planet – Planets that are farther from the sun than earth: Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.

Superluminal motion – Movement that looks to be faster than the speed of light.

Supermassive black hole – Black hole located at the center of a galaxy containing millions or billions of solar masses.

Supernova – Destructive explosion of a star.

Supernova remnant – Growing cloud of gas that is the outer layers of star that just exploded.

Synchronous rotation – Identical rate of rotation of a satellite or moon to the main and bigger object it orbits.

Synchrotron emission – Electromagnetic field from high-energy electrons that are moving in a given magnetic field.

Synodic Period – Interval between points of opposition in a superior planet. -T-

Telescope – Instrument used to brighten and magnify the view of astronomical objects.

Tera (trillion) – American use, one followed by 12 zeros

Terminator – Boundary of a planet or moon separating the lighted from the unlighted sides.

Terrestrial – Related to the earth.

Terrestrial planet – Small and rocky planet which includes Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Venus.

Thermal radiation – Electromagnetic radiation coming from an object that is not at absolute zero.

Tidal force – disparity in gravitational force between two points on an object caused by the gravity of another object; this leads to a deformation of an object.

Tides – Distortion of a body caused by the gravitational influence on another body.

Trans-Neptunion Object – Object in our solar system lying beyond the orbit of Neptune.

Transit – Passage of a smaller body in front of a larger body. Passage of a celestial body across an observer’s meridian.

Transparency – Clarity of the sky.

Trapezium – Open cluster of young stars, protostars, gas, and dust in the Orion Nebula that feature four stars forming a the trapezium.

Tremolite – Common mineral in metamorphic rocks, made up mainly of calcium and magnesium.

Trojan – Asteroid lying in or near the Lagrange points 60 degrees for or aft Jupiter along the planet’s orbit.

Tropical year – Time earth revolves around the sun in relation to the vernal equinox.

True field of view – Angle of sky viewed through an eyepiece attached to a telescope.

Type la supernova – the explosion of a white dwarf that occurs when it accretes enough mass from a companion star to go above the Chandrasekhar limit.

Type II quasars – a quasar enshrouded in gas and dust that emits very little visible light, however, is easily seen in the infrared and x-ray region of the electromagnetic spectrum

Type II supernova – the explosion of a massive star that occurs when its core runs out of nuclear fuel; these explosions leave behind a neutron star or a black hole -U-

Ultraviolet light or radiation – Radiation with a higher amount of energy than visible light, not as much as x-rays.

Umbra – Perfect and whole shadow of an opaque body, like a planet, wherein direct light from the source of brightness is totally reduced. 2) Area of complete darkness on the shadow made by an eclipse.

UIB – unidentified infrared bands – Unknown objects in space that produce unidentifiable infrared emission patterns.

Universal time – Also recognized as Greenwich Mean Time, forming the basis in all civil time keeping. Local time centered in Greenwich, England.

Universe – All that exists

UT – short for Universal time

UV (ultraviolet) – short for Ultra Violet. -V-

Van Allen Belts – Dual belts of charged particles from a solar wind trapped in earth’s magnetic field above the atmosphere. Radiation zone of charged particles surrounding Earth. Shape of Van Allen belts is determined by Earth’s magnetic field.

Variable star – Star with varying luminosity.

Vernal equinox – Time of the year when the sun moves across the celestial equator towards the north, usually around March 21.

Vignetting – Decreased illumination over an image plane in a camera or in some cases a telescope, this causes a distortion close to the edge of an image.

Virgo Cluster – 2,500 known galaxies near the north galactic pole of the constellation Virgo that is 60 million light years from earth.

Visible light – Wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum that the human eye can see.

Voids – Big regions of empty space found amidst galaxy clusters and superclusters.

Volatiles – Chemical compounds that become gaseous at very low temperatures. -W-

Waning/Waxing – Interval between full and new moon

Wavelength – Distance between two wave crests.

