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Solar System
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Astronomical unit | Used to measure far distance in space 1=AU distance from earth to the sun |
| Meteoroid | Chunks of rocks 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 the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud. |
| Outer planets | Gas Giants Made of ice and gas Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune Rings and moons Hydrogen and Helium |
| Inner planets | Terrestrial planets solid and rocky Mercury, Venus, earth and mars |
| Mercury | Closest to the sun NOT THE HOTTEST- so small it lacks the 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 mountain temperature Protective atmosphere Liquid water |
| 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-a moon |
| Uranus | Rotation axis is tilted 90 degrees so rotates like a bowling ball |
| Neptune | Longest period of revolution and swirling storms - windiest planet |
| Gas Giants | Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, nickname for the 4 outer planets |
| Galilean Moons | 4 moons discovered around Jupiter, Io, Europoa, Ganymede, Callisto |
| Dwarf planet | Pluto was the first Same as planet but not longer than it’s neighbors Ceres in the asteroid belt |