Objective – Use precise scientific language in oral and written communication.
Seasons Vocabulary
Asteroids – Irregular pieces of rock moving through space in an area between the planets Mars
and Jupiter.
Axis of Rotation – An imaginary line going from the North Pole to the South Pole. The earth
spins on this line.
Celestial Object – Any natural object found in space.
Comets – Objects are made of ice, dust and gases that orbit the Sun and form a tail as it passes
close to the Sun.
Constellation – A group of stars forming a fixed pattern in the sky.
Distance – The measurement of the amount of space between objects.
Earth’s Tilt – The earth’s axis is not straight up and down, instead it leans at a 23.5o.
Force – A push or a pull.
Galaxy – Many millions of stars grouped together in space.
Gravitational Force – The pull that gravity has on an object.
Gravity – The power that attracts one object to another.
Light Year – The distance light travels in one year; it is used to measure distances in space.
Mass – The amount of matter in an object.
Milky Way Galaxy – A group of billions of stars that is home to our Solar System.
Orbit – The path that a planet travels as it goes around the Sun.
Phases of the Moon – The changes in the appearance of the moon’s shape during a month.
Planets – Celestial objects that revolve around the Sun and do not produce their own light.
Reflection – The bouncing of light off of an object. The moon appears to shine because it reflects
the Sun’s light.
Revolution – The circling of one object around another object in space. A planet revolves around
the Sun. A moon revolves around a planet.
Rotation – When a planet or moon turns all the way around or spins on its axis one time.
Satellites – A natural or human-built object which revolves around another object in space; such
as the Moon.
Scale – A unit used to help understand size relationship.
Seasons – Due to the tilt of earth as it travels around the Sun, we have spring, summer, fall, and
winter.
Solar System – The system made of eight unique planets and other objects that all orbit the Sun;
the Sun is also part of the Solar System.
Speed of Light – How fast light travels which is 186,000 miles per second or 300,000 kilometers
per second.
Star – A large celestial object made up of gases that gives off light and heat.
Sun – The star that is the center of our Solar System.
Telescope – An instrument that makes distant objects appear larger by making them look closer.
Universe – EVERYTHING that is in space.