Solar System And Beyond Lesson 2 Flashcards
A natural or artificial object in space that circles around another object
Satellite
The appearance of the shape of the Moon at a particular time
Phase
The regular rise and fall of the water level along a shoreline
Tide
A blocking of the Sun’s light that happens when Earth passes through the Moon’s shadow
Solar eclipse
A situation that occurs when Earth, the Sun, the Moon are in a straight line and Earth’s shadow falls across the Moon
Lunar eclipse
One of many small, rocky objects between Mars and Jupiter
Asteroid
A chunk of rock from space that travels through Earth’s atmosphere
Meteor
A mixture of ice, frozen gases, rock and dust left over from the formation of the solar system
Comet
An object in space that produces its own energy, including heat and light
Star
A huge cloud of gas and dust in space that is the first stage of star formation
Nebula
An object whose gravity is so strong that light cannot escape it
Black Hole
The distance light travels in a year
Light year
A star that can no longer turn helium into carbon; it cools and shrinks, becoming very small and dense
White dwarf
Any of the patterns that are formed by a group of stars in the night sky
Constellation
A star that has produced more energy than gravity can hold together and has exploded
Supernova
As the Earth revolves around the Sun, the ______ revolves around the Earth
Moon
The Moon’s orbit around the Earth takes _______
29 days
The apparent shapes of the Moons are called ________
Phases
__________ phase is when you can’t see the moon at all
New Moon
________ phase is almost a full moon
Gibbous moon
___________ phase is when you see a sliver of the moon
Crescent moon
_______ phase is when the moon appears smaller
Waning
________ phase is when the moon appears larger
Waxing
The Moon’s gravitational pull causes the tides and it happens twice a day, the rise and fall of the tides are called a _______ and ________
High tide, low tide
__________ are small, rocky, or metallic object that orbits the Sun in both inner and outer regions of the Solar System
Meteoroids
_________ is a meteor that hits the Earth’s surface
Meteorites
The head of a comet is made up of a _______ and nucleus
Coma
A __________ is formed when the heat from the Sun’s rays pushes some of the coma away from the comet
Glowing tail
Stars have different colors. Colors occur because of the surface ___________ of each star
Temperature
Sun’s temperature makes it look ________
Yellow
Cooler stars appear _______ or _______
Red, orange
Warmer stars appear ______ or ______
White, blue
The Sun is about _________ years old
5 billion
It takes 8 minutes for ________ to reach Earth
Light
Astronomers use __________ to describe the great distance between stars
Light-years
Constellations are named after _______, ________, or objects
Animals, fictional characters
There are ____ constellations
88
Travelers can use the Big Dipper or the Little Dipper to find ______ which tells you which direction is _______
Polaris, north
The Sun contains 99% of the Solar System’s total ______
Mass
92% of the Sun is made up of _______ gas
Hydrogen
________ are the sudden release of energy from the Sun’s atmosphere
Solar flares
