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Mrs. Gaines Vocab
Astronomy Vocabulary
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Terrestrial planet | One of the highly dense planets nearest to the sun; Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Earth |
Prograde rotation | The counterclockwise spin of a planet or moon as seen from above the planet's North pole |
Retrograde rotation | The clockwise spin of a planet or moon as seen from above the planet's North Pole |
Gas giant | A planet that has a deep, massive atmosphere, such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune |
nebula | A region in space where stars are born or where stars explode |
Globular cluster | A tight group of stars that looks like a ball and contains up to 1 million stars |
Open cluster | A group of stars that are close together to surrounding stars |
Quasar | A very luminous, starlike object that generates energy at a high rate |