| Question |
Answer |
| a description of the solar system in which all of the planets revolve around Earth |
geocentric system |
| process by which heat is trapped in the atmosphere by water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and other gases that form a "blanket" around the earth |
greenhouse effect |
| the name given to the first four outer planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune |
gas giants |
| the region of the solar system between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, where many asteroids are found |
asteroid belt |
| objects revolving around the sun that are too small and too numerous to be considered planets |
asteroids |
| the middle layer of the sun's atmosphere |
chromosphere |
| a ball of ice and dust whose orbit is a long, narrow ellipse |
comet |
| the central part of the sun, where nuclear fusion occurs |
core |
| the outer layer of the sun's atmosphere |
corona |
| an elongated circle, or oval shape; the shape of the planets' orbits |
ellipse |
| the tendency of a moving object to continue in a straight line or a stationary object to remain in place |
inertia |
| a streak of light in the sky produced by the burning of a meteoroid in Earth's atmosphere |
meteor |
| a meteoroid that has hit Earth's surface |
meteorite |
| a chunk of rock or dust in space |
meteoroid |
| the spinning motion of a planet from east to west, opposite to the direction of rotation of most planets and moons |
retrograde rotation |
| the combining of two atomic nuclei to produce a single larger nucleus as when two hydrogen atoms join together to form helium, releasing energy |
nuclear fusion |
| a dark, cooler region on the surface of the sun |
sunspot |
| a loop of gas that protrudes from the sun's surface, linking parts of sunspot regions |
prominence |
| an explosion of hydrogen gas from the sun's surface that occurs when loops in sunspot regions suddenly connect |
solar flare |
| a stream of electrically charged particles produced by the sun's corona |
solar wind |
| the name given to the four inner planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth & Mars |
terrestrial planets |
| the spinning motion of a planet about its axis |
rotation |
| the movement of an object around another object |
revolution |
| a large planetary system that consists of a combination of many smaller planetary systems and objects |
solar system |