Download Solar System Vocabulary

Solar System
Vocabulary
Composed of dust, rock and frozen
gases; has a coma, nucleus, and
tail

comet
Large ball of burning gas; fueled by
nuclear fusion

star
Red planet; would take astronauts
3 years to get here and back.

Mars
The sun and all the objects orbiting
it.

Solar system
Orbits another celestial body in
space

satellite
Why do stars that are larger and
brighter than the sun not appear
this way from Earth?

They are farther away
Orbits a planet

moon
Sentenced to house arrest for his
beliefs about the solar system

Galileo
Gas giant; large, blue-green;
similar to Uranus

Neptune
Greenhouse effect; hottest planet

Venus
Large group of stars, gas and dust
held together by gravity

galaxy
The distance light travels in one
year

Light year
Closest planet to the sun; heavily
cratered

Mercury
Every object exerts gravity on
every other object in the universe.

Universal Law of Gravitation
Pluto; does not meet all criteria to
be a planet

Dwarf planet
A meteoroid that burns up in
Earth’s atmosphere

meteor
A meteoroid that strikes Earth’s
surface

Meteorite
Small pieces of rock moving in
space

Meteoroid
Developed the sun centered model
of the solar system

Copernicus
The distance from the Sun to Earth

Astronomical unit
Planet known for many rings

Saturn
Force that attracts all objects
toward each other

gravity
Between Mars and Jupiter

Asteroid belt
Water exists in all three states on
the surface; suitable for life

Earth
Planets beyond the asteroid belt;
large and gaseous

Outer planets
Rocky/terrestrial planets with thin
atmospheres

Inner planets
Largest planet

Jupiter