Solar System Flashcards
Nebula
A large cloud of gas and dust in interstellar space; a region in space where stars are born or where stars explode at the end of their lives.
Solar Nebula
the cloud of gas and dust that formed our solar system.
Nuclear Fusion
The combination of the nuclei of small atoms to form a large nucleus; releases energy.
Sunspot
A dark area of the photo sphere of the sun that is cooler than the surrounding areas and that has a strong magnetic field.
Terrestrial Planets
One of the highly dense planets nearest to the sun; Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Earth.
Prograde Rotation
The counterclockwise spin of a planet or moon as seen from above the planets North Pole; rotation in the same direction as the sun’s rotation.
Retrograde Rotation
The clockwise spin of a planet or moon as seen from above the planets North Pole.
Gas Giant
A planet that has a deep, massive, atmosphere, such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune.
Satellite
A natural or artificial body that revolves around a planet.
New Moon
The phase of the moon when it is in conjunction with the sun and invisible from earth, or shortly thereafter when it appears as a slender crescent.
Waxing Crescent
The waxing crescent phase is the moon’s first step toward fullness.
1st Quarter Moon
In astronomy, the new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude.
Waxing Gibbous
Waxing gibbous means it’s getting visually wider and wider from day to day, culminating in a full moon.
Full Moon
The phase of the moon in which its whole disk is illuminated.
Waning Gibbous
The Waning Gibbous is an intermediary Moon phase.
Last Quarter Moon
The instant, approximately one week after a full moon, when half of the moon’s disk is illuminated by the sun.
Waning Crescent
The Waning Crescent phase occurs when the illumination of the Moon decreases from 49.9% to 0.1%.
Solar Eclipse
A solar eclipse occurs when a portion of the Earth is engulfed in a shadow cast by the Moon which fully or partially blocks sunlight.
Lunar Eclipse
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth’s shadow.
Comet
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing.
Asteroid
An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System.
Asteroid Belt
The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars.
Meteoroid
A meteoroid is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space.
Meteorite
A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or moon.
Meteor
A meteoroid is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space.
