Space vocabulary Flashcards
A small object from outer space that passes through Earth’s atmosphere and reaches the surface.
Meteorite
Half of the moon is illuminated.
Quarter Moon
The entire surface of the moon is not illuminated.
New moon
Average distance from the sun which is 93,000,000 miles.
Astronomical unit
The motion of one body around another, such as the Earth in its orbit around.
Revolution
The illuminated surface is less than one quarter illuminated.
Crescent moon
A region of light or shadow that may surround a dark central region.
Penumbra
A large dark plain of solidified lava on the moon.
Mare
A body that produces a coma of gas and dust, a small icy body that orbits the sun.
Comet
An event during which one object in space casts a shadow onto another.
Eclipse
More than half but less than fully illuminated
Gibbous
The path of an object in space as it moves around another object due to gravity
Orbit
A sun centered theory of the universe.
Heliocentric theory
The rise and fall of the oceans caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun.
Tide
The gradual decrease in the illuminated surface of the moon.
Waning
Earth centered theory of the solar system.
Geocentric theory
An oval or flattened circle
Ellipse
One of a pattern of temperature changes and other weather trends over the course of a year.
Season
The force that objects exert on one another because of their mass.
Gravity
A round pit left behind on the surface of a planet after a smaller object strikes the surface.
Impact Crater
The sun and its family of orbiting planets and moons and other objects.
Solar System
A large planet that consists mostly of gases in a dense form.
Gas Giant
The entire surface of the moon is illuminated.
Full Moon
An object that orbits a more massive object.
Satellite
