Basics Flashcards
galaxy
a great island of stars in space, containing between a few hundred million and a trillion or more stars.
the universe
is the sum total of all matter and energy, encompassing the superclusters and voids and everything within them
what is a Astronomical Unit
the earth’s average distance from the sun, AU
what is a light year
the distance light can travel in one year, ly
what is a mega light year
distance between galaxies, Mly
what are the jovian planets ?
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
what are the Terrestrial planets?
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
what is an asteroid
small ROCKY object that orbits a star
what is an comet
small ICEY object that orbits a star
extrasolar planets (or exoplanet)
any planet which orbits a star other than our sun
what is the kuiper Belt
the belt of comets outlying our solar system
what is the Oort cloud?
spherical region centered on the sun where trillions of comets orbit the sun with random orbits
