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
An imaginary line about which a turning body such as Earth rotates.
Axis of Rotation
A brief streak of light produced by a particle entering Earths atmosphere at high speed.
Meteor
A small solid rocky body that orbits the sun.
Asteroid
The dark central region of a shadow such as the cone of the complete shadow cast by an object.
Umbra
A planet that has a rocky surface.
Terrestrial Planet
In an orbit, a position and time in which sun shines equally on both hemispheres.
Equinox
In a orbit, a position and time during which one hemisphere receives the maximum sunlight.
Solstice
The gradual increase of the illuminated surface of the moon.
Waxing
Space and all matter and energy in it.
Universe
More than half but less than fully illuminated.
Gibbous Moon
Millions and billions of stars held together in an group by their own gravity.
Galaxy
An event during which one object in space casts a shadow onto another
Eclipse
