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solar system
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Solar system | The system consisting of the sun and planets and other objects that revolve around it |
| astronomical unit | A unit of distance equal to the average distance between the Earth and the sun, about 150 million kilometers |
| planet | An object that orbits a star, is large enough to have become rounded by its 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 larger nucleus forming a heavier element and releasing huge amounts of energy |
| radiation zone | A region of very tightly packed gas in the suns interior where energy is transferred mainly in the form of electromagnetic radition |
| convection zone | the outermost layer of the suns layer |
| photosphere | the inner layer of the suns atmosphere that gives off visible light |
| chromosphere | The middle layer of the suns atmosphere |
| corona | The outer layer of the suns atmosphere |
| solar wind | A stream of electrically charged particles that emanate from the suns cornoa |
| sunspot | A dark area of gas on the suns surface that is cooler than the surrounding gas |
| prominence | A huge reddish loop of gas the protrudes from the suns surface linking parts of the suns post regions |
| solar flare | An eruption of gas from the suns surface that occurs when the loops in in sunspot regions suddenly connect |
| terrestrial planet | The name often given to the 4 inner planets mercury, Venus Earth ,mars |
| greenhouse effect | The trapping of heat near a planets surface by certain gases in the planets atmosphere |
| gas giant | the name often given to the outer planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus Neptune |
| ring | A thin disk of small ice and rock particles surrounding a planet |
| asteroid belt | The region of the solar system between Mars and Jupiter where many asteroids are found |
| Kuiper belt | A region where many small objects orbit the sun and that is far 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 |
| meteorid | A chunk of rock or dust in space generally smaller than a asteroid |
| meteor | A streak of light in the sky produced by the burning of a meteoroid in Earths atmosphere |
| meteorite | A meteoroid that passes through the atmosphere and hits Earths surface |
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user-1975234