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Solar system
Sola,r
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Astronomical unit | Used to measure far distances in space 1 au=92,955,807.273 distance from earth to sun |
| Meteroid | Chunks of rock smaller than asteroid |
| Meteor | Streak of light |
| Meteorites | Space rock found on earth |
| Asteroids | Millions of small rocky objects that orbit the Sun in the asteroid belt between mars and Jupiter |
| Comets | Made of gas, dust, and ice that revolves around the sun in the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud |
| Inner planets | Terrestrial planets Solid and rocky Mercury Venus earth and mars |
| Outer planets | Gas giants Made of ice and gas Jupiter Saturn Uranus and Neptune Rings and moons Hydrogen and helium |
| 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 revolution time is longer then it’s revolution - acid clouds |
| Earth | - only planet either 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 ring system Least dense planet - it would float Home of titan - 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 | Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune 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 |