click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Solar system
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| 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 , revolve around the sun in Kuiper Belt and 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 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-rotation time is longer than it’s 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 ring system Least dense planet-it would float Home of a 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 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 |