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Solar system
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Astronomical unit | Used to measure far distance in space 1AU=Distance from earth and sun |
| Meteoroid | Chucks 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 the 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,, |
| Jupiter | -largest planet -Galilean moons -great red spot |
| Saturn | -most complex -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 |
| Gas giants | Jupiter, Saturn,Uranus,Neptune, nickname for the 4 outer planets |
| Galilean moons | 4 moons Galileo discovered around Jupiter -lo, Europa, Ganymede ,Callisto |
| Dwarf Planet | -Pluto was the first -same as planet but no larger than its neighbors -Ceres in the asteroid belt |