| Question |
Answer |
| Kepler's First Law |
A law stating that the orbit of each planet is an ellipse with the sun at one focus of the ellipse |
| Kepler's Second Law |
A line joining a planet and the sun sweeps out equal areas during equal interval of times |
| Kepler's Third Law |
The Square of the orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit |
| Moon |
A natural satellite that revolves around a planet |
| Astronomical unit |
A unit of measurement equal to Earth's average distance from the sun, about 150 million kilometers |
| Nuclear Fusion |
The process by which hydrogen atoms join together in the sun;s core to form helium |
| Radiation Zone |
a region of very tightly packed gas in the sun;s interior where energy is transferred mainly in the form of light |
| Convection Zone |
The outermost layer of the sun's interior |
| Photosphere |
The inner layer of the sun's atmosphere that gives off its visible light |
| Chromospheres |
The middle layer of the sons atmosphere |
| Corona |
The outer layer of the sun's atmosphere |
| Solar Wind |
A stream of electrically charged particles that emanate from the sun's corona |
| Sunspot |
dark area of gas on the sun's surface that is cooler then the surrounding gases |
| Prominence |
A huge, Reddish loop of gas that protrudes from the sun's surface, linking parts of the sunspot regions |
| Solar Flare |
An eruption of gas from the sun's surface that occurs when the loops sunspot regions suddenly connect |
| Terrestrial planet |
The name often given to the four inner planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars |
| Greenhouse effect |
The trapping of heat by the planet's atmosphere |
| Gas Giant |
The name often given to the first four outer planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune |
| Ring |
A thin disk of small ice and rock particles surrounding a planet. |
| Comet |
A loose collection of ice, dust, and small rocky particles, typically with a long narrow orbit |
| Coma |
The fuzzy outer layer of a comet. |
| Nucleus |
The central core of the atom; The solid inner core of a comet |
| Kuiper belt |
A doughnut shaped region that stretches from beyond Neptune's orbit to about 100 times Earth's distance from the sun |
| Oort cloud |
A spherical region of comets that surrounds the solar system |
| Asteroid |
The region of the solar system, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, where many asteroids are found |
| Asteroid Belt |
The region of the solar system, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, where many asteroids are found |
| Meteoroid |
a chuck of rock or dust in space |
| Meteor |
A streak of light in the sky produced by the burning of a meteoroid that passes through the atmosphere and hits Earth's Surface |
| Meteorites |
A meteoroid that passes through the atmosphere and hits Earths Surface |
| "Goldilocks" Condition |
A suitable temperature range and atmosphere for living things to survive on |
Ch.18 LTI-MA 509
