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science chapter 3 hi
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| solar system | the system consisting of the sun and the planets and other objects that revolve around it |
| astronomical unit | a unit of distance equal to the average distance between Earth and the sun, about 150 million kilometers |
| planet | an object that orbits a star is large enough to have become rounded by its own gravity and has cleared the area of its orbit |
| dwarf planet | an object that orbits the sun and is spherical but has not cleared the area of its orbit |
| planetesimal | one of the small asteroid-like bodies that formed the building blocks of the planets |
| core | the central region of the sun where nuclear fusion takes place |
| nuclear fusion | the process in which two atomic nuclei combine to form a larger nucleus forming a heavier element and releasing huge amounts of energy; the process by which energy is produced in stars |
| radiation zone | a region of very tightly packed gas in sun's interior where energy is transferred mainly in the form of electromagnetic radiation |
| convection zone | the outermost layer of the sun's interior |
| photosphere | the inner layer of the sun's atmosphere that gives off its visible light; the sun's surface |
| chromosphere | the middle layer of the sun's atmosphere |
| corona | the outer layer of the sun's atmosphere |
| solar wind | a stream of electrically charged particles that emanate from the sun's corona |
| sunspot | a dark area of gas on the sun's surface that is cooler than surrounding gases |
| prominence | a huge reddish loo |
| solar flare | an eruption of gas from the sun's surface that occurs when the loops in sunspot regions suddenly connect |
| terrestrial planets | the name often given to the four inner planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars |
| greenhouse effect | the trapping of heat near a planet's surface by certain gases in the planet's atmosphere |
| gas giant | the name often given to the outer planets: Jupiter Saturn Uranus and Neptune |
| ring | a thin disk of small ice and rock particles surrounding a planet |
| asteroid belt | the region of the solar system between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter where many asteroids are found |
| Kuiper belt | A region where many small objects orbit the sun and that stretches from beyond the orbit of Neptune to about 100 times Earths distance from the sun |
| Oort cloud | a spherical region of comets that surrounds the solar system |
| comet | a loose collection of ice and dust that orbits the sun typically in a long narrow orbit |
| coma | the fuzzy outer layer of a comet |
| nucleus | the solid inner core of a comet |
| asteroid | one of the rocky objects revolving around the sun that are too small and numerous to be considered planets |
| meteoroid | a chunk of rock or dust or dusty in space generally smaller than an asteroid |
| meteor | the streak of light in the sky produced by the burning of a meteoroid in Earth's atmosphere |
| meteorite | a meteoroid that passes through the atmosphere and hits Earth's surface |