Weight – Force applied on an object because of gravity.

White dwarf – Dense remains of an intermediate mass star like the sun that has collapsed and is the same size as earth.

Winter – Season in the Northern Hemisphere that begins December 21.

Wolf-Rayet star – Luminous and hot star having temperatures reaching 90,000 kelvins.

X-rays – Type of electromagnetic radiation that is like light but has a shorter wavelength capable of penetrating solid objects and ionizing gases.

X-class flares – Most energetic kind of solar flares and the brightest.

X ray star – Bright object emitting x rays as a primary component of its radiation.

Yellow dwarf – Ordinary star, like the sun and is at its stable point in its transformation.

Zenith – Point on the celestial sphere directly above an observer.

Zenith hourly rate – Meteorites expected to be viewed per hour during a meteor shower, where the meteor showers radiance is at an observer’s zenith.

Zodiac – Imaginary belt across the sky wherein the solar system can always be found.

Zodiacal light – Cone of light that can be observed above the horizon before sunrise or after sunset. This is caused by small particles of reflected sunlight.

Space Words to Explore the Incredible Faraway Galaxies

By: Author ESLBUZZ

Posted on Last updated: September 6, 2023

Sharing is caring!

Are you interested in learning more about space words? If so, you’ve come to the right place! In this article, we’ll explore the vocabulary related to outer space, the solar system, and beyond. Whether you’re a student, an English learner, or just someone who loves to explore the cosmos, this article is for you.

Space Words

Understanding Space Words

Learning space vocabulary can be challenging, but it is essential for understanding the universe and communicating about it. In this section, we’ll cover some of the most common space words and their meanings.

Planets are celestial bodies that orbit a star, such as our sun. There are eight planets in our solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Here are some more space words related to planets:

Example sentence: Jupiter is a gas giant planet.

A moon is a natural satellite that orbits a planet. Our moon is the fifth largest moon in the solar system. Here are some more space words related to the moon:

Example sentence: The moon’s surface has many craters.

A spacecraft is a vehicle designed for travel or operation in space. Here are some more space words related to spacecraft:

Example sentence: The space shuttle was used for many missions to the International Space Station.

A star is a luminous sphere of plasma held together by its own gravity. There are billions of stars in our galaxy alone. Here are some more space words related to stars:

Example sentence: The constellation Orion is easily visible in the winter sky.

The universe is everything that exists, including all matter and energy. It is estimated to be around 13.8 billion years old. Here are some more space words related to the universe:

Example sentence: The cosmic microwave background radiation is one of the strongest pieces of evidence for the Big Bang theory.

Space Words: The Solar System

The Solar System is a fascinating and vast collection of celestial bodies that includes the Sun, planets, dwarf planets, moons, asteroids, and comets.

Inner Planets

The inner planets, also known as the terrestrial planets, are the four planets closest to the Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. These planets are characterized by their relatively small size, rocky surfaces, and proximity to the Sun.

Outer Planets

The outer planets, also known as the gas giants, are the four largest planets in the Solar System: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. These planets are characterized by their massive size, gaseous atmospheres, and distance from the Sun.

The Sun is the center of the Solar System and all the planets orbit around it. Each planet has its own unique orbit and rotates on its own axis. The inner planets have shorter orbits and rotate faster than the outer planets.

The surfaces of the inner planets are primarily made up of rock and metal, while the outer planets are mostly composed of gas and ice. Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune also have rings made up of ice and rock particles that orbit around them.

Space Words: The Universe and Beyond

Galaxies are huge systems of stars, planets, gas, and dust that are held together by gravity. They are the building blocks of the universe. There are three main types of galaxies: spiral, elliptical, and irregular. Here are some words associated with galaxies:

Example sentence: The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy that contains our solar system.

Black Holes

A black hole is a region of space where the gravitational pull is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. They are formed when a massive star dies and its core collapses. Here are some words associated with black holes:

Example sentence: The event horizon is the point of no return around a black hole.

