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unit 3 SOLAR SYSTEM
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 | An apparent shift in the position of an object when viewed from different locations. |
| gravity | A force of attraction between objects that is due to their masses. |
| 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 in the orbit of a planet at which the planets is closest to the sun. |
| centripetal force | The inward force required to keep a particle or an object moving in a circular path. |
| Solar nebula | A rotating cloud of gas and dust from which the sun and planets formed. |
| planetismol | A small body from which a planet originated in the early stages of development of the solar system. |
| nuclear fusion | The process by which nuclei of small atoms combine to form a new, more massive nucleus; the process releases energy. |
| sunspot | A dark area of the photosphere of the sun that is cooler than the surrounding areas and 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's 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 | |
| Planetary ring | |
| Dwarf planet | |
| Kuiper belt | |
| Kuiper belt object | |
| Comet | |
| Oort cloud | |
| aseteroid | |
| Meteoroid | |
| Meteorite |