“Solar System Vocabulary List” ENTRY #10
1. Inner / Terrestrial Planets- The solid iron core, close to the sun, rocky planets.
2. Outer / Jovian Planets- The light gas planets, furthest away from the sun.
3. Green House Effect- The trapping of re-radiate heat by carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere (Venus)
4. Retrograde Motion- The apparent backward or westward movement of a planet
compared to the background of stars.
5. Olympus Mons- The largest volcano in the solar system exists on Mars.
6. Great Red Spot- Lightning storms continually occur on Jupiter. (THIS is the most
spectacular.)
7. Roche Limit- The distance away from the planet a moon must be before being torn
apart.
8. Kuiper Belt - a band of icy debris that is in orbit around the sun, outside of
Neptunes orbit.
9. Planet- is a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its
self-gravity to shape it into a nearly round shape, and has cleared the
neighborhood around its orbit of all objects.
10. Meteorite-A meteoroid so large that it does not burn up the entire way and strikes
earth’s surface
11. Phobos-Mars’ Larger moon
12. Ganymede-Largest moon in the solar system, moon of Jupiter(Galilean)
13. IO-Most famous moon of Jupiter, active volcanoes cover the surface, Red & Yellow
sulfur erupts 180 miles high into sky.
14. Titan-Largest moon of Saturn. (2nd largest IN SOLAR SYSTEM)
15. Eris-dwarf planet named for Goddess of Chaos & Discord
16. Plutoid / Dwarf Planet- is a celestial body that has all the characteristics of a planet
except it has not cleared the neighborhood around it’s orbit of all objects
17. Oort Cloud- Large collection of comets, that lies in a cloud, completely surrounding
the solar system.
18. Comet-Is composed of dust and rock particles mixed with H2O, Methane and
Ammonia
19. Nucleus-a round ball of dust and rock mixed with frozen water methane ammonia
20. Coma- A cloud of gases formed around the ball (nucleus)
21. Tail-formed when the sun (solar wind/radiation) pushes the coma in the opposite
direction and debris left behind in the comets orbit
22. Asteroid- A piece of rock that is similar to the material that formed our planets
23. Meteoroid- Small pieces of rock that travel through space
24. Meteor-A meteoroid that burns up in the earth’s atmosphere
25. Ellipse- the shape of the orbit of one body around another, such as the Earth around the
Sun, is an ellipse.
26. Deimos- Mars’Smaller moon
27. Callisto-2nd largest of Jupiter’s moons, heavily cratered, impacted by objects
28. Europa-moon of Jupiter covered by a thick layer of H2O ice.
29. Triton-largest moon of Neptune, has the coldest surface temperature in the solar system.
(-435 degrees F or -260 degrees )
30. Ceres-is the largest asteroid ever found. (940km wide)
31. Makemake-dwarf planet named after the creator of humanity
“Solar System Vocabulary List” ENTRY #10
1. ___________________- The solid iron core, close to the sun, rocky planets.
2. ___________________- The light gas planets, furthest away from the sun.
3. ___________________- The trapping of re-radiate heat by carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere (Venus)
4. ___________________- The apparent backward or westward movement of a planet
compared to the background of stars.
5. ___________________- The largest volcano in the solar system exists on Mars.
6. ___________________- Lightning storms continually occur on Jupiter. (THIS is the
most spectacular.)
7. ___________________- The distance away from the planet a moon must be before
being torn apart.
8. ___________________ - a band of icy debris that is in orbit around the sun, outside of
Neptunes orbit.
9. ________________- is a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient
mass for its self-gravity to shape it into a nearly round shape, and has cleared the
neighborhood around its orbit of all objects.
10. ______________-A meteoroid so large that it does not burn up the entire way and strikes
earth’s surface
11. ______________-Mars’ Larger moon
12. ________________-Largest moon in the solar system, moon of Jupiter(Galilean)
13. __________-Most famous moon of Jupiter, active volcanoes cover the surface, Red &
Yellow sulfur erupts 180 miles high into sky.
14. _________-Largest moon of Saturn. (2nd largest IN SOLAR SYSTEM)
15. ________-dwarf planet named for Goddess of Chaos & Discord
16. _____________________- is a celestial body that has all the characteristics of a planet
except it has not cleared the neighborhood around it’s orbit of all objects
17. ____________________- Large collection of comets, that lies in a cloud, completely
surrounding
the solar system.
18. _______________-Is composed of dust and rock particles mixed with H2O, Methane and
Ammonia
19. _____________-a round ball of dust and rock mixed with frozen water methane ammonia
20. _____________- A cloud of gases formed around the ball (nucleus)
21. _____________-formed when the sun (solar wind/radiation) pushes the coma in the
opposite direction and debris left behind in the comets orbit
22. _____________- A piece of rock that is similar to the material that formed our planets
23. _____________- Small pieces of rock that travel through space
24. _____________-A meteoroid that burns up in the earth’s atmosphere
25. _____________- the shape of the orbit of one body around another, such as the Earth
around the Sun, is an ellipse.
26. ____________- Mars’Smaller moon
27. _____________-2nd largest of Jupiter’s moons, heavily cratered, impacted by objects
28. _____________-moon of Jupiter covered by a thick layer of H2O ice.
29. _____________-largest moon of Neptune, has the coldest surface temperature in the
solar system. (-435 degrees F or -260 degrees )
30. ____________-is the largest asteroid ever found. (940km wide)
31. ______________-dwarf planet named after the creator of humanity
32. Haumea-