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chapter 3
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Solar system | The system consisting of the sun and the planets and the other objects that revolve around it. |
| Astronomical unit | A unit of distance equal to the average distance between earth and sun , about 150 million kilometers. |
| Planet | An object that orbits a star, is large enough to have been 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 procces in which two atomic nuclei combine to form a larger nucleus , forming and heavier element and releasing huge amounts of energy; the process by which energy is protruded by stars. |
| Radiation zone | A region of very tight packed gas in the 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 loop of gas that protrudes from the sun's surface, linking parts of sunspot regions. |
| 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 planet: Mercury, Venus, Earth,and Mars. |
| Greenhouse effect | The trapping of heat near a planet's surface by certain gases in the planets 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 earth's distance from the sun. |
| Oort cloud | A spherical region of comets that surrounds the solar system. |
| Comet | A loose collection for 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 called planets. |
| Meteroid | A chunk of rock or space, generally smaller than a asteroid. |
| Meteor | A streak of light in the sky produced by the burning of a meteoroid in earth'd atmosphere. |
| Meteroite | A meteroid that passes through the atmosphere and hits earth's surface |
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