Unit Two Astronomy Lecture Notes

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts, celestial definitions, moons, and solar system facts from the Unit Two Astronomy lecture.

Graduated cylinders

Long slender vessels used for measuring the volumes of liquid, typically ranging in size from $5\text{ milliliters}$ to $500\text{ milliliters}$.

Mass

The amount of matter or stuff inside an object.

Volume

The amount of space an object takes up.

Solar system

The sun, planets, and other objects that revolve around it, which formed about $4.6\text{ billion}$ years ago from a cloud of gases, ice, rock, and other materials.

Saturn

The planet with the most moons in the solar system.

Celestial body

Any natural object in outer space, such as the sun, the moons, and the stars.

Milky Way galaxy

Our galaxy, which features a black hole at its center.

Planetary order (closest to least closest to the sun)

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, remembered by the mnemonic "my very educated mother just served us nachos."

Giant red spot

A notable feature on Jupiter that is caused by a storm on the planet.

Titan

A moon that belongs to Saturn.

Ganymede

A moon that belongs to Jupiter.

Triton

A moon that belongs to Neptune.

Saladis

A moon that belongs to Saturn.

Loeb

A moon that belongs to Jupiter.

AU

A unit of length representing the distance from Earth to the sun, equal to $93{,}000{,}000\text{ miles}$ or $150\text{ kilometers}$.

Requirements for a planet

The three criteria needed to be classified as a planet: it must orbit the sun, be spherical, and not share an orbital path with other planets or objects.