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Solar System
Objects in the solar system
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| sun | takes up 99% of our solar system; which means everything else in the solar system accounts for less than 1% |
| inner planets | made of dense materials like silicate and iron |
| outer planets | made of mostly light materials like hydrogen, helium, methane, and ammonia |
| differences in the inner and outer planets | where they form; the difference in temperature and the force of solar wind |
| solar system's orbit | the solar system orbits in the same direction the nebula was rotating |
| gravity | the force that is a major influence on the orbit and rotation of the objects in the solar system |
| What is the relationship between a planet’s distance from the sun and the length and duration of its orbit? | The farther away a planet, the larger its orbit and the longer it takes to make a revolution around the sun. |
| How can we describe the orbital paths of planets around the sun? | planets orbit the sun in paths described by ellipses that are not circular, but are close to being circular. |
| dwarf planet | a celestial body resembling a small planet but lacking certain characteristics that are required for it to be classed as such |
| comet | an icy small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process called out-gassing. This produces a visible atmosphere which is sometimes called a tail. |
| meteor | a small body of matter from outer space that enters the earth's atmosphere, becoming incandescent as a result of friction and appearing as a streak of light |
| asteroid | in the asteroid belt and other locations; A “small” rocky/metallic/icy object in the solar system |
| moons | celestial body that makes an orbit around a planet, including the eight major planets, dwarf planets, and minor planets |
| Milky Way Galaxy | spiral galaxy that contains our solar system |
| constellations | is a group of stars that forms an imaginary outline or meaningful pattern on the celestial sphere |
| movement of the night sky | due to Earth's rotation (west to east), objects in the night sky appear appear to rise in the East and set in the West. The Sun will appear to move through the stars, making one complete circuit of the sky in 365 days. |
| stars | Stars are made out of gases, mostly helium and hydrogen which causes nuclear fusion. |
| sun | a yellowish white star in our solar system that averages around 6,000 Kelvin |
| astronomical unit | distance from the sun to the Earth |
| parallax | where we measure how much a star moves while we orbit around the sun and use that information to calculate the distance to that star |
| satellites | A “smaller” object that orbits a larger object in the solar system. Planets have satellites (both natural and man-made), but so do asteroids, and it is even possible that comets could have satellites as well |
| Mercury | closest to the Sun rotation 59 days orbit 88 days (less than two day in a year!) rocky and dense smallest planet currently being explored by the MESSENGER spacecraft |
| Venus | hottest surface, toxic atmosphere superficially similar to the Earth "Earth's twin" rocky and dense currently being explored by the Venus Express spacecraft |
| Earth | largest terrestrial planet volcanic activity moderate atmosphere, abnormally high in oxygen life has a large natural satellite |
| Mars | lowest density terrestrial world thin atmosphere seasonal weather/All water trapped in ice extinct volcanoes red planet currently being studied by a bunch of spacecraft and rovers |
| Jupiter | largest planet low density long term weather patterns powerful magnetic field has the most satellites; 63 moons, including 4 large ones |
| Saturn | second to Jupiter (in most respects) spectacular ring system diverse satellites currently being studied by the Cassini spacecraft |
| Uranus | tilted system rings, moons |
| Neptune | similar to Uranus in most respects, but not as tilted Methane atmosphere coldest planet |
| planet (scientific defintion) | a body that orbits the Sun, is massive enough for its own gravity to make it round, and has "cleared its neighborhood" of smaller objects around its orbit |
| big bang theory | the universe originated sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago from an enormous explosion of a small volume of matter at extremely high density and temperature. |
Created by:
ledee.workman
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