Solar System

Question 1

nebula

Answer 1

A nebula is a distinct body of interstellar clouds. Originally, the term was used to describe any diffused astronomical object, including galaxies beyond the Milky Way

Question 2

solar nebula

Answer 2

Solar nebula, gaseous cloud from which, in the so-called nebular hypothesis of the origin of the solar system, the Sun and planets are formed by condensation. Swedish philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg in 1734 proposed that the planets formed out of a nebular crust that had surrounded the Sun and then broken apart.

Question 3

nuclear fusion

Answer 3

Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei are combined to form one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic particles. The difference in mass between the reactants and products is manifested as either the release or the absorption of energy

Question 4

sunspot

Answer 4

Sunspots are dark, planet-sized regions that appear on the “surface” of the Sun. Sunspots are “dark” because they are cooler than their surroundings. … Sunspots are caused by disturbances in the Sun’s magnetic field welling up to the photosphere, the Sun’s visible “surface”.

Question 5

terrestrial planets

Answer 5

The Terrestrial Planets. From top: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. The planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, are called terrestrial because they have a compact, rocky surface like Earth’s terra firma. The terrestrial planets are the four innermost planets in the solar system.

Question 6

prograde rotation

Answer 6

Retrograde motion in astronomy is, in general, the orbital or rotational motion of an object in the direction opposite the rotation of its primary, that is, the central object. It may also describe other motions such as precession or nutation of an object’s rotational axis.

Question 7

retrograde rotation

Answer 7

Retrograde refers to an object that spins in the opposite direction of its orbit. Earth has a prograde rotation, and asteroid Bennu has a retrograde rotation, which means the two bodies rotate in opposite directions.

Question 8

gas giant

Answer 8

A gas giant is a large planet mostly composed of helium and/or hydrogen. These planets, like Jupiter and Saturn in our solar system, don’t have hard surfaces and instead have swirling gases above a solid core

Question 9

satellite

Answer 9

A satellite is a moon, planet or machine that orbits a planet or star. … Usually, the word “satellite” refers to a machine that is launched into space and moves around Earth or another body in space. Earth and the moon are examples of natural satellites. Thousands of artificial, or man-made, satellites orbit Earth

Question 10

new moon

Answer 10

In astronomy, the new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude. At this phase, the lunar disk is not visible to the unaided eye, but its presence may be detected because it occults stars behind it

Question 11

waxing crescent

Answer 11

The waxing crescent phase is the moon’s first step toward fullness. And it’s a very visible shift — the moon is completely invisible (while it’s new) until a tiny sliver is illuminated. The moon is considered a crescent only when less than one-half of it is visible.

Question 12

1st quarter moon

Answer 12

First-quarter: The moon is 90 degrees away from the sun in the sky and is half-illuminated from our point of view. We call it the “first quarter” because the moon has traveled about a quarter of the way around Earth since the new moon. Waxing gibbous: The area of illumination continues to increase.

Question 13

waxing gibbous

Answer 13

The Waxing Gibbous is an intermediate phase of the Moon that starts right after the First Quarter when the illumination is 50%. The name Gibbous comes from the Moon’s shape, which is less than a Full Moon but more extensive than the Third Quarter’s semicircle shape. Waxing means that the Moon is getting bigger

Question 14

full moon

Answer 14

the phase of the moon in which its whole disk is illuminated.

Question 15

waning gibbous

Answer 15

The Waning Gibbous is an intermediary Moon phase. It starts right after the Full Moon, and it lasts until the Third Quarter. When the Moon is in the Waning Gibbous phase, the sunlit part of the Moon is decreasing from 99.9% to 50.1%.

Question 16

last quarter moon

Answer 16

The last quarter moon appears half-lit by sunshine and half-immersed in its own shadow. It rises in the middle of the night, appears at its highest in the sky around dawn, and sets around midday. The last quarter moon provides a great opportunity to think of yourself in a three-dimensional world in space

Question 17

waning crescent

Answer 17

The Waning Crescent phase occurs when the illumination of the Moon decreases from 49.9% to 0.1%. It is an intermediary phase between the Third Quarter and the New Moon (when the Moon is almost invisible). The term Crescent refers to its shape. In this phase, the Moon looks like a boat or a banana.

Question 18

solar eclipse

Answer 18

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. This occurs when the Sun, Moon, and Earth are aligned. Such alignment coincides with a new moon indicating the Moon is closest to the ecliptic plane

Question 19

lunar eclipse

Answer 19

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth’s shadow. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are exactly or very closely aligned with Earth between the other two, and only on the night of a full moon.

Question 20

comet

Answer 20

a celestial object consisting of a nucleus of ice and dust and, when near the sun, a “tail” of gas and dust particles pointing away from the sun.

Question 21

asteroid

Answer 21

An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Historically, these terms have been applied to any astronomical object orbiting the Sun that did not resolve into a disc in a telescope and was not observed to have characteristics of an active comet such as a tail.

Question 22

asteroid belt

Answer 22

The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes but much smaller than planets, called asteroids or minor planets.

Question 23

meteoroid

Answer 23

a small body moving in the solar system that would become a meteor if it entered the earth’s atmosphere.

Question 24

meteorite

Answer 24

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

Question 25

meteor

Answer 25

A meteoroid is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are significantly smaller than asteroids, and range in size from small grains to one-meter-wide objects. Objects smaller than this are classified as micrometeoroids or space dust.