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Ch 2 Getting Started
Lessons 1-3
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Solar System | The system consisting of the sun and the planets and others 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 become rounded by its own gravity, and has cleared the area of its orbit. |
| Dwarf Planet | An object that 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 releasing 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 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, primarily hydrogen and helium, that undergoes nuclear fusion. |
| Prominence | A huge, reddish loop of gas that protrudes from the sun's surface, linking parts of sunspot. |
| Solar Flare | An eruption of gas from the sun's surface that occurs when the loops in sunspot regions. |
| Terrestrial Planet | The name often given to the four inner planets: Mercury, Mars, Venus, Earth. |
| 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, 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 time Earth's distance. |
| 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 streak of light in the sky produced by the burning of a meteoroid in Earth's atmosphere. |
| Meteor | A meteoroid that passes through the atmosphere and hits Earth's surface. |
| Meteorite | A chunk of rock or dust in space, generally smaller then an asteroid. |
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