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Solar system
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Astronomical Unit | Used to measure far distances in space 1 AU= Distance form 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 the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud |
| Inner planets | -Terrestrial planets -Solid and rocky -Mercury,Venus,Earth, and Mars |
| Outer planets | -Gas giants -Made of ice and gas -Jupiter,Saturn,Uranus, and Neptune -Rings and Moons -Hydrogen and Helium |
| Mercury | -Closet 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 temperature -Protective atmosphere -Liquid water |
| Mars | -Largest know 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 titan- a moon |
| Uranus | -rotation axis is titled 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 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 |