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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 rocks smaller then asteroid |
| Meteor | Streak of light |
| Meteorite | Space rock found on earth |
| Asteroids | Small or rocky objects that orbit the sun in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter |
| Comets | Made of dust, gas, 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, satern, 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 v |
| Venus | Hottest planet Green house affect 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 known mountain Olympus moons Possible signs of kice |
| Terrestrial planets | The four inner planets |
| Greenhouse affect | 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 -least Dense planet it would float -titan largest moon |
| Neptune | -Longest period of revolution -swirling storms-windiest planet |
| Uranus | Rotation axis is tilted 90 degrees so rotates like a bowling ball |
| Dwarf planets | -Pluto was the first - same as planet but not larger than its neighbors -ceres in the asteroid belt |