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Space unit
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Meteor | a streak of light in the sky produced by the burning of a meteoroid in Earth's atmosphere |
| asteroid belt | any of thousands of dense rocky objects in orbit around the sun between Mars and Jupiter. |
| comet | A ball of ice, dust, and frozen gases that orbits the sun. |
| revolution | the movement of an object around another object. |
| rotation | the spinning motion of a planet on its axis. |
| outer planets | gas giant planets found outside of the asteroid belt |
| inner planets | terrestrial (earth-like) planets that are dense solids located between the sun and the asteroid belt. |
| gravity | the attractive force between two objects. |
| axial tilt | the invisible axis that are tilted allowing for seasons to occur. |
| probe | a robotic spacecraft that leaves Earth’s orbit and explores space. |
| satellite | any object that revolves around another object in space. Can be artificial or natural like the |
| Heliocentric Theory | Nicolaus Copernicus’ idea that the Earth, planets, and stars all revolved around the Sun. |
| Geocentric Theory | Aristotle & Ptolemy believed that the Earth was the center of the Universe and all objects revolved around it |
| tides | the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of gravitational forces exerted by the Moon. |