Sun & the Solar System

Solar Wind

Stream of high-energy particles sent into space; causes the light that displays aurora borealis and aurora australis

Prominences

Storms that look like huge arches; may last several days

Solar Flares

More intense than prominences; only last 15 minutes

Sunspots

Cool black storm areas

Mercury

Smallest and closest planet to the Sun; has no atmosphere

Venus

Has a core of molten iron, the hottest planet in the Solar System, and rotates the slowest among the planets

Earth

Only planet in the universe known to harbor life

Mars

Red planet, covered in iron-rich dust

Jupiter

Biggest planet, has the Great Red Spot

Saturn

Has prominent rings

Uranus

Ice giant, has orbits on its side unlike other planets

Neptune

Windiest planet

Milky Way

Galaxy that includes our solar system

Comets

“Dirty snowballs” with tails of dust and gases, forced from the head by the solar radiation; the tail always points away from the sun

Meteor

Meteoroid as it burns up in the atmosphere; “shooting star”

Meteorite

Meteoroid that does not completely burn up

Moon

Earth’s only natural satellite

Black Holes

Collapsed stars that resulted in huge gravitational forces where even light cannot escape

Quasars

Massive, remote celestial objects emitting remerkably large amounts of energy

Radio Pulsars

INtermittent radio signals emitted by dying stars (neutron stars)

Asteroid belts

Found between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter