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Solar system
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Astronomical unit | Used to measure far distance in space 1 AU =Distance from earth to sun |
| Meteoroid | Chunk of rock smaller than asteroid |
| Meteor | Streak of light |
| Meteorite | Space rock found on Earth |
| Asteroids | Millions of small rocky objects that orbits the Sun in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter |
| Comets | Made of gas dust and ice, revolve around the Sun in the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud |
| Inner planets | Terrestrial planets Solid and rocky Mercury Venus earth mars |
| Outer planets | Gas giants Made of ice and gas Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune |
| Planet | Spherical, orbits the Sun, clears its orbit |
| Mercury | Closest planet to the sun NOT THE HOTTEST-so small it lacks gravity and atmosphere |
| Venus | Hottest planet Greenhouse effect Day is longer than a year-rotation time is longer than it’s revolution Acid clouds |
| Earth | Only known life Moderate temperature Protective atmosphere Liquid water |
| Mars | Largest known mountain-Olympus mons Possible signs of life |
| Terrestrial planets | The four inner planets |
| Greenhouse effect | Occurs when a planet’s atmosphere traps Solar energy and causes the temperature to increase |
| Jupiter | Largest planet Galilean moons Great Red Spot |
| Saturn | Most complex ring system Least dense planet it would float Titan largest moon |
| Uranus | Rotation axis is tilted 90 degrees so rotates like a bowling ball |
| Neptune | Longest period of revolution Swirling storms windiest planet |
| Gas giants | Nickname for Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune |
| Galilean moons | 4 moons Galileo discovered around Jupiter Io,Europa, Ganymede, Callisto |
| Dwarf planet | Pluto was the first Same as planets but not larger than its neighbors Ceres in the asteroid belt |