Science Unit 7 Vocabulary
Terms
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- solar system
- the sun and the planets and other bodies that revolve around it
- gravity
- a force of attraction between two objects
- orbit
- the curved path of an object
- astronomy
- the study of planets, stars and other objects in the universe
- AU
- the average distance from the sun to the earth
- terrestrial planet
- a planet made primarily of rock
- gas giant
- a large planet made primarily of gases
- asteroid
- a rocky body that orbits the sun
- comet
- a ball of ice, dust, and gas that orbits the sun
- meteoroid
- a small object that orbits the sun
- meteor
- a meteoroid that has entered Earth's atmosphere
- meteorite
- a meteor that reaches the surface of the Earth
- maria
- the dark, flat regions of the moon formed by ancient lava flows
- crater
- a depression caused by material striking the surface
- phase
- the appearance of the moon when it is viewed from the Earth
- eclipse
- the casting of a shadow by one body on another body
- fusion
- the process by which the sun makes heat and light energy by changing hydrogen into helium
- sunspot
- a darker, cooler spot on the sun's surface
- solar flare
- a violent eruption of gas near a sunspot
- light year
- the distance that light travels in one year
- constellation (Latin-stella)
- stars that seem to be in a group
- galaxy
- a large group of stars, dust, and gases held together by gravity
- Milky Way
- the galaxy where our solar system is located
- black hole
- an object formed by a large star that has run out of nuclear fuel and collapsed
- spectroscope
- a tool that scientists use to analyze light
- telescope
- an instrument that makes distant objects appear larger
- refraction
- the bending of light as it passes from one material to another