Topic 1b : Solar System

VOCABULARY

Galaxy: a huge group of single stars, star systems, star clusters, dust, and gas bound together by gravity.

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Universe: space and all the energy around it.

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Celestial Body: a natural object in space, such as the sun, moon, planet, or a star.

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Milky Way: a large spiral galaxy that is home to Earth and the rest of our solar system.

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Stars: balls of hot gas, primarily hydrogen and helium, that emit, or give off, light.

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Solar System: the sun, the eight planets and their moons in orbit around the sun, together with asteroids, meteoroids, and comets.

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Sun: the star at the center of our solar system that supplies heat and light to Earth; it’s enormous gravity keeps the solar system in orbit.

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Planets: a celestial body moving in an elliptical orbit around a star.

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Inner Planets: small rocky planets, with limited or no moons, that orbit closest to the sun including Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.

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Outer Planets: large planets made of gas and ice, with numerous moons, that orbit the sun, farther than the inner planets, including Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

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Moons: small celestial bodies that orbit planets.

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Asteroids: rocky metallic objects that orbit the sun but are too small to be considered planets.

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Asteroid: the region of the solar system between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, where many asteroids are found

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Meteoroids: much smaller bodies than asteroids, moving in the solar system, that would become meteors if they entered the Earth’s atmosphere.

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Comets: balls of ice, rock, and dust in space with a tail, that orbit the sun.

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Telescope: a device built to observe distant objects by making them appear closer.

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Rotation: the spinning motion of a planet on it’s axis.

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Axis: an imaginary line that passes through Earth’s center and the North and South poles, around which Earth rotates.

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Orbit: the path of an object as it revolves around another object in space

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Tilt: a slopping position or movement.