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The Solar System!
Vocabulary That is Out of This World!
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Star | A huge burning sphere of gases, for example the sun. |
Solar System | A group of objects in space that move around a central star. |
Rotation | The motion of an object as it turns on its axis. |
Axis | An imaginary line that runs through both poles of a planet. |
Revolution | The movement of any object in orbit, such as Earth moving around the sun. |
Phases | One of the different shapes the moon seems to have as it orbits around the Earth. |
Orbit | The path that an object such as a planet takes as it revolves around a second object. |
Satellite | A natural body, like the moon or an artificial object that orbits another object. |
Space Probe | A robot vehicle used to explore deep space. |
Telescope | An instrument that magnifies distant objects or makes them appear larger. |
Gas Giants | Another name for planets that are made up of mostly gases. |
Outer Planets | Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are large spheres made up mostly of gases. |
Inner Planets | Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars lie between the sun and the asteroid belt. |
Comet | Balls of ice and rock that circle the sun from two regions beyond the orbit of Pluto. |
Asteroid | Chunks of rock that look like potatoes. |
Planet | A large, round body that revolves around a star. |
What is a natural satellite of Earth? | The Moon. |
How long does it take the moon to complete one orbit around Earth? | 29 days. |
How much of the moon is always li by the sun? | 1/2 of the moon. |
Waxing | The amount of the moon that we are able to see increasing. |
Waning | The amount of the moon that we are able to see decreasing. |