Solar System Vocabulary

Question 1

The circular path of an object as it revolves around another object

Answer 1

Orbit

Question 2

A system of objects as they revolve around a star

Answer 2

Solar System

Question 3

A group of solar systems, dust, and gas that is held together by gravity

Answer 3

Galaxy

Question 4

Anything that exists in, on or around the earth

Answer 4

Universe

Question 5

A natural or artificial object that revolves around another object in space

Answer 5

Satellite

Question 6

A large circular hole on a planet or other object. This is usually created when two objects collide in space.

Answer 6

Impact Crater

Question 7

The spinning of an object around an axis (spinning around)

Answer 7

Rotation

Question 8

The orbiting of an object around another object in space

Answer 8

Revolution

Question 9

What time the year it is depending on where the earth is in orbit

Answer 9

Season

Question 10

The time when the sun has equal sunlight on both sides of the equator

Answer 10

Equinox

Question 11

When the sun reaches its highest or lowest point on either hemisphere

Answer 11

Solstice

Question 12

A level plain of dried up lava on the the surface on the moon

Answer 12

Mare

Question 13

When the Earth’s shadow covers the moon in either the day or night

Answer 13

Eclipse

Question 14

The darker shaded inner part of the shadow

Answer 14

Umbra

Question 15

Lighter shaded outer part of a shadow

Answer 15

Penumbra

Question 16

The mean distance from the Earth to the sun

Answer 16

Astronomical Unit

Question 17

Oval curve

Answer 17

Ellipse

Question 18

The inner four planets, mercury, Venus, earth, and mars

Answer 18

Terrestrial Planet

Question 19

A large planet with low density

Answer 19

Gas Giant

Question 20

A small object made of rock or metal the orbits the sun

Answer 20

Asteroid

Question 21

A body of ice and dust that travels in an orbit around the sun

Answer 21

Comet

Question 22

a streak of light in the sky that forms when a piece of rock from space burns up in Earth’s atmosphere

Answer 22

Meteor

Question 23

A piece of rock or metal that comes from space that strikes the Earth’s surface

Answer 23

Meteorite

Question 24

Having Earth as the center

Answer 24

Geocentric

Question 25

Having the sun as the center

Answer 25

Heliocentric

Question 26

Some kind of force that exists between any two objects that have mass

Answer 26

Gravity

Question 27

The rise and fall of the ocean’s surface levels because of the gravitational pull of the sun and moon

Answer 27

Tide

Question 28

To have the moon gradually “increase in size”

Answer 28

Waxing

Question 29

When the moon gradually “decreases in size”

Answer 29

Waning

Question 30

When the moon is bigger than a semicircle but smaller than a circle

Answer 30

Gibbous

Question 31

An object also known as a satellite in outer space that orbits a planet or other object

Answer 31

Moon