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RMS 5 Astronomy
RMS 5th grade science
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Solar System | a sun and all the objects that orbit around it |
| Planet | any of the nine(eight) major objects that travel around the Sun and shine by reflecting its light |
| Orbit | the path of a planet traveling around a star |
| Year | the time it takes a planet to orbit the Sun; a year is a different length on each planet |
| Gravity | the force of attraction between any two objects due to their mass |
| Inertia | The tendency of a moving object to continue moving in a straight path; the tendency of any object to resist changes in motion |
| Day | the time it takes a planet to complete one rotation on its axis; a day is different length on each planet |
| Revolve | to orbit or move around another object |
| Constellation | patterns formed by stars; they appear to move across the sky due to the Earth's rotation and revolution around the sun |
| Comet | a dirty snowball that orbits the sun |
| Galaxy | a collection of billions of stars ( ours is called the Milky Way) |
| Solar Eclipse | when the Moon passes between the Earth and Sun causing a shadow to pass over the Earth |
| Lunar Eclipse | when the Earth passes between the Sun and Moon causing a shadow to pass over the Moon |
| Inner Planets | the planets that are located inside the astroid belt in our solar system ( Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars) |
| Outer Planets | the planets that are located beyond the astroid belt in our solar system(Jupiter,Saturn,Uranus,Neptune,Pluto) |
| Asteroid Belt | the region in our solar system between Mars and Jupiter where most Astroids are located |
| Meteor | a chunk of rock from space that burns up before reaching the surface of the Earth; a shooting star |
| Meteorite | a chunk of rock from space that strikes the surface of the Earth or Moon |