Intro to Space vocabulary

Solar System

The Sun together with all the planets and other celestial objects that are held by the Sun's gravitational attraction and orbit around it

Plasma

A fourth state of matter consisting of a hot, electrically charged gas

Nuclear Fusion

The process taking place in the Sun's core where hydrogen nuclei fuse together under heavy pressure and high temperature to form helium and release energy

Astronomical Unit (AU)

A unit of distance equal to the average distance between the Sun and Earth, approximately 150 million km

Light

year (ly)

Asteroid Belt

A region of rocky debris that forms a ring all the way around the Sun at a distance of about 3 AU, located between Mars and Jupiter

Gas Giants

The four large outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) composed mostly of hydrogen and helium

Binary System

A star system consisting of two stars that orbit each other

Supernova

A magnificent explosion that occurs when a massive star runs out of energy and its core collapses

Nebula

A large cloud of dust and gas in space, often referred to as a "star nursery" because it is where stars develop

Galaxy

A massive collection of stars, gas, dust, and dark matter; the Milky Way contains about 200 billion stars

Dark Matter

Material that is thought to make up at least 90 percent of the mass in the universe

Black Hole

A region of space where gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape

Big Bang Theory

The theory that the universe formed approximately 13.7 billion years ago when an infinitely dense point suddenly and rapidly expanded

Red Giant

A stage in a star's life cycle when it exhausts its hydrogen and balloons to a much larger size; the Sun will eventually become one and consume Venus and Mercury

White Dwarf

A small, dense star that remains after a medium

What is an asteroid?

small rocky body that orbits the sun,

Comet Dust Tail

 Curved, wide, yellowish.

Comet Ion tail

Straight, thin, bluish gas.

Solar Wind

A stream of charged particles (mostly electrons and protons) ejected from the Sun's atmosphere, traveling through space.