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Ch6 The Solar System
Vocabulary
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Solar System | the Sun and all of the objects that orbit it |
| Comparative Planetology | study of the planets to understand how the solar system formed and evolved |
| Star | glowing ball of gas held together by its own gravity and powered by nuclear fusion |
| Planet | one of eight major bodies orbiting the Sun |
| Asteroid | one of thousands of smaller rocky bodies usually orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter |
| Comet | one of thousands of smaller bodies made of ice & dust orbiting the Sun in highly elliptical orbits |
| Meteoroid | small chunk of interplanetary debris outside of Earth's atmosphere |
| Meteor | small piece of interplanetary debris that heats up as it enters Earth's atmosphere |
| Meteorite | any part of a meteoroid that survives entry through the atmosphere & lands on Earth's surface |
| Kuiper Belt Object | small icy body orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune in the Kuiper belt (ex: Pluto) |
| Exoplanet | planet orbiting a star other than the Sun (a.k.a. an extrasolar planet) |
| Rotation Period | time it takes a body to spin once about its axis |
| Ecliptic | orbital plane of the planets, most asteroids, and Kuiper Belt Objects about the Sun |
| Satellite | any object that orbits another, natural or man made (a.k.a. a moon) |
| Orbital Plane | geometric plane in which a body's orbit lies |
| Mass | total matter within an object |
| Volume | amount of space that a substance or object occupies |
| Density | the compactness of matter within an object (mass divided by volume) |
| Terrestrial | innermost planets of the solar system, which resemble the Earth (rocky) |
| Jovian | outermost planets of the solar system, which resemble Jupiter (gaseous) |
| Atmosphere | layer of gas held close to a planet or large moon's surface by the force of gravity |
| Ring System | material organized into thin, flat rings encircling a giant planet above its equator |
| Magnetic Field | accompanies any changing electric field and governs all magnetized objects |
| Interplanetary Matter | cosmic "debris" that is not part of any planet, moon, or star |
| Gravitational Slingshot | use of gravity to change the flight path and/or speed of a spacecraft |
| Solar Nebula | swirling gas cloud surrounding the early Sun during the solar system's formation |
| Nebular Theory | original model where a large gas cloud contracted under its own gravity to form the Sun & planets |
| Condensation Theory | builds on the nebular theory with interstellar dust grains that act as condensation nuclei |
| Conservation of Angular Momentum | law explaining how a gas cloud must spin faster as it contracts |
| Accretion Disk | rotating disk of matter formed by accretion around a massive body under the influence of gravity |
Created by:
john_bailey720
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