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Science8 Vocabulary
Earth in Space
| word | definition |
|---|---|
| Rotation | The action of rotating around an axis or center. |
| Orbit | the curved path of a celestial object or spacecraft around a star, planet, or moon, especially a periodic elliptical revolution. |
| Revolution | a forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system. |
| Astronomy | the branch of science that deals with celestial objects, space, and the physical universe as a whole. |
| Astrology | the study of the movements and relative positions of celestial bodies interpreted as having an influence on human affairs and the natural world. |
| Solar Noon | the branch of science that deals with celestial objects, space, and the physical universe as a whole. |
| Equinox | the time or date (twice each year) at which the sun crosses the celestial equator, when day and night are of equal length (about September 22 and March |
| Solstice | either of the two times in the year, the summer solstice and the winter solstice, when the sun reaches its highest or lowest point in the sky at noon, marked by the longest and shortest days. |
| Longitude | the angular distance of a place east or west of the meridian at Greenwich, England, or west of the standard meridian of a celestial object, usually expressed in degrees and minutes. |
| Latitude | the angular distance of a place north or south of the earth's equator, or of a celestial object north or south of the celestial equator, usually expressed in degrees and minutes. |
| Allitude | the height of an object or point in relation to sea level or ground level. |
| Nuclear Fusion | a nuclear reaction in which atomic nuclei of low atomic number fuse to form a heavier nucleus with the release of energy. |
| Nuclear Fission | a nuclear reaction in which a heavy nucleus splits spontaneously or on impact with another particle, with the release of energy. |
| Geocentric | having or representing the earth as the center, as in former astronomical systems. |
| Heliocentric | having or representing the sun as the center, as in the accepted astronomical model of the solar system. |
| Eclipse | an obscuring of the light from one celestial body by the passage of another between it and the observer or between it and its source of illumination. |
| Solar | of, relating to, or determined by the sun. |
| Lunar | of, determined by, relating to, or resembling the moon. |
| Spring Tides | a tide just after a new or full moon, when there is the greatest difference between high and low water. |
| Neap Tides | a tide just after the first or third quarters of the moon when there is the least difference between high and low water. |
| Milankovitch Cycles | refer to long term variations in the orbit of the Earth which result in changes in climate over periods hundred of thousands of years and are related to ice age cycles. |
| a.u astronomical units | a unit of length, roughly the distance from the Earth to the Sun. However, that distance varies as the Earth orbits the Sun, from a maximum (aphelion) to a minimum (perihelion) and back again once a year. |
| Light Year | a unit of astronomical distance equivalent to the distance that light travels in one year, which is 9.4607 × 1012 km |
| Asteroid | a small rocky body orbiting the sun. Large numbers of these, ranging in size from nearly 600 miles (1,000 km) across (Ceres) to dust particles. |
| Meteroid | a small body moving in the solar system that would become a meteor if it entered the earth's atmosphere. |
| Meteor | a small body of matter from outer space that enters the earth's atmosphere, becoming incandescent as a result of friction and appearing as a streak of light. |
| Meteorite | a meteor that survives its passage through the earth's atmosphere such that part of it strikes the ground. More than 90 percent of meteorites are of rock, while the remainder consist wholly or partly of iron and nickel. |
| Asteroid Belt | is the region of the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter. It is occupied by numerous irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets. |
| Kuiper Belt | a region of the solar system beyond the orbit of Neptune, believed to contain many comets, asteroids, and other small bodies made largely of ice. |
| Oort Cloud | a spherical shell of cometary bodies believed to surround the sun far beyond the orbits of the outermost planets and from which some are dislodged when perturbed to fall toward the sun |
| Comet | a celestial object consisting of a nucleus of ice and dust and, when near the sun, a “tail” of gas and dust particles pointing away from the sun. |
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