Solar System

Question 1

Orbit

Answer 1

A regular repeating path that a object in space takes around another one.

Question 2

Solar System

Answer 2

The collection of 8 planets and their moons in orbit around the suns, together with bodies in the form of asteroids, meteoroids, and comets.

Question 3

Galaxy

Answer 3

A system of millions or billions of stars, together with gas and dust, held together by gravitational attraction.

Question 4

Universe

Answer 4

All existing matter and space considered as a whole; the cosmos.

Question 5

Satellite

Answer 5

A celestial body orbiting around a planet or star, the Earth is a satellite of the Sun.

Question 6

Impact Crater

Answer 6

A circular depression in the surface of a planet, moon, or other solid body of the Solar System or elsewhere.

Question 7

Rotation

Answer 7

The process or act of turning or circling around something.

Question 8

Revolution

Answer 8

It takes Earth 365 days to complete its revolution around the Sun, so a revolution is a year.

Question 9

Season

Answer 9

Spring, summer, fall, winter and this could also be weather or climate change.

Question 10

Equinox

Answer 10

The time or date twice each year at which the sun crosses the celestial equator, when day and night are of equal length about September 22 and March 20.

Question 11

Solstice

Answer 11

The longest day of the calendar year and the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

Question 12

Mare

Answer 12

Large, dark, basaltic plains on Earths Moons, formed by ancient volcanic eruptions.

Question 13

Eclipse

Answer 13

When the moon passes the sun and the earth.

Question 14

Umbra

Answer 14

The innermost and darkest part of a shadow, where the light source is completely blocked by the occluding body.

Question 15

Penumbra

Answer 15

A partial shadow between regions of full shadow.

Question 16

Astronomical Unit (AU)

Answer 16

The mean distance between Earth and our Sun.

Question 17

Ellipse

Answer 17

A closed, symmetric curve shaped like a oval, which can be formed by intersecting a cone with a plane that is not parallel or perpendicular to the cone’s base.

Question 18

Terrestrial Planet

Answer 18

A planet that is composed primarily of silicate rocks or metal.

Question 19

Gas Giant

Answer 19

A large planet of relatively low density consisting predominantly of hydrogen and helium, such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune.

Question 20

Asteroid

Answer 20

A small rocky body orbiting the sun.

Question 21

Comet

Answer 21

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 22

Meteor

Answer 22

A small body of matter from outer space that comes into the atmosphere of Earth and that looks like a streak of light due to iridescence caused by friction.

Question 23

Meteorite

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Geocentric

Answer 24

Having or representing the Earth as the center, as in former astronomical systems.

Question 25

Heliocentric

Answer 25

Having or representing the sun as the center, as in accepted astronomical model of the solar system.

Question 26

Gravity

Answer 26

The force that attracts a body toward the center of the Earth, or toward any other physical body having mass.

Question 27

Tide

Answer 27

The alternate rising and falling of the sea, usually twice in each lunar day at a particular place, due to attraction of the moon and sun.

Question 28

Waxing

Answer 28

Waxing occurs when the moon is less then one-half illuminated by the sun but less than one quarter illuminated.

Question 29

Wannig

Answer 29

The moon at any time after full moon and before new moon so called because it’s illuminated area is decreasing.

Question 30

Gibbous Moon

Answer 30

Of the moon having the observable illuminated part greater than a semicircle and less than a circle.

Question 31

Crescent Moon

Answer 31

A thin curved shaped that’s thicker in the middle and tapers to thin points at each end, like a little sliver of moon you might notice the sky.

Question 32

Full Moon

Answer 32

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

Question 33

New Moon

Answer 33

The phase of the moon at which the moon, as viewed from Earth, does not appear to be illuminated by the sun.

Question 34

Quarter Moon

Answer 34

When the moons illumination is increasing, First Quarter.

Question 35

Perihelion

Answer 35

The point in the orbit of a planet, asteroid, or comet at which it is closest to the sun.

Question 36

Aphelion

Answer 36

The point in orbit of a planet, asteroid, or comet at which is furthest from the sun.