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Solar system
unit 3
| Answer | |
|---|---|
| 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 abject 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 planet 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. |
| Planetesimal | 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 sun'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. |