term | definition |
solar system | (The planet Earth, the Moon, the Sun, and seven other planets and their satellites, and smaller objects, such as asteroids and comets. |
planet | a large body orbiting a star, a celestial body |
star | a huge gas sphere that radiates light, the sun is an example of one |
orbit | to travel in a curved path around something else |
terrestrial planet | One of the four small and rocky planets closest to the Sun. Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are the four planets closest to the Sun. They are known as __________________ |
asteroid | Small, solid objects that orbit the Sun. Most of these in the solar system are located between Mars and Jupiter. |
gas giants | Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are four planets that are made of gas and because they are made of gas they are also called------------ |
Kuiper Belt | A huge region beyond the gas giants made up of different-size icy chunks of matter. |
Milky Way | The galaxy in which the solar system resides (is found in) |
hydrogen | a gas that makes up 72% of the sun. |
helium | A gas that makes up 26% of the Sun. |
thermonuclear reactions | Reactions that change the atomic structure and create heat and light energy, such as the reactions that occur on the Sun. |
mass | the amount of material in something |
predictable | Possible to estimate a future event based on data or experience |
Mercury | The planet closest to the Sun. This planet is covered with craters and has no atmosphere or water. It is smaller than Earth and has no satellite moon. |
satellite | An object that is natural or artificial, that orbits a larger object. An example of one of these objects is the moon. |
craters | holes that are formed by an object impacting (or striking) a surface. |
Venus | The second planet from the Sun. The surface is dry, cracked, and covered with volcanoes. There is no liquid water on this planet, but the atmosphere is made up of carbon dioxide. |
Earth | The third planet from the Sun, known as the water planet. This planet has one large satellite known as Luna which orbits the planet once a month. The atmosphere of this planet is made of nitrogen and oxygen. |
Moon | The Earth's natural satellite. |
extraterrestrial | something beyond Earth |
Mars | The fourth planet from the Sun. This planet is smaller, colder, and drier than Earth. This planet has frozen water in its polar ice caps, and is also known as the Red Planet. |
Jupiter | The fifth planet from the Sun. The largest planet in the solar system. Scientists have found 63 moons that orbited Jupiter. |
Saturn | This planet is the sixth planet from the Sun. It has the most dramatic rings of any of the gas giants. It has winds that reach 1135 miles per hour on it's surface. |
Uranus | The seventh planet from the Sun. It has 27 moons and 11 rings. It has a lot of methane gas in its atmosphere. |
Neptune | The eighth planet from the Sun. The windiest planet. A planet with 13 moons and 4 rings, Scientists believe this planet may have a super-hot ocean on it. |
Pluto | A dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt. The atmosphere is so cold that it actually freezes. This dwarf planet has its own moon named Charon. |
comet | a mass of ice and dust orbiting the Sun |
hydrogen and helium | the two gases that mostly almost entriely make up the Sun |
solar wind | the regular flow of particles from the Sun |
gravity | force of attraction between two objects |
astronomy | the study of the universe and its bodies |
gravitational attraction | a force of attraction between all bodies that have mass |
Sun | The star at the center of the solar system around which everything else orbits. |