Space Vocd Flashcards
Orbit
An orbit is a regular, repeating path that one object in space takes around another one. An object in an orbit is called a satellite. A satellite can be natural, like Earth or the moon. Many planets have moons that orbit them
Solar System
DescriptionThe Solar System is the gravitationally bound system of the Sun and the objects that orbit it, either directly or indirectly. Of the objects that orbit the Sun directly, the largest are the eight planets, with the remainder being smaller objects, the dwarf planets and small Solar System bodies
Galaxy
A galaxy is a gravitationally bound system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, and dark matter. The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias, literally “milky”, a reference to the Milky Way.
Universe
DescriptionThe Universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy.
Satellite
DescriptionIn the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object that has been intentionally placed into orbit. These objects are called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as Earth’s Moon. On 4 October 1957 the Soviet Union launched the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1.
Impact Crater
An impact crater is an approximately circular depression in the surface of a planet, moon, or other solid body in the Solar System or elsewhere, formed by the hypervelocity impact of a smaller body
Rotation
the action of rotating around an axis or center.
Revolution
In political science, a revolution (Latin: revolutio, “a turn around”) is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due to perceived oppression (political, social, economic) or political .
Season
each of the four divisions of the year (spring, summer, autumn, and winter) marked by particular weather patterns and daylight hours, resulting from the earth’s changing position with regard to the sun.
Equinox
DescriptionEquinox Fitness is an American luxury fitness company which operates several separate fitness brands: Equinox, PURE Yoga, Blink Fitness, and SoulCycle. Within Equinox’s portfolio of brands, there are more than 135 locations within major cities across the United States, as well as in London, Toronto, and Vancouver.
Solstice
A solstice is an event occurring when the Sun appears to reach its most northerly or southerly excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around June 21 and December 21
Mare
DescriptionA mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four years old.
Eclipse
DescriptionEclipse is an integrated development environment used in computer programming. It contains a base workspace and an extensible plug-in system for customizing the environment.
Umbra
DescriptionUmbra is a home accessories design and manufacturing company. The company has headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and satellite offices in the Netherlands, Brazil, the United States, and China. The firm sells more than 2,000 home products through over 25,000 retailers in 120 countries
Penumbra
the partially shaded outer region of the shadow cast by an opaque object.
Astronomical Unit (AU)
DescriptionThe astronomical unit is a unit of length, roughly the distance from Earth to the Sun and equal to about 150 million kilometres. However, that distance varies as Earth orbits the Sun, from a maximum to a minimum and back again once a year.
Ellipse
a regular oval shape, traced by a point moving in a plane so that the sum of its distances from two other points (the foci) is constant, or resulting when a cone is cut by an oblique plane which does not intersect the base
Terrestrial Planet
Within the Solar System, the terrestrial planets are the inner planets closest to the Sun, i.e. Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. The terms “terrestrial planet” and “telluric planet” are derived from Latin words for Earth (Terra and Tellus), as these planets are, in terms of structure, Earth-like.
Gas Giant
a large planet of relatively low density consisting predominantly of hydrogen and helium, such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune.
Asteroid
Asteroids are minor planets, especially of the inner Solar System. Larger asteroids have also been called planetoids.
Comet
DescriptionA comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail.
Meteor
DescriptionA meteoroid is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are significantly smaller than asteroids, and range in size from small grains to one-meter-wide objects. Objects smaller than this are classified as micrometeoroids or space dust.
Meteorite
A meteorite is a fragment of rock or iron from outer space, usually a meteoroid or asteroid, which survives passage through the atmosphere as a meteor to impact the surface of the Earth. Meteorites are believed to originate in the asteroid belt between the planets of Mars and Jupiter.
Geocentric
having or representing the earth as the center, as in former astronomical systems.
