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Solar System
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| astronomical unit | used to measure far distances in space, one au equals distance from the earth and 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 and revolves around the sun in the kure belt and the oort cloud |
| Mercury | closest planet to the sun but not the hottest, and so small it lacks an atmosphere |
| Venus | hottest planet and greenhouse effect, day is longer than a year, and acid clouds |
| Earth | only planet with known life and moderate temperatures and protective atmosphere and liquid water |
| Mars | largest known mountain, olympus mons, and possible sounds 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, and titan which is the largest moon |
| Uranus | rotation axis is tilted 90 degrees so rotates sideways |
| Neptune | farthest planet from the sun, longest revolution, and swirling storms |
| Gas Giants | Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, nickname for the gas planets |
| Galilean moons | 4 moons Galileo discovered around Jupiter, Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto |
| Dwarf Planet | Pluto and Ceres, same as planet but not larger than its neighbors |