Solar System Bodies
What is the term for the solid remains of a meteor that falls to Earth?
Meteorite
What is the outflow of low-density, hot gas from the Sun’s upper atmosphere called?
Solar wind
What two parts of a comet can you see in the sky?
Nucleus and Tail
What is the visible surface of the Sun called?
Photosphere
What is the condition in which pressure and gravitational forces in a star or planet are in balance called?
Hydrostatic Equilibrium
Pluto is considered to be the latest member of _______
The Kuiper Belt
What is the cyclic change in solar activity, such as sunspots and solar flares, called? It is measured by the rise and fall of magnetic activity on the Sun and the rise and fall in sunspot activity.
Solar Cycle
what is it called when Earth passes through the debris left by a comet?
Meteor Shower
What is the region immediately below the Sun’s visible surface in which its heat is carried by the rising and sinking of its gases?
Convection zone
What is the name for the group of bodies orbiting just outside Neptune?
Trans Neptunian Objects
Where so short period comets come from
Kuiper Belt
What is a comet whose orbital period is shorter than 200 years called?
Short-Period Comets
Where do short-period comets come from? Where do long-period comets come from?
Short-period comets come from the Kuiper Belt; long-period comets come from the Oort Cloud
What is the outer, hottest part of the Sun’s atmosphere called?
Corona
What is the difference between an asteroid and a dwarf planet?
Dwarf planets are spherical, while asteroids are irregularly shaped
What are numerous small, icy objects orbiting in the outer part of the Solar System beyond Neptune called?
Trans Neptunian Objects
The large plumes of gas that push as far as the Corona level of the Sun's atmosphere and happens around sunspots due to magnetic activity that can have an Aurora like feature on the Sun.
Prominences
What are comets made of?
Ice, dust, rocky material
What is the dark, cooler region on the Sun’s visible surface called?
Sunspot
Where is the asteroid belt located? What are the spaces between the belts called?
Between Mars and Jupiter / Kirkwood Gaps
What term describes a small, generally rocky, solid body orbiting the Sun, ranging from a few meters to hundreds of kilometers in diameter?
Asteroid
What is a sudden increase in brightness of a small region of the Sun, created because of magnetic activity happening near sunspots?
Solar flares
What are three things that may happen if a 10 Kilometer asteroid were to hit the earth tomorrow?
It would produce an explosion equal to several billion nuclear weapons
It would make a huge crater and blast up dust and molten rock into the air
The molten rock would rain down and raise the surface temperatures so high it would ignite global wildfires
It would create nitrogen oxides which would combine with water to form highly concentrated nitric acid rain
All of this would be followed by months of darkness and intense cold caused by the dust blocking out the Sun
This would cause a mass extinction
What is the name for the pattern of rising hot gas cells all over the photosphere?
Granulation
How long ago was the major impact in the Yucatan that wiped out the dinosaurs?
About 65 million years ago