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Chapter 6
Earth's Solar System
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| geocentric | earth is at the center and the sun and planets orbit it. |
| heliocentric | earth an other planets revolve around the sun |
| ellipse | an oval shape |
| orbit | path planets take as they go around the sun |
| solar system | consists of the sun, planets and their moons, asteroids, comets, and meteors |
| astronomical unit | the average distance from the sun to earth. 150,000,000 kilometers |
| planet | must be round, orbit the sun, and have cleared out the region of the solar system in its orbit. |
| dwarf planet | an object that orbits the sun and has enough gravity to be spherical, but has not the area of its orbit. |
| axis | imaginary line that passes through the center of earth and its north and south pole |
| rotation | the spinning of earth on its axis |
| revolution | the movement of one object around another |
| calendar | a way to organize time |
| law of universal gravitation | every object in the universe attracts every other object |
| inertia | the tendency to resist a change of motion |
| newtons first law of motion | an object at rest will stay at rest, an object in motion will stay in motion with a constant speed and direction unless a force acts on it. |
| core | the sun produces an enormous amount of energy in the central region through nuclear fusion |
| nuclear fusion | hydrogen atoms join to form helium |
| radiation zone | region where gas is tightly packed and energy moves in the form of electromagnetic radiation |
| convection zone | outer most layer of the suns interior; hot gases rise from the bottom cool then sink back down. |
| photosphere | the inner layer of the suns atmosphere; considered to be the suns surface layer and gives off the light |
| chromosphere | gives the sun the reddish color; middle layer of the suns atmosphere |
| corona | the outer layer which looks like a white halo around the sun; you can see this during a total solar eclipse |
| solar wind | where the corona extends out in to space it gradually thins out into streams of electrically charged particles. |
| sunspot | dark areas on the sun; much cooler that the surrounding areas. |
| prominence | huge loops of gas usually connecting sunspots |
| solar flare | eruptions of gas on the sun's surface |
| terrestrial planet | inner planets that are smaller and dense, and have a rocky surface. |
| greenhouse effect | trapping of heat by the atmosphere |
| gas giant | outer planets that are larger and more massive than Earth, they do not have a solid surface. |
| ring | a thin disk of small particles of ice and rock |
| Galilean moons | Jupiter's largest moons; Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto |
| asteroid belt | the region between Mars and Jupiter that |
| kuiper belt | beyond Neptunes orbit. 100 au. |
| oort cloud | beyond the Kuiper Belt a spherical region of comets. 1000 times the distance of netpune to earth. |
| comet | lose collections of ice and dust with rocky particles, orbits can be very long narrow ellipses. |
| coma | clouds of gas and dust form a fuzzy outer layer on a comet |
| nucleus | solid inner core of a comet |
| asteroid | small, irregular, rocky objects that orbit the sun; too small to be considered a dwarf planet |
| meteoroid | Chunks of rock and metal smaller than asteroids. |
| meteor | when entering the earth's atmosphere the friction creates a streak in the sky |
| meteorite | meteoroids that pass through earth's atmosphere and are found on earth. |
Created by:
creedenb
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