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unit 3
The Solar System
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| solar system | The sun and all of the planets and other bodies that travel around it. |
| geocentric | Describes something that uses Earth as the reference point. |
| parallax | An apparent shift in the position of an object when viewed from different locations. |
| heliocentric | Sun-centered |
| gravity | A force of attraction between objects that is due to their masses. |
| orbit | The path that a body follows as it travels around another body in space. |
| aphelion | In the orbit of a planet or other body in the solar system, the pint that is farthest from the sun |
| perihelion | The point in the orbit of a planet at which the planet is closest to the sun. |
| centripetal force | The inward force required to keep a particle or an object moving in a circular |
| solar nebula | A rotating could of gas and dust from which the sun and planets formed. |
| planetesimal | A small body from which a planet originated in the early stages of development of the solar system |
| prominence | A loop of relatively cool, incandescent gas that extends above the photosphere and above the sun 's edge as seen from Earth. |
| solar flare | An explosive release of energy that comes from the sun and that is associated with magnetic disturbances on the sun's surface. |
| sunspot | A dark area of the photosphere of the sun that is cooler than the surrounding areas and that has a strong magnetic field. |
| nuclear fusion | The process by which nuclei of small atoms combine to form a new, more massive nucleus, the process releases energy. |
| terrestrial planet | One of the highly dense planets nearest to the sun; Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Earth. |
| astronomical unit | The average distance between Earth and the Sun; approximately 150 million kilometers symbol, AU. |
| gas giant | A planet that has a deep, massive atmosphere, such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune. |
| planetary ring | A disk of matter that encircles a planet and consists of numerous particles in orbit, ranging in size from dust grains up to objects tens of meters across. |
| dwarf planet | A celestial body that orbits the sun, is round because of its own gravity, but has not cleared its orbital path. |
| Kuiper Belt | A region of the solar system that is just beyond the orbit of Neptune and that contains small bodies made mostly of ice. |
| Kuiper Belt object | One of the hundreds or thousands of minor planets - sized objects that orbit the sun in a flat belt beyond Neptune's orbit. |
| comet | A small body that gives off gas and dust as it passes close to the sun; a typical comet moves in an elliptical orbit around the sun and is made of dust and frozen gases. |
| Oort cloud | A spherical region that surrounds the solar system, that extends from the Kuiper Belt to almost halfway to the nearest star, and that contains billions of comets. |
| asteroid | A small, rocky object that orbits the sun; most asteroids are located in a band between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. |
| meteoroid | A relatively small, rocky body that travels through space. |
| meteor | A bright streak of light that results when a meteoroid burns up in Earth's atmosphere, |
| meteorite | A meteoroid that reaches Earth's surface without burning up completely. |
Created by:
V.M
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