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Space Vocab.
Space flashcards
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Rotation | The spin of an object in space |
Revolution | The elliptical motion of a body as it travels around another more massive body in space |
Orbit | The elliptical PATH an object takes in space while revolving around another object |
Gravity | attracting force due to mass or rotation |
Atmosphere | mixture of gases that surrounds a planet |
Sun | a medium sized star; the center of our solar system |
Planet | body that orbit around the sun or a star and does not produce its own light |
Terrestrial Planet | a small, dense, rocky planet similar to Earth (Inner planets) |
Gas Giant | a large, gaseous planet of the outer solar system with no known solid surface (Outer planets) |
Natural satellite | smaller body that orbits around a larger body |
moon | a natural satellite of a planet (Note: satellites are natural or artificial bodies that revolve around more massive bodies such as planets) |
Artificial Satellite | any human made object placed in orbit around a body in space |
Comet | a small body of ice, rock, and cosmic dust loosely packed together |
Asteroid | a small, rocky body that revolves around the sun |
Meteroid | a very small, rocky body found in space HINT: mini asteroid |
Meteorite | a meteoroid that reaches Earth’s surface without burning up completely HINT: It takes the “right” path to Earth |
Meteor | a bright streak of light caused when a meteoroid or comet dust burns up in the atmosphere NOTE: Many people call this a “shooting star”, but it is not) |
Thrust | the force that accelerates a rocket |
Orbital Velocity | the speed and direction a rocket must have in order to orbit Earth |
Escape Velocity | the speed and direction a rocket must have in order to completely break away from a planet’s gravitational pull |
Centripetal Force | the force that causes an object to follow a curved path |