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Solar system
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Astronomical unit | Used to measure far distances in space. 1 AU=Distance from Earth to sun. |
| Meteoroid | Chunk of rock smaller than an 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 Kupiter 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 | 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. Swirling storms-windiest planet. |
| Gas giants | Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune Nickname for the 4 outer planets. |
| Galilean moons | 4 moons Galilean 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. |