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Solar system
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| 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, mars |
| Outer planets | Gas giants Made of ice and gas Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune Rings and moons Hydrogen and Helium |
| Mercury | Closest plant 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 |
| Mars | Largest known mountain- Olympus mons Possible signs of life |
| Earth | Only planet with known life Moderate temperatures protective atmosphere Liquid water |
| Terrestrial planets | The four inner planets |
| Greenhouse effect | Occurs when a planet’s 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 titled 90 degrees so rotates like a bowling ball |
| Neptune | Longest period of revolution Swirling storms-windiest planet |
| Gas giants | Nick names for the 4 big planets |
| Galilean moons | 4 moons Galileo discovered around Jupiter -io, Europe, Ganymede, Callisto |
| Dwarf planet | Pluto was the first Same as planet but not larger than it’s neighbor Ceres in the asteroid belt |