Stars are giant balls of hot gas that produce light and heat through nuclear reactions. They are the most important objects in the universe because they provide the energy that makes life possible. Here are some words associated with stars:

Example sentence: A supernova is an explosion that occurs when a star runs out of fuel.

Constellations

A constellation is a group of stars that form a recognizable pattern in the sky. They were used by ancient civilizations for navigation and storytelling. Here are some words associated with constellations:

Example sentence: Orion is a prominent winter constellation that is easy to spot in the night sky.

Space Words: Space Exploration

Space exploration is the study and discovery of outer space, including the exploration of planets, stars, and galaxies beyond Earth’s atmosphere. It involves the use of various technologies and equipment, including spacecraft, satellites, telescopes, and more.

Astronauts and Spacecrafts

Astronauts are individuals who are trained to travel and work in space. They are responsible for operating and maintaining spacecraft, conducting scientific experiments, and performing spacewalks. Spacecraft, on the other hand, are vehicles designed to travel in space, including rockets, shuttles, and probes.

Here are some words related to astronauts and spacecraft:

Example sentence: Astronauts use spacecraft to explore outer space and conduct scientific experiments.

Satellites and Telescopes

Satellites and telescopes are essential tools for space exploration. Satellites are objects that orbit around a planet or moon, while telescopes are instruments used to observe distant objects in space.

Here are some words related to satellites and telescopes:

Example sentence: Satellites are used to collect data and images of Earth and other planets in our solar system.

Space Missions

Space missions are expeditions carried out to explore outer space. These missions are often conducted by national space agencies, such as NASA in the United States, or privately funded companies, such as SpaceX.

Here are some words related to space missions:

Example sentence: NASA’s recent space mission to Mars involved sending a rover to explore the planet’s surface and collect data.

Teaching Space Words

As a teacher, it is important to engage students in the learning process. One way to do this is by incorporating fun and interactive activities that help students learn space vocabulary. In this section, we will explore some engaging activities and interactive games that can be used to teach space vocabulary to students.

Engaging Activities

Word Wall: Create a word wall with space-related vocabulary words. This is a great way to introduce new words and reinforce previously learned words. Students can refer to the word wall throughout the unit to help with their understanding of the concepts.
Space Scavenger Hunt: Create a scavenger hunt where students have to find and identify space-related objects in the classroom or around the school. This is a fun and interactive way to get students moving while learning new words.
Space Vocabulary Bingo: Create a bingo game using space-related vocabulary words. This is a fun way to reinforce vocabulary and keep students engaged.
Space Vocabulary Charades: Create a list of space-related vocabulary words and have students act them out while their classmates try to guess the word. This is a fun way to reinforce vocabulary and get students up and moving.

Interactive Games

Space Vocabulary Memory Game: Create a memory game using space-related vocabulary words. This is a fun and interactive way to reinforce vocabulary and help students with their memory skills.
Space Vocabulary Hangman: Create a hangman game using space-related vocabulary words. This is a fun way to reinforce vocabulary and help students with their spelling skills.
Space Vocabulary Quiz: Create a quiz using space-related vocabulary words. This is a great way to assess students’ understanding of the concepts and reinforce vocabulary at the same time.
Space Vocabulary Matching Game: Create a matching game using space-related vocabulary words and their definitions. This is a fun and interactive way to reinforce vocabulary and help students with their understanding of the concepts.

Some space words that can be used in these activities and games include:

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some words related to space and the universe?

Solar system

What are some space words that start with ‘I’?

Interstellar
Intergalactic

What are some Earth and space words?

What are some 6-letter space words?

"}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What is the vocabulary for space exploration?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"

Extravehicular activity (EVA)

"}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What are some ancient words for space?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"

Aether (Greek)
Caelum (Latin)
Nuit (Egyptian)
Nut (Egyptian)
Tiamat (Babylonian)

"}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What are some space words that start with 'I'?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"

"}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What are some Earth and space vocabulary words?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"

"}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What are some 6-letter space-themed words?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"

That's all for now. Happy learning!

