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Planet vocab
Term | Definition |
---|---|
dwarf planet | a spherical body revolving around the sun, but isn't big as the other planets. |
kuiper belt | a disk shaped region on the edge of the solar system that contains masses of ice and icy rock |
kuiper belt object | any small icy bodies orbiting around the sun in the kuiper belt |
comet | a celestial body moving about the sun, usually in a highly eccentric orbit, consisting of a central mass surrounded by an envelope of dust and gas that may form a tail that streams away from the sun. |
oort cloud | a region of the solar system far beyond the orbit of the dwarf planet pluto in which billions of comets move in nearly circular orbits unless one is pulled into a highly eccentric elliptical orbit by a passing star. |
asteroid | Also called minor planet. Astronomy. any of the thousands of small bodies of from 480 miles (775 km) to less than one mile (1.6 km) in diameter that revolve about the sun in orbits lying mostly between those of Mars and Jupiter. |
meteoroid | any of the small bodies, often remnants of comets, traveling through space |
meteor | a meteoroid that has entered the earth's atmosphere. |
meteorite | a mass of stone or metal that has reached the earth from outer space; a fallen meteoroid. |