Earth & Solar System Vocabulary
Earth & Solar System Vocabulary
Word / DefinitionMeteor / Refers to the flash of light in the night sky when a small chuck of interplanetary debris burns up in the atmosphere.
Meteoroid / A piece of interplanetary debris.
Meteorite / A meteoroid is called a meteorite if it fall through the atmosphere & lands on Earth.
Asteroid / Large chunk of space rock.
Comets / Cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock & dust.
Supernova / An exploding star that has reached the end of its life span.
Nebulas / A spinning cloud of dust.
Planets / +Must be able to clear objects out of its orbit.
+Must be spherical shape.
+Must orbit a star
Celestial Bodies / Any natural body outside Earth’s atmosphere.
Ex—Moon, Sun, & Planets.
Planets of the Solar System / Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, & Neptune.
Hint--“My very exciting mom just sent us nachos!”
Terrestrial Planets / Small rocky planets.
Ex-Mercury, Venus, Earth, & Mars
Gas Planets / Large planet composed out gaseous materials.
Ex-Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, & Neptune.
Dwarf Planet / An object that doesn’t meet all of the criteria to be a considered a planet.
Orbit / Means to move in a curved path around a star, planet, & moon.
Gravity / Force that pulls objects together.
Depends of these two things:
+ Mass of the objects.
+ Distance between the objects.
Moon / + Formed from the debris left over from an impact on between Earth &
another celestial bodies in the solar system.
+ Made of iron.
+Revolves around the Earth .
Exosphere / A very thin layer of gas.
Earth & Solar System Vocabulary
Words / DefinitionsVacuum / A space that is entirely empty of matter.
Sidereal Moon / A moon that revolves around the Earth in 27.3 days.
Lunar
Moon / The amount of time between full moons---29.5 days.
Moon Phases / The phases the moon passes through in a calendar month.
+ Phases--New Moon, Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Third Quarter, & Waning Crescent.
New Moon / A moon that is not illuminated.
+ Entirely dark moon.
+ Occurs when the moon is between the Earth & Sun.
Full Moon / Moon that is 100% visible in the night sky.
+ Occurs when the moon is behind the Earth & Sun.
Waxing Moon / When the moon’s illumination is growing.
+ Moon is illuminated on the right side.
Waning
Moon / When the moon’s illumination is getting smaller.
+Moon is illuminated on the left side.
Tides / Rise & fall of Earth’s surface water due to the force of gravity.
+ High Tide-when the water level is the highest.
+ Low Tide the lowest water level.
Note-High Tides are caused when the moon’s gravity pulls on Earth’s water, The ocean swells on the side closest to the moon & on the opposite side of the planet. This occurs twice daily.
Spring Tides / When the Earth, Moon, and Sun are aligned--This happens during full and new moons.
Neap Tides / When the Earth, Moon, and Sun form a 90 degree angle (during the
First and Third Quarters), the result is a Neap Tide.
Earth & Solar System Vocabulary
Word / DefinitionsEclipse / Is the hiding of one object in space by another or the passing of an object in space into a shadow cast by another object.
Solar Eclipse / When the moon blocks the Sun's light and casts a shadow on the Earth,
this is called a solar eclipse. Moon is directly between the Earth and the Sun.
Lunar Eclipse / It is when themoon passes into Earth's shadow.--Occurring only during a full moon.
Umbra / Darkest inner part of the moon’s shadow. At point where it reaches the Earth.
You would see a total eclipse.
Penumbra / Large outer part of the moon’s shadow—only a partial eclipse.
Moon Phases
Earth & Solar System Vocabulary
Word / DefinitionRotating / Spinning in its place.
+The Earth rotates on its axis---causing days & nights.
Revolving / Moving around something.
+The Earth revolves around the sun in one year.
Earth Tilt / +23.5 Degrees
+Causes the seasons.
Sun Height / +Sun higher in the sky in the summer---equal more sunlight & warmer temperatures.
+Sun lower in the sky in the winter---equal less sunlight & colder temperatures.
Hemispheres / Earth is divided into four parts—(Northern, Southern, Eastern, & Western)
+United States belong to Northern & Western Hemispheres.
+ When the Northern Hemisphere has summer the Southern Hemisphere has winter.
+ When the Norther Hemisphere has winter the Southern Hemisphere has summer.
Equinox / Two days during the year in which the amount of daytime & nighttime are completely equal.
+Spring Equinox------March 20th or 21st
+Autumn Equinox----September 22nd or 23rd
Solstice / Beginning of the summer & winter.
+Summer Solstice----June 21st or 22nd (Earth titled most toward the sun)
+Winter Solstice------December 21st or 22nd (Earth titled away from the sun)