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Space unit vocablary
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Meteor | a streak of light in the sky produced by the burning of a meteoroid in Earth's atmosphere. |
Asteroid Belt | any of thousands of dense rocky objects in orbit around the sun between Mars and Jupiter. |
Comet | A ball of ice, dust, and frozen gases that orbits the sun. |
Revolution | the movement of an object around another object. |
Rotation | the spinning motion of a planet on its axis. |
Outer Planets | gas giant planets found outside of the asteroid belt. |
Inner Planet | terrestrial (earth-like) planets that are dense solids located between the sun and the asteroid belt. |
Gravity | the attractive force between two objects. |
Axial Tilt | the invisible axis that are tilted allowing for seasons to occur. |
Probe | a robotic spacecraft that leaves Earth’s orbit and explores space. |
Satellite | any object that revolves around another object in space. Can be artificial or natural like the |
Heliocentric Theory | Nicolaus Copernicus’ idea that the Earth, planets, and stars all revolved around the Sun. |
Geocentric Theory | Aristotle & Ptolemy believed that the Earth was the center of the Universe and all objects revolved around it. |
Tides | the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of gravitational forces exerted by the Moon. |
greenhouse effect | is the process by which radiation from a planet's atmosphere warms the planet's surface to a temperature above what it would be without an atmosphere. |
illuminated | to light up The moon is illuminated by the sun. |
celestial objects | Known collectively by astronomers as celestial bodies, astronomical objects, and astronomical bodies, they are the stuff that fills the empty space of the universe. |
lunar eclipse | occurs when the Earth is between the sun and moon. Sunlight is blocked by the Earth. |
solar eclipse | occurs during the NEW MOON PHASE when the moon passes between the Sun and Earth, and the moon fully or partially blocks the Sun. |
autumn | the season between summer and winter known as fall in North America. |
equinox | the time and date when the sun passes directly over the equator; the length of day and night are equal (12 hours each) |
solstice | the time and date when the sun is at its greatest distance from the equator; length of day and night show greatest difference |
orbit | revolve around, circle around ,go around,travel around |
diameter | a straight line passing from side to side through the center of a circle or spherethe measurement from one side of a circle/sphere to the other side as you pass directly through the center. The equator is the diameter of the Earth. |
survivable temperatures | the highest and lowest temperatures that humans can stand without dying |
astronomer | the study of celestial objects (stars, galaxies, planets, moons, asteroids, comets and nebulae) and all phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth |