This fun mosaic game, is a simpe giude in the vast world of astronomy. The astronomy tree looks a little like galaxy, and we may try to sort it from the bottom up.
1. The first blue pictograph represent the Astrophysics. It refers to the branch of astronomy dealing with "the behavior, physical properties, and dynamic processes of celestial objects and phenomena". While astronomy itself, refers to "the study of objects and matter outside the Earth's atmosphere and of their physical and chemical properties". So any object we can find in space is a subject of Astrophysics.
2. The second blue pictograph represent Cosmology. It could be considered the study of the Universe as a whole.
3. Then we move to the center of the tree crown, to set the most basic space bodies. One of them are the asteroids. They are usually simple pieces of uniform rock, going aroun a star or a planet, or fly in space between stars. How and where all asteroids come from is yet to be found. Asteroids are represented with a white pictograph and they may form an asteroid ring around a sun, like the one in the
Solar System.
4. The next white pictograph is of a Comet. Comets are asteroids, which composition makes chemical reactions, when they approach the sun, makinf the comet tail. So they usually go around a star... or between two stars! It may take hundreds of years for a comet to make a full cycle around the star.
5. Then we move to the left in the green clowd. When a lot of asteroids, and other cosmic object gather around, after millions of years they create a planet. Planets are more complex and diverse material bodies than asteroids. So complex, that they may hold live. They are represented with a green pictograph.
Mercury is a planet
6. The planets may have Moons. The moons go around the planets, facing them always with one side(for now). Moons are also called Natural Satellites. Moons can be either planets or asteroids. Here are the
Saturn Moons.
7. Gas Giants are planets mostly composed by gases. They have huge size and gravity. They attract many asteroids and even planets.
Jupiter is a gas giant. But here is a hard question, is there a gas giant, without planets or asteroids cyrcling around it?
8. The next 3 yellow pictograph are the subjects of the Stellar astronomy. The first yellow icon represent the Stars. They are planets mostly consisted hydrogen and helium and usualy are the center os star systems. There are number of star types(game planned).
9. The Pulsars are type of highly magnetized, rotating neutron stars that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation. This radiation can be observed only when the beam of emission is pointing toward Earth, much the way a lighthouse can be seen only when the light is pointed in the direction of an observer.
10. A Supernova is a stellar explosion that briefly outshines an entire galaxy. This astronomical event occurs during the last stages of a massive star's life, whose dramatic and catastrophic destruction is marked by one final titanic explosion concentrated in a few seconds, creating a "new" bright star that gradually fades from sight over several weeks or months.
11. The next purple picture is for the Constellations. They are patterns of stars which are given names.
12. A galaxy is a gravitationally bound system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, and dark matter. There are number of galaxy types (game planned).
13. A nebula is an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen, helium and other ionized gases, which create a wonderful shapes when lighted by the stars in the galaxy.
14. Astrometry is the branch of astronomy that involves precise measurements of the positions and movements of stars and other celestial bodies.
15. Dark matter is an unidentified type of matter, do does not interact with light, and is thus invisible.
16. And the last 3 orange pictures refers to the way we observe the deep space.
