Down to
Basics
Some important terms to
understand our solar
system
SSI 2007
Gage
On the Move…
Rotation
movement of a body
on its imaginary axis
Revolution
movement of one
object around
another
SSI 2007 Gage
On the Move…
Day
period of time for
one complete
rotation
Year
period of time for
one complete
revolution
Orbit
path of a body during
revolution
SSI 2007 Gage
Things that Move…
Solar system
a star and the
celestial objects
that orbit the star
Our solar system
contains the Sun,
planets, moons,
asteroids, and
comets
NASA
SSI 2007 Gage
Things that Move…
Star
self-luminous object; our star is called the
Sun
Satellite
smaller object that orbits a larger object
Planet
object that orbits a star
Moon
object that orbits a planet
SSI 2007 Gage
Things that Move…
Asteroid
small rocky body that orbits the Sun; may
be contained in the asteroid belt
Comet
“dirty snowball” composed of ice, rocky
material, dust and gases; very eccentric
orbit
SSI 2007 Gage
Cover-Ups…
Atmosphere
blanket of gases
that surrounds a
planet
Venus
Jupiter
Has an atmosphere
Titan (moon)
SSI 2007 Gage
Ganymeade (moon) Mercury
Has no atmosphere