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have irons in the fire

to be involved with many activities or jobs at the same time or to make certain that there are always several possibilities available

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April 19, 2024 - Iran targeted in aerial attack

By Kathleen Magramo, Elizabeth Wolfe and Aditi Sangal, CNN

Our live coverage of the attack on Iran has moved here .

Iranian president makes no mention of Israeli strike while lauding its previous weekend attack

From CNN's Hamdi Alkhshali

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (C) addresses attendees at a military parade marking Iran's Army Day anniversary at an Army military base in Tehran, Iran, on April 17.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi made no mention of Israel's Friday (local time) strike on Iran, while publicly lauding the unprecedented Iranian military operation last weekend targeting the "Israeli-occupied territories."

Iran's April 13 retaliatory strikes, part of an operation named "True Promise," were a display of Iran's military strength and a necessary act against what Raisi called the "illegal regime," he said Friday.

Raisi described the strikes as "punitive reprisal" by the Iranian Armed Forces, aimed at demonstrating Iran's power and the resolve of its people.

Remember: The on April 1 strikes on Iran's embassy compound in Damascus demolished a building and left several dead, including two high-ranking generals.

Israel and the United States have said that Iran's lob of some 300 missiles had very little material impact and caused only one injury.

3 wounded in Iraq explosions, official says. Israel denies involvement

From CNN's Aqeel Najim and Hamdi Alkhshali

Flames from a large explosion near Babylon, Iraq, can be seen in an image taken from video obtained by CNN from social media.

At least three members of the Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Units or PMU — also called Popular Mobilization Forces or PMF — were wounded following "five explosions" at a military base south of Baghdad, said Muhannad al-Anazi, member of the Security Committee in Babylon Governorate, in a statement in the early hours of Saturday local time.

A short statement released by the PMU acknowledged there was “an explosion that occurred at the headquarters of the Popular Mobilization Forces at the Kalsu military base in the Al-Mashrou district on the highway, north of the Babylon Governorate."

An investigation team arrived at the scene, and the explosion caused material losses and injuries, the PMU said. “We will provide you with the details once the preliminary investigation is completed," it added.

Israel has no involvement in the reports of explosions in Iraq on Friday evening, an Israeli official told CNN.

The US Central Command said the US did not carry out strikes in Iraq. The Combined Joint Task Force that leads Operation Inherent Resolve, which is the ongoing multinational mission to defeat ISIS, also said the US-led coalition did not carry out any strikes in Iraq.

Remember: The explosions near the Iraqi capital of Baghdad come one day after strikes against a military base in Isfahan , Iran. A US official told CNN that Israel was responsible for the strikes in Iran.

This post has been updated with comments from an Israeli and US official.

Catch up on the latest developments as tensions simmer in the Middle East

From CNN staff

The aftermath of the Israeli strikes in Iran left the world on edge as concerns of a potentially dangerous escalation of a fast-widening Middle East conflict continue to rise.

Here's the immediate response almost 24 hours after the strikes:

The Biden administration has been tight-lipped following the Israeli strikes in Iran .
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart on Friday, according to a readout from the Pentagon, but it makes no mention of the Israeli strikes.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also declined to weigh in Friday, telling reporters during the White House press briefing the Biden administration was going to avoid commenting on the subject altogether.
Iraq expressed "deep concern" over the strikes and the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on Friday warned of the risks of military escalation that "now threaten the security and stability of the region as a whole." Its statement emphasized that the Israeli-Iranian escalation should not "divert attention" from the ongoing destruction and loss of innocent lives in the Gaza Strip.
Jordanian deputy Prime Minister Ayman Safadi told CNN that escalation "serves nobody," and that Jordan will not "be a battleground for Israel and Iran and neither of them should violate our airspace, endanger our security and our people." He also urged all involved partied to focus on ending the "catastrophe that continues to unfold in Gaza."

