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Glossary term: Astronomy

Description: Astronomy is one of the ancient sciences and involves the study of celestial bodies in the sky such as stars, planets, galaxies, meteors, and meteorites. It also studies the atmosphere for the purposes of comparing planet Earth with neighboring planets. In the past, astronomy was concerned with tracking the positions of the Sun, Moon, and planets for calendar and navigational purposes. Modern astronomers now also study the physical phenomena that govern the formation and behavior of astronomical objects.

In ancient times astronomy was often closely related to the pseudoscience astrology and many people still do not know the difference between the two.

Astronomy is one of the few sciences in which amateurs can play an important role, as amateur astronomers have contributed to many important discoveries.

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Term and definition status: This term and its definition have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher

The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".

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astroEDU educational activity (links to astroEDU website)
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License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons

Tags: Game , snakes and Ladders
Age Ranges: 6-8 , 8-10 , 10-12 , 12-14 , 14-16
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astroEDU educational activity (links to astroEDU website)
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License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons

Tags: Art , Creativity , Star-gazing , Poetry
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astroEDU educational activity (links to astroEDU website)
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License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons

Tags: Art , Creativity , Music
Age Ranges: 8-10 , 10-12 , 12-14 , 14-16 , 16-19
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astroEDU educational activity (links to astroEDU website)
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License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons

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astroEDU educational activity (links to astroEDU website)
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License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons

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Age Ranges: 8-10 , 10-12 , 12-14 , 14-16 , 16-19
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