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astro vocab
vocabulary for astronomy
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| astronomy | The study of the moon, stars, and other objects in space. |
| axis | An imaginary line that passes through Earth's center and the North an South poles, about which Earth rotates. |
| rotation | The spinning motion of a planet about its axis. |
| revolution | The movement of an object around another object. |
| orbit | The path one object takes around another. |
| tilt | When something is almost straight or flat. |
| solstice | Time of the year when the day is either shortest, or longest depending on where you are. |
| equinox | Twice a year, when the day and night are the same amount of time all around the world. |
| phase | The apparent change in the shape of the Moon, Mercury, and Venus due to how much of the sunlit side is facing the Earth. |
| eclipse | When our view of one object in the sky is blocked by either another object, or the Earths shadow. |
| gravity | The force that holds planets in their orbits around the Sun. |
| tide | The rise and fall of the level of water in the ocean. |
| satellite | A small object orbiting a larger one. There are many electronic objects that orbit the Earth. |
| telescope | A device built to study distant objects by making them appear closer. |
| geocentric | A description of the solar system in which all planets revolve around Earth. |
| heliocentric | A description of the solar system in which all of the planets revolve around the sun. |
| inner planet | Mercury and Venus which lie closer to the Sun than the Earth are called inferior planets. |
| outer planet | The planets which lie further from the Sun than the Earth. |
| comet | A small, frozen mass of dust and gas revolving around the sun. |
| asteroid | A rock, or Minor Planet orbiting the Sun. |
| meteroid | Any small object in Outer Space, such as dust, or a rock. |
| constellation | A grouping of stars which have been given names by ancient astronomers because of the way they look. |
| galaxy | A group of stars, gas and dust held together by gravity. |
| universe | All of space and everthing in it. |
| Milky Way | Our Galaxy. (the word "Galaxy" actually means milky way in Greek). |