Space Vocabulary

Question 1

An object that orbits a more massive object

Answer 1

Satellite

Question 2

Millions or billions of stars held together in a group by their own gravity

Answer 2

Galaxy

Question 3

One part of a pattern of temperature changes and other weather trends over the course of a year

Answer 3

Season

Question 4

An imaginary line about which a turning body such as Earth rotates

Answer 4

Axis of Rotation

Question 5

Space and all of the matter and energy in it

Answer 5

Universe

Question 6

The motion of one body around another such as Earth and its motion around the sun

Answer 6

Revolution

Question 7

The path of an object as it revolves around another object due to gravity

Answer 7

Orbit

Question 8

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

Answer 8

Solar System

Question 9

In an orbit, a position and time in which sunlight shines equally on the Northern and Southern Hemisphere

Answer 9

Equinox

Question 10

A large, dark plain of solidified lava on the moon

Answer 10

Mare

Question 11

A round pitt left behind on the surface of a planet or other body in space after a smaller body strikes the surface

Answer 11

Impact Crater

Question 12

An event during which one object in space casts a shadow onto another

Answer 12

Eclipse

Question 13

The dark central region of a shadow, such as the cone of complete shadow cast by an object

Answer 13

Umbra

Question 14

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; The time of year when the days are either longest or shortest

Answer 14

Solstice

Question 15

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 sun centered theory of the solar system

Answer 16

Heliocentric

Question 17

Average distance from the sun which is approximately 93,000,000 miles or 150 million kilometers

Answer 17

Astronomical Unit (AU)

Question 18

An oval or flattened circle

Answer 18

Ellipse

Question 19

A planet that has a rocky surface

Answer 19

Terrestrial Planet

Question 20

a large planet that consists mostly of gases in a dense form

Answer 20

Gas Giant

Question 21

A small, solid, rocky body that orbits the sun

Answer 21

Asteroid

Question 22

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

Answer 22

Comet

Question 23

A brief streak of light produced by a particle entering Earth’s atmosphere at high speed

Answer 23

Meteor

Question 24

A small object from outer space that passes through Earth’s atmosphere and reaches the surface

Answer 24

Meteorite

Question 25

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 25

New Moon

Question 26

Earth centered theory of the solar system

Answer 26

Geocentric

Question 27

Part-way between a half moon and a new moon

Answer 27

Crescent Moon

Question 28

The force that objects exert on one another because of their mass

Answer 28

Gravity

Question 29

The rise and fall of the ocean levels caused by the gravitational pull of the moon

Answer 29

Tide

Question 30

(of the moon between new and full) have a progressively larger part of its visible surface illuminated, increasing its apparent size

Answer 30

Waxing

Question 31

When the moon is more than half full, but not fully illuminated

Answer 31

Gibbous Moon

Question 31

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

Answer 31

Full Moon

Question 33

the moon at any time after full moon and before new moon (so called because its illuminated area is decreasing)

Answer 33

Waning

Question 34

either of the intermediate stages between the new and full moons; half of the moon’s visible portion is lit up during this

Answer 34

Quarter Moon