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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 asteroid |
| Meteor | Streak of light |
| Meteorite | Space rock found on earth |
| Asteroid | Millions of small rocky objests 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 -hydrogen and helium |
| Planet | Spherical, orbits the Sun, clears its orbit |
| 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 -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 |
| Jupiter | -Largest planet -Galilean moons -great red spot |
| Saturn | -most complex ring system -least dense planet-it would float -titan-largest 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 | Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune-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 |