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The third planet closest to the Sun
What is the Earth
100
A small rock in space composed of mostly rock. They range from 33ft. to 620mi. in diameter.
What is an Asteroid
100
They layer of gases surrounding a planet, moon, or star.
What is an Atmosphere
100
A phenomenon produced when the solar wind disturbs the atoms and molecules in a planet’s upper atmosphere. Some of the energy produced is converted into colorful visible light, which shimmers and dances.
What is an Aurora
100
A ball of rock and ice. Typically a few kilometers in diameters, comets orbit the sun in paths that either allow them to pass by the sun only once or that repeatedly bring them through the solar system.
What is a Comet
200
An adjective that means “beyond the Earth.”
What is an Extraterrestrial
200
A sudden and violent outburst of solar energy that is often observed in a vicinity of a sunspot or solar prominence; also known as a solar flare.
What is a Solar Flare
200
A comet having an orbit over 200 years and usually moving in an elliptical, eccentric orbit.
What is a Long-Period Comet
200
A darkening of the moon, as viewed from Earth, caused when our planet passes between the Sun and the Moon.
What is a Lunar Eclipse
200
Dust, gas, and other debris found within the solar system.
What is Interplanetary Matter
300
Large meteors that enter the Earth’s atmosphere. Friction between a fast moving meteor and Earth’s air molecules generates tremendous heat, which causes the meteor to heat up, glow, disintegrate. In some cases, the meteor explodes leaving a visible cloud that dissipates slowly.
What is a Bolide
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A meteorite with embedded pebble-sized granules that contain significant quantities of organic matter.
What is a Carbonaceous Chondrite
300
The middle layer of the solar atmosphere between the photosphere and the corona. It varies in temperatures from below 10,000 Kelvin to over 100,000 Kelvin.
What is the Chromosphere
300
The region below a star’s surface where energy flows outward by the rising of hot gas known as convection.
What is the Convection Zone
300
The outermost layer of the atmosphere of a star. It is visible during a solar eclipse or when special adapters or filters are attached to a telescope to block the light from the star’s central region.
What is a Corona
400
One of Jupiter’s largest moons. The largest satellite in our solar system, about 5300 kilometers wide and larger than Mercury.
What is Ganymede
400
The innermost of Jupiter’s four largest moons.
What is Io
400
A region of the Earth’s upper atmosphere where solar radiations ionizes the air molecules. This region affects the transmission of radio waves and extends from 50 to 400 kilometers above the Earth’s surface.
What is Ionosphere
400
A very small meteoroid with a diameter of less than a millimeter.
What is a Micro-meteoroid
400
A small body that attracts dust and gas as it orbits a young star. Eventually, it may form a planetary body.
What is a Protoplanet
500
Gamma-ray flashes produced in Earth’s atmosphere by severe lightning storms and upper atmospheric events.
What is a Sprite
500
A region in our outer solar system where many "short-period" comets originate. The orbits of short-period comets are less than 200 years. This region begins near Neptune’s orbit at 30 astronomical units (AU) and extends to about 50 AU away from the Sun. An astronomical unit is the average distance between Earth and the Sun.
What is the Kuiper Belt
500
Imaginary lines used to visualize a magnetic field. Magnetic field lines are related to the strength of the magnetic object’s influence and point in the same direction as a compass needle would.
What is Magnetic-Field Lines
500
A dark, flat, large region on the surface of the Moon. The term is also applied to the less well-defined areas on Mars. Although it literally means “seas,” watery regions do not exist on the Moon or Mars.
What is Maria
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A vast spherical region in the outer reaches of our solar system where a trillion long-period comets (those with orbital periods greater than 200 years) reside. Comets from the here come from all directions, often from as far away as 50,000 astronomical units.
What is the Oort Cloud
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