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studystackscience
chapter 21
Question | Answer |
---|---|
the average distance between the Earth and the sun;approximately 150 million kilometers (symol, AU) | astronomical unit |
one of the highly dense planets nearest to the sun; Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Earth | terrestrial planet |
the counterclockwise spin of a planets or moon as seen from above the planet's North Pole rotation in the same direction as the sun's rotation | prograde rotation` |
the clockwise spin of a planet or moon as seen from above the planet's North Pole | retograde rotation |
a planet that has a deep, massive atmosphere, such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune | gas giant |
a natural or artificial body that revolves around a planet | satellite |
the change in the sunlit area of one celestial body falls on another | phase |
an event in which the shadow of on e celestial body falls on another | eclipse |
a small body of ice, rock, and cosmic dust that follows an elloptical orbit around the sun and that gives off the gas and dust in the form of a tail as it passes close to the sun | comet |
a small, rocky object that orbits the sun, usually in a band between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter | asteroid |
the region of the solar system that is between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter and in which most asteroids orbit | asteroid belt |
a relatively small, rocky body that travels through space | meteoroid |
a meteoroid that reaches the Earth's surface without burning up completely | meteor |