click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Solar system
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Astronomical unit | Used to measure far distance in space 1 AU=Distance from earth to sun |
| Meteoroid | Chunk of rock smaller than asteroid |
| Meteor | Streak of light |
| Meteorite | Space rock found on Earth |
| Asteroid | 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, Uranus, Neptune, rings and moons, hydro 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 its 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. |
| Term | Description |
| 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 it rotates like a bowling ball |
| Neptune | - Longest period of revolution - Swirling storms- windiest planet |
| Gas Giants | 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 a planet but not larger than its neighbors - Ceres in the asteroid belt |