Here's what else happened:

US secures key agreement for aid distribution in Gaza: The Biden administration has secured an agreement with a major United Nations agency to distribute aid from the pier the US military is constructing off the coast of Gaza , two senior US officials told CNN — a key development as the US and its allies have rushed to finalize plans for how desperately needed humanitarian aid will be distributed inside the war-torn strip. The US military is expected to finish constructing the pier early next month. The World Food Programme (WFP) will support distribution of aid from the pier following weeks of diplomatic wrangling, multiple officials familiar with the matter told CNN.
Blinken defends US veto on Palestinian statehood: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the US veto of a UN Security Council resolution for Palestinian statehood at the UN. “The United States is committed to achieving a Palestinian state,” the top US diplomat said, “but getting to that, achieving that state, has to be done through diplomacy, not through imposition.”

US Defense Secretary speaks with Israeli counterpart again following strikes in Iran

From CNN's Oren Liebermann

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart on Friday, according to a readout from the Pentagon.

This comes one day after Israel carried out strikes in Iran . The readout makes no mention of the Israeli strikes, and the Biden administration has been tight-lipped following the actions.

Austin and Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant discussed “regional stability,” as well as the ongoing war in Gaza, according to the Pentagon.

Austin also spoke with Gallant on Thursday before the strikes took place. The readout of the earlier call had slightly more information, saying the two discussed “Iran’s destabilizing actions in the Middle East.”

In a previous call, Austin had asked Gallant for Israel to notify the US before taking any action in retaliation for a massive Iranian barrage fired at Israel last weekend.

Analysis: Iran and Israel have averted an all-out war – for now

Analysis from CNN's Tamara Qiblawi in Beirut, Lebanon

The scope of Israel’s military response to Iran’s first-ever direct attack on the country remains murky. Israeli officials have yet to publicly acknowledge responsibility for reported overnight explosions in parts of Iran on Friday. Tehran has dismissed these as attacks by “tiny drones” that were shot down by its air defense systems.

Iran may be downplaying what was likely to have been a significant but limited Israeli attack, but that seems to be secondary to the larger forces at play. What is plain to see is that both Iran and Israel are keen to wrap up the most dangerous escalation between the two regional powerhouses to date.

This month’s dramatic escalation, which kicked off with an apparent Israeli airstrike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus , followed by a largely foiled Iranian attack of over 300 airborne weapons on Israel, seems to have given way to a rapid climbdown. Shortly after the Friday morning attack in Iran, a regional intelligence source told CNN that Iran was not expected to respond further, and that the direct state-to-state strikes between the two enemy states were over.

The latest flare-up brought the stakes into sharp focus, but it also exposed the limits of a direct confrontation between Iran and Israel.

Remember: What happens between Iran and Israel rarely stays between Iran and Israel. The region is deeply intertwined. That heightens the risks of military action, but it also acts as guardrails against a potential conflagration. So when US officials said last weekend that Washington would not participate in an Israeli response to Iran’s attack on Israel, that seemed to immediately take the wind out of the sails of a potential escalation.

EU sanctions "extremist settlers" in occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem

From CNN’s Catherine Nicholls and Benjamin Brown in London

The European Union has imposed sanctions on “extremist settlers in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem,” the European Council announced on Friday, listing four people and two entities.

According to the statement, the entities Lehava, a “radical right-wing Jewish supremacist group,” and Hilltop Youth, a “radical youth group consisting of members known for violent acts against Palestinians and their villages in the West Bank,” were added to the EU sanctions regime alongside two leading figures of Hilltop Youth, Meir Ettinger and Elisha Yered.

Neria Ben Pazi, who the EU's governing body said has been “accused of repeatedly attacking Palestinians,” and Yinon Levi, who the council said has “taken part in multiple violent acts against neighbouring villages,” were also added to the listing.

