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QSO
QSO stands for Quasi-Stellar Object, and is a newer term for
quasars (renamed to include the radio-quiet type of quasar). |
QUADRANTID METEOR SHOWER
The Quadrantids are a meteor shower that occur each year from
Dec. 8-Jan. 7, with a maximum on Jan. 3. This meteor shower
occurs each year as the Earth passes through the orbit of an
unknown comet, and icy remnants of the comet burn up as they
enter the Earth's atmosphere. The meteors in this shower seem to
emanate from the constellation Boötes (but they do not). |
QUANTUM
A quantum is a discrete natural unit of charge, energy, angular
momentum, or other physical properties. |
QUANTUM THEORY
Quantum theory states that electromagnetic radiation is composed
of discrete particles (quanta), called photons that also exhibit
wave-like properties. Quantum theory also states that electrons
and other particles have both particle-like and wave-like
properties. To be continued... |
QUAOAR
Quaoar (also known as 2002 LM60) is a newly-discovered object
located in the far reaches of our Solar System, about a billion
kilometers beyond Pluto (in the Kuiper Belt). Its designation is
Kuiper Belt Object 2002 LM60. Quaoar is over half the diameter
of Pluto (Quaoar is about 800 miles=1300 km across). It has an
orbital period of about 288 years, with a nearly circular orbit.
Michael Brown and Chadwick Trujillo (of Cal Tech) discovered
Quaoar in June, 2002, using the Palomar 48-inch telescope. This
comet-like object is made up of low-density ices mixed with
rock. Quaoar was named for a Native American (Tongva) god. |
QUARK
Quarks are subatomic particles that may be the fundamental
constituents of baryons (like protons and neutrons) and mesons
(like pions and kaons). Quarks have mass, charge (plus or minus
1/3 or 2/3), and spin. There are six types of quarks: up, down,
strange, charm, top, and bottom. Baryons are made of 3 quarks
each (protons and neutrons are made of up and down quarks);
mesons are made of 2 quarks (a quark and an anti-quark). Murray
Gell-Mann proposed the existence of quarks in 1964. |
QUARTER MOON
A quarter moon looks like half a circle. This moon has completed
one quarter of an orbit around the Earth from its full or new
position, and one quarter of the moon's surface is visible from
Earth. It is also called a half moon. |
QUARTZ
Quartz is a common crystalline mineral. |
QUASAR
A quasar (more recently known as a QSO, Quasi-Stellar Object) is
a distant star-sized energy source in space with excess of
ultraviolet. Some of these QSO's gives off large amounts of
radiation, including radio waves and X-rays (but some are
radio-quiet). The word quasar is short for quasi-stellar
radio objects. Quasars were first detected by Maartin Schmidt
and Allan R. Sandage in 1963 -1964. |
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