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Topic 6 vocab
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Astronomical unit | Used to measure far distances in space 1 AU=92,955,807.273 mi distance from earth to sun |
| Meteoroid | Chunk 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 Jupiter 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 moon Hydrogen and helium. |
| Mercury | Closest 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 atomsphere Liquid water |
| Mars | Largest known mountain Olympus mons |
| Terrestrial planets | The four inner planets |
| Greenhouse effect | Occurs when a planet atmosphere traps solar energy and causes the temperature to increase |
| Jupiter | Largest planet , gaelilean moons , Great Red Spot |
| Saturn | Most complex ring system , peats 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 Galileo discovered around Jupiter-lo, Europa , Ganymede , Callisto |
| Dwarf planets | Pluto was the first , same as planet but not larger than its neighbors Ceres in the asteroid belt. |