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The solar System
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Solar system | The sun and all of the planets and other bodies that travel around it. |
| heliocentric | Sun-centered |
| geocentric | Describes something that uses earth as the reference point. |
| parallax | Describes something that uses Earth as the reference point. |
| gravity | An apparent shift in the position of an object when viewed from different locations. |
| orbit | The path that a body follows as it travels around another body in space. |
| aphelion | in the orbit of a planet or other body in the solar system, the point that is farthest from the sun. |
| perihelion | The point on the orbit of a planet at which the planet is closest to the sun. |
| solar nebula | a rotating cloud of gas and dust from which the sun and planets formed. |
| planetesimal | A small body from which a planet originated in the early stages of development of the solar system. |
| nuclear fusion | The energy released by a fission or fusion reaction; the binding energy of the atomic nucleas. |
| sunspot | A dark area of the photosphere of the sun that is cooler than the surrounding areas ad that has a strong magnetic field. |
| solar flare | An explosive release of energy that comes from the sun and that is associated with magnetic disturbances on the suns surface. |
| prominence | A loop of relatively cool, incandescent gas that extends above the Photosphere and above the sun's edge as seen from earth. |
| terrestrial planet | One of the highly dense planets nearest to the sun; Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Earth. |
| astronomical unit | The average distance between Earth and the sun; approximately 150 million kilometers symbol, AU |
| gas giant | a large planet primarily composed of hydrogen and helium, with no well-defined solid surface and often a dense core. |
| planetary ring | a disk-like aggregation of particles and larger objects that orbit a planet, primarily composed of dust, rock, and ice. |
| dwarf planet | a celestial body that orbits the Sun, is nearly round in shape due to its own gravity, but has not cleared its orbital neighborhood of other debris. |
| Kuiper belt | a region of the solar system beyond the orbit of Neptune, believed to contain many comets, asteroids, and other small bodies made largely of ice. |
| Kuiper belt object | Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) are small icy bodies orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune, remnants from the early solar system that provide insights into planetary formation. |
| comet | a celestial object consisting of a nucleus of ice and dust and, when near the sun, a “tail” of gas and dust particles pointing away from the sun. |
| Oort cloud | theoretical, vast spherical shell of icy bodies surrounding the Solar System, believed to be the source of long-period comets. |
| asteroid | a small rocky body orbiting the sun. Large numbers of these, ranging enormously in size, are found between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, though some have more eccentric orbits. |
| meteoroid | a small body moving in the solar system that would become a meteor if it entered the earth's atmosphere. |
| meteor | the bright streak of light produced when a meteoroid enters a planet’s atmosphere and burns up due to friction with the air. |
| meteorite | a piece of rock or metal that has fallen to the earth's surface from outer space as a meteor. |
Created by:
Skylar Tulchin