BJU - Science 6 - Ch. 11 Solar System

What are four tools that scientists use to study space?

1. Space shuttle

2. Satellites

3. Probes

4. International Space Station

What made the space shuttles unique for studying space?

The space shuttles were reusable.

satellite

An object that revolves around another object in space

What was the first satellite to orbit the Earth?

What country launched it?

Sputnik 1

Russia

probe

research space craft sent beyond the Earth's orbit

lander

a probe that is designed to land softly on a planet and then transmit photographs and environmental data back to earth

rover

a small robotic space probe that can move about the surface of a planet or moon

How far is the sun from the Earth?

93 million miles

photophere

the visible surface of the sun

Chromosphere

layer of the sun's atmosphere above the photosphere

Corona

the outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere

sun spots

dark spots on the sun caused by disturbances of the sun's magnetic field

Faculae

A bright cloud of gas on the sun's surface; usually accompanies sunspots.

solar flare

A sudden eruption of intense high-energy radiation from the sun's surface

solar prominence

a huge stream of gas that extends out past the sun's chromosphere and into the corona

solar wind

A stream of electrically charged particles produced by the sun's corona

What causes auroras?

particles from the Sun colliding with and exciting atoms in our upper atmosphere

What causes the seasons?

The tilt of the Earth's axis

List the 4 terrestrial planets

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars

List the 4 gas giants

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

Kuiper Belt

A region of the solar system that is just beyond the orbit of Neptune and that contains small bodies made mostly of ice

planet

An object that orbits a star, is large enough to have become rounded by its own gravity, and has cleared the area of its orbit.