Space Flashcards
What is an asteroid?
A (relativley) small rocky object.
What criteria must an object meet to be considered a planet
1: It must be massive enough to be spherical under its own gravity.
2: It has to directly orbit a star.
3: It must have cleared all objects in its orbital path.
What is a moon?
An object that orbits a planet.
What is a dwarf-planet?
A planet that has not cleared out its orbital path around its star.
What is a galaxy?
A collection of at least 1 billion stars.
What is the sun?
The star at the center of our solar system which the earth orbits around.
What is a solar system?
The region of space around a star where objects orbit it.
That is a/the universe?
All that we know to exist including all mater all space and everything.
What is a star?
An objects massive enough that is gravitational pull is strong enough to fuse hydrogen into helium in it’s core.
What is an exoplanet?
Any planet that orbits a star other than the sun.
What is a geostationary satellite?
A satellite that orbits the earth at the same speed the earth spins so that it always stays over the same location
What is a satellite?
Something in orbit of something else.
Why do things orbit?
Objects that orbit are being pulled towards a body of mass but are moving fast enough so that the planet curves away from them at the same rate they are fallling.
