Earth & Solar System Vocabulary
Word Definition
Meteor 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 Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, & Neptune.
Solar System 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 Definitions
Vacuum A space that is entirely empty of matter.
Sidereal Moon A moon that revolves around the Earth in 27.3 days.
Lunar The amount of time between full moons---29.5 days.
Moon
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 When the moon’s illumination is getting smaller.
Moon +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 Definitions
Eclipse 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 the moon 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 Definition
Rotating 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)
