Celestial Bodies Flashcards
(22 cards)
Astronomy
The study of everything in space
The universe
Describes everything that exists including stars, planets, galaxies, and empty space
Galaxy
A huge collection of gas, dust, and billions of stars and their solar systems held together by gravity
What is the Milky Way?
A galaxy that the Earth belongs to, it is a spiral shaped galaxy
What are galaxy shaped like?
Elliptical shaped, or spiral shaped
Solar system
A star and all the objects that orbit it
Name six things that our solar system has
Our son, eight planets, moons, asteroids, comets, gas and dust
Planet
Any object that orbits a star, is large enough to form a rough sphere under its own gravity, and has cleared its orbit
Name the eight planets in our solar system
Mercury, Venus, earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
What are the three types of planets?
Terrestrial planets, Jovian planets, planetoids/dwarf planets
What is a terrestrial planet?
Rocky planets composed of rock and metal
What is a Jovian planet?
Composed of mainly helium and hydrogen
Meteor
a solid object from outer space that enters the earth’s atmosphere
Asteroid
A rock celestial body greater than 1 m, smaller than a planet which orbits the Sun
What do asteroids have and where they’re located?
They have no air no atmosphere, they are located on the solar system asteroid belt which lies between Mars and Jupiter
Name three classes of asteroids
C type, s type, M type
C type asteroids
Carbon based, outer limits of asteroid belt
S type
Silicon based, inner of asteroid belt
M type
Metallic based, middle of asteroid belt
Comet
A ball of frozen gas, rock, dust and ice with a highly elliptical object
Satellite
Any celestial body which orbits another celestial body (moon)
Star
A ball of gas that emits light and hear due to nuclear explosions in its core