The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said in a post on X that “the EU has decided to sanction extremist settlers in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem for serious human rights abuses against Palestinians. We strongly condemn extremist settler violence: perpetrators must be held to account.”

Belgium’s Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib said that she “welcomes” the sanctions , adding that the “recent escalation of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank must stop; these settlers must be held accountable.”

Yered responded later Friday, saying he was “honored to be included in this respected list” and that “we shall continue holding onto the land of our forefathers — until the victory.”

This post has been updated with comment from Elisha Yered.

Exclusive: No extensive damage seen at Isfahan air base in satellite images

From CNN's Paul P. Murphy

There does not appear to be any extensive damage at an air base purportedly targeted by an Israeli military strike, according to exclusive satellite images obtained by CNN from Umbra Space.

The synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite images were taken around 10:18 a.m. local time.

There does not appear to be any large craters in the ground and there are no apparent destroyed buildings. Additional visual satellite imagery will be needed to check for burn scars – which cannot be seen by SAR images -- around the complex.

SAR images are not like normal satellite images.

The SAR images are created by a satellite transmitting radar beams capable of passing through clouds, like the ones currently preventing satellites from imaging the area. Those radar beams bounce off objects on the ground, and echo back to the satellite.

Iranian news agency FARS said that an army radar at the Isfahan province military base was one of the possible targets, and that the only damage from the attack was broken windows on several office buildings.

The images also show that the Iranian F-14 Tomcats that have been stationed at the air base in the past are not there at the moment. Additional archival satellite imagery reviewed by CNN shows that those F-14 Tomcats have not been there for some time.

UN secretary-general pushes for end to retaliation in the Middle East

From CNN's Richard Roth

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged both sides to cease retaliating after Israel carried out a military strike on Iran, a spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.

"The Secretary-General reiterates that it is high time to stop the dangerous cycle of retaliation in the Middle East," the statement read. "The Secretary-General condemns any act of retaliation and appeals to the international community to work together to prevent any further development that could lead to devastating consequences for the entire region and beyond," it continued.

