Solar System

Question 1

Nebula

Answer 1

a cloud of gas and dust in outer space.

Question 2

Solar Nebula

Answer 2

Our solar system began forming within a concentration of interstellar dust and hydrogen gas called a molecular cloud.

Question 3

Nuclear Fusion

Answer 3

a nuclear reaction in which atomic nuclei of low atomic number fuse to form a heavier nucleus with the release of energy.

Question 4

Sunspot

Answer 4

are temporary phenomena on the Sun’s photo sphere that appear as spots darker than the surrounding areas.

Question 5

Terrestrial

Answer 5

One of the highly dense planets nearest to the sun; Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Earth.

Question 6

Prograde

Answer 6

The counter-clockwise spin of a planet or moon as seen from above the planet’s North Pole; rotation in the same direction as the sun’s rotation.

Question 7

Retrograde

Answer 7

The clockwise spin of a planet or moon as seen from above the planet’s North Pole.

Question 8

Gas Giant

Answer 8

A planet that has a deep, massive atmosphere, such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.

Question 9

Satellite

Answer 9

A natural or artificial body that revolves around a planet.

Question 10

New Moon

Answer 10

The new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude.

Question 11

Waxing Cresent

Answer 11

The moon is less than one-half illuminated by the sun but less than one quarter illuminated.

Question 12

1st quarter moon

Answer 12

The First Quarter Moon is a primary Moon phase when we can see exactly half of the Moon’s surface illuminated.

Question 13

Waxing Gibbous

Answer 13

Waxing means that it is getting bigger. Gibbous refers to the shape, which is less than the full circle of a Full Moon, but larger than the semicircle shape of the Moon at Third Quarter.

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 (shrinking) gibbous Moon rises after sunset, transits the meridian after midnight and sets after sunrise.

Question 16

Last quarter moon

Answer 16

The moon has moved another quarter of the way around Earth, to the third quarter position.

Question 17

Waning crescent

Answer 17

Third Quarter. The moon is one-half illuminated by the sun. Occurs when the moon’s illumination is decreasing, Waning Crescent.

Question 18

Solar eclipse

Answer 18

an eclipse in which the sun is obscured by the moon.

Question 19

Lunar eclipse

Answer 19

an eclipse in which the moon appears darkened as it passes into the earth’s shadow.

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

a small rocky body orbiting the sun.

Question 22

Asteroid Belt

Answer 22

It is the circumstellar disc in the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter.

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 meteor that survives its passage through the earth’s atmosphere such that part of it strikes the ground.

Question 25

Meteor

Answer 25

a small body of matter from outer space that enters the earth’s atmosphere, becoming incandescent as a result of friction and appearing as a streak of light.