Solar System Vocabulary

Asteroids

• A small rock or rocky grain that strikes Earth's surface.

• Bodies in space made of ice, dust and small gritty particles.

• An irregularly shaped rocky object in space (like a space potato).

• Sometimes called a "shooting star"

Comets

• While in space a meteorite is called this.

• An irregularly shaped rocky object in space (like a space potato).

• Sometimes called a "shooting star"

• Bodies in space made up of ice, dust and small gritty particles.

Meteor

• A small rock or rocky grain that strikes Earth's surface.

• While in space a meteorite is called this.

• Sometimes called a "shooting star"

• Bodies in space made up of ice, dust and small gritty particles.

Orbit

• An imaginary line about which a body rotates.

• The action of rotating around an axis or center.

• The movement of an object in a circular or elliptical course around another or about an axis or center.

• The curved path of a celestial object or spacecraft around a star, planet, or moon.

Axis

• An imaginary line about which a body rotates.

• The curved path of a celestial object or spacecraft around a star, planet or moon.

• The action of rotating around an axis or center.

• The force that attracts a body towards the center of the earth, or towards any other physical body having mass.

Rotation

• An imaginary line about which a body rotates.

• The action of rotating around an axis or center.

• The movement of an object in a circular or elliptical course around another or about an axis or center.

• The force that attracts a body toward the center of the earth, or towards any other physical body having mass.

Revolution

• The curved path of a celestial object or spacecraft around a star, planet or moon.

• An imaginary line about which a body rotates.

• The action of rotating around an axis or center.

• The movement of an object in a circular or elliptical course around another or about an axis or center.

Gravity

• The action of rotating around an axis or center.

• The force that attracts a body toward the center of the earth, or toward any other physical body having mass.

• The movement of an object in a circular or elliptical course around another or about an axis or center.

• The curved path of a celestial object or spacecraft around a star, planet or moon.

Constellation

• A very large group of stars and planets surrounded by dust and gas.

• A ball of burning gases in space.

• A group of stars that forms a pattern or a shape.

• A rocky metallic object that travels around the sun.

Galaxy

• A very large group of stars and planets surrounded by dust and gas.

• A ball of ice and rock with a tail of light that moves around the sun.

• A small asteroid that forms a streak of light as it travels through Earth's atmosphere.

• A rocky metallic object that travels around the Sun.