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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 that asteroids |
| 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 Rings and moons Hydrogen and helium. |
| 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 time longer than it’s revolution 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 planets 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 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 planets | Pluto was the first Same as planet but not larger than its neighbors Ceres in the asteroid belt |