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chapter 3
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| 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 it's own gravity, and has cleared the area of it's orbit. |
| dwarf planet | an object that orbits the sun and is spherical, but has not cleared the area of it's orbit |
| planetesimal | one of the small asteroid-like bodies hat 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 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 it's 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 gasses. |
| 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 planet | the name often given to the four inner planets: mercury, Venus, Earth, and mars. |
| greenhouse affect | the trapping of heat near a planet's surface by curtain gasses 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 around the sun 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 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. |
| astroid | one of the rocky objects revolving around the sun that are to small and numerous to be considered planets. |
| meteoroid | a chunk of rock or dust in space, generally smaller than an asteroid. |
| meteor | a streak of light in the sky produced by the burning of a meteoroid in Earth's solar system. |
| meteorite | a meteoroid that passes through the atmosphere and hits Earth's surface. |
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