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COMMENTS

SPACE TOURISM
SPACE TOURISM definition: 1. the activity of travelling into space for pleasure and interest, rather than as a job: 2. the…. Learn more.
Space tourism
Space tourism is human space travel for recreational purposes. [1] There are several different types of space tourism, including orbital, suborbital and lunar space tourism. Tourists are motivated by the possibility of viewing Earth from space, feeling weightlessness, experiencing extremely high speed and something unusual, and contributing to ...
Space tourism explained: What, why and where
There are a total of 600 people that have been to space. The first man visited space in 1961, but it was actually long before this day that many people developed an interest in space. In fact, people have been star gazing as long as records go back. Heck, even the ancient pyramids of Egypt were built around the stars.
What is Space Tourism? A New Definition
The definition of space tourism is "the practice of traveling into space for recreational, leisure, or business purposes.". Said another way, any space tourism definition should focus on going to space for fun. But is that all that space tourism is?
Space tourism
The advent of space tourism occurred at the end of the 1990s with a deal between the Russian company MirCorp and the American company Space Adventures Ltd. MirCorp was a private venture in charge of the space station Mir. To generate income for maintenance of the aging space station, MirCorp decided to sell a trip to Mir, and Tito became its ...
What Is Space Tourism
It's divided into different types, including orbital, suborbital, and lunar space tourism. However, there are broader definitions for space tourism. According to the Space Tourism Guide, space tourism is a commercial activity related to space that includes going to space as a tourist, watching a rocket launch, going stargazing, or traveling ...
SPACE TOURISM Definition & Meaning
Space tourism definition: commercial travel into outer space by members of the general public, as for adventure. See examples of SPACE TOURISM used in a sentence.
Everything You Need to Know About Space Tourism Right Now
Total run time: between two and three hours in flight, plus two-and-a-half days of training, with a price tag of $250,000. Virgin Galactic has been conducting test flights since 2010, but progress has been a bit slow—and deadly. In 2014, a test pilot was killed after a SpaceShipTwo vehicle broke apart during a flight, primarily due to pilot ...
SPACE TOURISM definition and meaning
Travel into space for recreational purposes.... Click for English pronunciations, examples sentences, video.
'Space Tourism' Added to Oxford Dictionary
The addition of "space tourism" was a part of the ODO's quarterly update, which also included the aforementioned "buzzworthy" (meaning "likely to arouse the interest and attention of the public ...
space tourism, n. meanings, etymology and more
What does the noun space tourism mean? There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun space tourism. See 'Meaning & use' for definition, usage, and quotation evidence. See meaning & use. How common is the noun space tourism? About 0.02 occurrences per million words in modern written English . 1970: 0.011: 1980: 0.017: 1990: 0.017: 2000:
Space Tourism
Space tourism often refers to nonprofessional astronauts traveling into outer space for recreational purposes (Cohen and Spector 2019).Activities such as traveling to watch a rocket launch, tour a space museum, or visit a planetarium are sometimes categorized as forms of "terrestrial" space tourism (Cater 2010).High altitude fighter jet flights, zero-gravity experiences, and virtual ...
'Space tourism' flying high: It's added to Oxford dictionary
The ODO is separate from the Oxford English Dictionary, which focuses on the historical use of words. The addition of "space tourism" was a part of the ODO's quarterly update, which also included ...
Meaning of "space tourism" in the English dictionary
Space tourism. Space tourism is space travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. A number of startup companies have sprung up in recent years, such as Virgin Galactic, hoping to create a space tourism industry. Orbital space tourism opportunities have been limited and expensive, with only the Russian Space Agency providing transport ...
Glossary of tourism terms
This definition is identical to the definition of SNA 2008, 9.42: ... Tourism destination: A tourism destination is a physical space with or without administrative and/or analytical boundaries in which a visitor can spend an overnight. It is the cluster (co-location) of products and services, and of activities and experiences along the tourism ...
Glossary of Space Terms from A-Z: Astronomy Dictionary & Terminology
If you ever wonder the meaning of an astronomical word, search no further and browse below to find the definition of the space term. The following are terms from A-Z related to space & astronomy: ... (CME) is a large-scale solar event involving an ejection of hot plasma that may accelerate charged particles and travel as far as the Earth's ...
Space Words to Explore the Incredible Faraway Galaxies
Here are some more space words related to the universe: Word. Definition. Black hole. A region of space with a gravitational pull so strong that nothing, including light, can escape. Galaxy. A system of millions or billions of stars, along with gas and dust, held together by gravity.
Space Travel synonyms
Another way to say Space Travel? Synonyms for Space Travel (other words and phrases for Space Travel). ... Synonyms for Space travel. 250 other terms for space travel- words and phrases with similar meaning. Lists. synonyms. antonyms. definitions. sentences. thesaurus. words. phrases. idioms. Parts of speech. nouns. Tags. flight. suggest new ...
Space Tourism synonyms
Space Tourism synonyms - 31 Words and Phrases for Space Tourism. as space tourism. be defined as space. can be defined as space tourism. space travel. suborbital flight. suborbital flights. astronaut experiences. celestial sightseeing.
Space exploration: A luxury or a necessity?
"Oh, come on Daniel, space travel is so expensive, and pointless!" These were the words of my friend Max, during a Christmas party where I was discussing my thesis project: studying places on ...
Space travel
Space travel - related words and phrases | Cambridge SMART Vocabulary
April 19, 2024
Israel carried out a military strike on Iran early Friday, a US official told CNN, in a potentially dangerous escalation of a fast-widening Middle East conflict that Iranian officials have so far ...

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