Space Glossary terms chapter 7 Que cards

any object that exists in space, such as a planet, a star, or a moon

a scientist who studies astronomy

the time it takes for an object to orbit another object; Earth's revolution around the sun is 365.24 days

the turning of an object around an imaginary axis running through it; Earths rotation around its axis is 24 hours

a group of stars that seem to form a distinctive pattern in the sky

the distance that light travels in one year, about 9.5 X 10 to the power of 12 km

the brightness of a star as seen from earth

a smaller group of stars that form a pattern inside of a constellation

The pointer stars are the two end stars of the plough, they are referred to as the 'pointer' because they show the way to the Pole Star or Polaris which is the main star in the Ursa Minor constellation. All of the stars seen in the night sky emerge to revolve around the Pole Star.

A circumpolar star is a star that, as viewed from a given latitude on Earth, never sets (that is, never disappears below the horizon), due to its proximity to one of the celestial poles

The zenith is an imaginary point directly "above" a particular location, on the imaginary celestial sphere

the rising and falling of ocean waters caused by the moon's and earth's gravity

the monthly progression of the changes in the appearance of the moon that result from different portions of the moon's sunlit side being visible from other

the phenomenon in which the full moon passes into earth's shadow

the phenomenon in which the shadow of the moon falls onto earth's surface

We have seasons because the earth is tilted (wonky) as it makes its yearly journey around the sun.

an object that orbits one or more stars (and is not a star itself), is spherical, and does not share its orbit with another object

the movement of an object in the sky, usually a planet, from east to west, rather than its normal motion from west to east; this effect is generally produced when earth is passing the planet in its orbit

the average distance between the earth and the sun, about 150 X 10 to the power of 6 km

the average distance between the sun and and object that is orbiting the sun

a model of the solar system stating that the earth is the center of all planetary motion, with the planets and sun travelling in perfect circles around the earth

a model of the solar system in which the sun is in the center of the planets orbiting it

an object composed of rocky materials, ice and gases; comes from the kuiper belt and oort cloud

an object in space that ranges in size from a tiny speck, like a grain of sand, to 500 km wide; most asteroids originate in the asteroid belt between mars and Jupiter

a piece of rock moving through space

a meteoroid that hits earth's atmosphere and burns up

a meteorite that is large enough to pass through earth's atmosphere and reach the ground without totally being burned up

an object that circles the sun beyond the orbit of Neptune