The Solar System
This what we call the distance between the Earth and the sun.
What is an Astronomical Unit?
This what we call chunk of metal and rock that enters the Earth’s atmosphere.
What is a meteorite?
This is the point in a planet’s orbit when it is closest to the sun.
What is perihelion?
Solar energy hits the Northern Hemisphere directly in winter.
False.
This would result if the earth rotated more quickly than it does now.
What is a shorter day?
This is a chunk of rock and metal that is smaller than an asteroid that orbits the sun.
What is an meteoroid?
The Summer Solstice marks the beginning of summer, and is the day of the year with the most hours of this. The Winter Solstice marks the beginning of winter and has the least hours of this.
What is sunlight?
Most asteroids orbit the sun between these two planets.
What are Mars and Jupiter?
This “wobble” of the earth on its axis is the longest of Earth‘s cycles.
What is precession?
This is the movement of one object in an orbit around another object.
What is revolution?
All the planets in our Solar System revolve at the same rate as Earth.
False. All the planets in our solar system revolve and rotate at different rates, and each has a unique day and year.
This would result if the Earth revolved around the sun more slowly.
What is a longer year?
This is a chunk of rock and frozen gas that orbits the sun.
What is a comet?
When the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the sun, it is experiencing this season.
What is summer?
This is a system of planets revolving around a star.
What is a planetary system?
There are this many planets in our Solar System.
What is 8?
This is the path a moon or planet follows as it revolves around a planet or star.
What is an orbit?
A comet has a tail when it gets near the sun because the sun’s gravity pulls material from it as it passes.
False. A comet has a tail near the sun because the sun melts the ice in the comet and creates a “tail” of water vapor and dust.
This would result if the Earth revolved more quickly around the sun.
What is a shorter year?
This is a chunk of rock and metal that orbits the sun.
What is an asteroid?
Mercury and Venus have negligible (little or no) axial tilt, so therefore they don’t experience these.
What are seasons?
This model of the universe puts the sun at the center of the solar system.
What is the heliocentric model?
This is the point in a planet‘s orbit when it is farthest from the sun.
What is aphelion?
This is an oval path.
What is an ellipse?
Earth is closest to the sun when it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
True.
This would result if the earth rotated slower than it does now.
What is a longer day?
This phase of the moon is when half the moon’s lit side is visible after the waxing crescent moon.
What is the First Quarter?
This is the angle at which a planet’s axis is tilted from vertical.
What is axial tilt?
Daylight and darkness are caused a by a planet doing this.
What is rotating on its axis?
This is the result of one rotation of Earth.
What is one day?
This is the imaginary line that runs through a planet’s center from the North Pole to the South Pole.
What is the axis?
All planets in a solar system will have the same year and day length.
False. Every planet rotates and revolves at a different rate, and therefore every planet’s day and year will be different.
A geocentric model of the solar system puts this at the center.
What is the Earth? (“Geo” means having to do with our Earth)
During the new moon, this much of the moon is visible.
What is practically none?
This is a period of the year with a certain level of temperature and type of weather.
What is a season?
This is at the center of our solar system.
What is the sun? (Duh!)
Over thousands of years, the North Star seems to change because of this.
What is the wobble of the earth’s axis?
This is the distance light can travel through a vacuum (space, for example) in one year.
What is a light year?
Earth’s orbit is an ellipse.
True.
This happens when the moon is halfway through its orbit, and its whole lit side is visible.
What is a full moon?
These are the different shapes the moon seems to have when viewed from earth.
What are phases?
Earth has seasons because of this.
What is axial tilt?