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Solar system
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Astronomical unit | Used to measure far distances in space 1 au =distance from earth to sun |
| Meteoroid | Chunks of rock smaller than asteroid |
| Meteor | Streak of light |
| Meteorite | Space rock found on earth |
| Asteroid | Millions of small rocky objects that orbit the sun in the asteroid belt between mars and Jupiter |
| Comets | Made of gas, dust, ice, revolve around the sun in the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud |
| Inner planets | Terrestrial planets Solid and rocky Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars |
| Outer planets | Gas giants Made of ice Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune Rings and Moons Hydrogen and Helium |
| Mercury | Closet 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 its revolution Acid clouds |
| Earth | Only planet with known life Moderate temperatures 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 planets atmosphere traps solar energy and causes the temperature to increase. |
| Jupiter | Largest planet Galilean moons Great Red Spot |
| Saturn | Most complex rings system Least dense planet it would float Home to titan-a 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 the 4 outer planets |
| Galilean moons | 4 moons Galileo discovered around Jupiter Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto |
| Dwarf planet | Pluto was the first Same as planet but not larger than its neighbors Ceres in the asteroid belt |