Space Exploration Vocabulary

Question 1

The path of an object in space as it moves around another object due to gravity

Answer 1

Orbit

Question 2

a system of objects that revolve around a star

The sun and its family of orbiting planets and moons and other objects

Answer 2

Solar System

Question 3

a system of millions or billions of stars or solar systems, held together with gas and dust, held together by gravitational attraction. Millions or billions of stars held together by their own gravity

Answer 3

Galaxy

Question 4

everything that exists in, on and around the Earth

Space and all the matter and energy that’s in it

Answer 4

Universe

Question 5

a natural or artificial object that revolves around another object in space
An object that orbits a more massive object

Answer 5

Satellite

Question 6

a crater on a planet or moon caused by the impact of a meteorite or other object, typically circular with a raised rim
A round pit left behind on a surface of a planet or other body in space in space after a smaller object strikes the surface

Answer 6

Impact Crater

Question 7

the straight line through all fixed points of a rotating rigid body around which all other points of the body move in circles.
An imaginary about which a turning body such as Earth rotates

Answer 7

Axis of Rotation

Question 8

the orbiting of an object around another object

The motion of one body around another such as the earth around the sun

Answer 8

Revolution

Question 9

a period of the year determined by the position of Earth as it revolves around the sun
One part of a pattern of temperature changes and other weather trends over the course of a year

Answer 9

Season

Question 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).
I am orbit, a position and time in which sunlight shines equally on on the northern and Southern Hemispheres

Answer 10

Equinox

Question 11

either of the two times in the year, the summer solstice and the winter solstice, when the sun reaches its highest or lowest point in the sky at noon, marked by the longest and shortest days
In an orbit, a position and time during which one hemisphere receives its maximum area of sunlight while the other hemisphere receives its minimum amount.

Answer 11

Solstice

Question 12

are large, dark, basaltic plains on Earth’s Moon, formed by ancient volcanic eruptions

A large dark plain of solidified lava on the moon

Answer 12

Mare

Question 13

an event whereby one astronomical body passes between two other astronomical bodies
An event during which one object in space casts a shadow onto another

Answer 13

Eclipse

Question 14

the fully shaded inner region of a shadow cast by an opaque object, especially the area on the earth or moon experiencing the total phase of an eclipse
The dark central region of a shadow, such as the cone of complete shadow cast by an object

Answer 14

Umbra

Question 15

the partially shaded outer region of the shadow cast by an opaque object

 A region of lighter shadow that may surround a dark central region... the spreading cone of lighter shadow cast by an object

Answer 15

Penumbra

Question 16

a unit of measurement equal to 149.6 million kilometers, the mean distance from the center of the earth to the center of the sun.
Average distance from the sun which is approximately 93 million miles or 150 million km in distance

Answer 16

Astronomical Unit

Question 17

An oval or flattened circle

Answer 17

Ellipse

Question 18

is composed primarily of silicate rocks or metals

 A planet that has a rocky surface

Answer 18

Terrestrial Planet

Question 19

a large planet of relatively low density consisting predominantly of hydrogen and helium, such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune.
A large plane that consists mostly of gasses in dense form

Answer 19

Gas Giant

Question 20

a small object made of rock or metal that orbits the sun

  A small rocky body that orbits the sun

Answer 20

Asteroid

Question 21

a body of ice and dust that travels in a long narrow orbit around the sun

A body that produces a coma of gas and dust, a small icy body that orbits the sun

Answer 21

Comet

Question 22

a streak of light in the sky that forms when a piece of rock from space burns up in Earth’s atmosphere

           A brief streak of light produced by a particle entering Earths atmosphere at a high speed

Answer 22

Meteor

Question 23

a piece of rock or metal from space that strikes Earth’s surface

 A small object from outer space that passes through earths atmosphere and reaches the surface

Answer 23

Meteorite

Question 24

having the Earth as the center

Earth centered theory of the solar system

Answer 24

Geocentric

Question 25

having the sun as the center

Sun centered theory of the solar system

Answer 25

Heliocentric

Question 26

a force that exists between any two objects that have mass (related word: gravitational)

The force that two object exert on one another because of their mass

Answer 26

Gravity

Question 27

the alternate rising and falling of the sea, usually twice in each lunar day at a particular place, due to the attraction of the moon and sun
The rise and fall of ocean levels caused by the gravitational pull of the moon

Answer 27

Tide

Question 28

have a progressively larger part of its visible surface illuminated, increasing its apparent size.
The gradual increase of the illuminated surface of the moon

Answer 28

Waxing

Question 29

have a progressively smaller part of its visible surface illuminated, so that it appears to decrease in size.

Answer 29

Waning

Question 30

It’s when the Moon is more than half full, but not quite fully illuminated, when you look at it from the perspective of Earth

Answer 30

Gibbous Moon

Question 31

A crescent moon is a thin, curved shape that’s thicker in the middle and tapers to thin points at each end,

Answer 31

Crescent Moon

Question 32

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

Answer 32

Full moon

Question 33

the phase of the moon when it is in conjunction with the sun and invisible from earth, or shortly thereafter when it appears as a slender crescent.

Answer 33

New moon

Question 34

The moon is one-half illuminated by the sun. Occurs when the moon’s illumination is decreasing, Waning Crescent. The moon is less than one-half illuminated by the sun but less than one quarter illuminated

Answer 34

Quarter moon