Space Vocabulary Flashcards
The circular path of an object as it revolves around another object.
Orbit
A system that revolve around a star.
Solar system
Millions or billions of stars held together in a group by their own galaxy.
Galaxy
Space and all the matter and energy around it.
Universe
An object that revolves around another object in space.
Satellite
A round pit left behind on surface of a planet or other body in space after a smaller object strikes the surface.
Impact Crater
An imaginary line about which a turning such as earth rotates,
Axis of Rotation
The movement of one object around a center or another object.
Revolution
A period of the year determined by the position of Earth as it revolves around the sun.
Season
In an orbit, a position and time in which sunlight shines equally on the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
Equinox
In an orbit, a position and time during which one of the hemisphere receives its maximum sunlight while the other doesn’t.
Solstice
A large, dark plain of solidified lava on the moon.
Mare
The dark region of a shadow, such as the cone of complete shadow cast by an object.
Umbra
A lighter region of a shadow that may surround a dark central region.
Penumbra
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.
Astronomical Unit
An oval shaped orbit.
Ellipse
A planet that has a rocky surface.
Terrestrial Planet
A large planet that consists mostly of gases in a dense form.
Gas Gaint
A small rocky body orbiting the sun.
Asteroid
A brief streak of light produced by a particle entering earth’s atmosphere at high speeds.
Comet
A small body of matter from outer space that enters the earth’s atmosphere.
Meteor
A meteor that survives its passage through the earth’s atmosphere such that part of it strikes the ground.
Meteorite
Earth centered theory of the solar system.
Geocentric
Sun centered theory of the center of the solar system.
Heliocentric
