1. Solar System Vocabulary

2. Composed of dust, rock and frozen gases; has a coma, nucleus, and tail comet comet

3. Large ball of burning gas; fueled by nuclear fusion star star

4. Red planet; would take astronauts 3 years to get here and back. Mars Mars

5. The sun and all the objects orbiting it. Solar system Solar system

6. Orbits another celestial body in space satellite satellite

7. Why do stars that are larger and brighter than the sun not appear this way from Earth? They are farther away They are farther away

8. Orbits a planet moon moon

9. Sentenced to house arrest for his beliefs about the solar system Galileo Galileo

10. Gas giant; large, blue-green; similar to Uranus Neptune Neptune

11. Greenhouse effect; hottest planet Venus Venus

12. Large group of stars, gas and dust held together by gravity galaxy galaxy

13. The distance light travels in one year Light year Light year

14. Closest planet to the sun; heavily cratered Mercury Mercury

15. Every object exerts gravity on every other object in the universe. Universal Law of Gravitation Universal Law of Gravitation

16. Pluto; does not meet all criteria to be a planet Dwarf planet Dwarf planet

17. A meteoroid that burns up in Earth’s atmosphere meteor meteor

18. A meteoroid that strikes Earth’s surface Meteorite Meteorite

19. Small pieces of rock moving in space Meteoroid Meteoroid

20. Developed the sun centered model of the solar system Copernicus Copernicus

21. The distance from the Sun to Earth Astronomical unit Astronomical unit

22. Planet known for many rings Saturn Saturn

23. Force that attracts all objects toward each other gravity gravity

24. Between Mars and Jupiter Asteroid belt Asteroid belt

25. Water exists in all three states on the surface; suitable for life Earth Earth

26. Planets beyond the asteroid belt; large and gaseous Outer planets Outer planets

27. Rocky/terrestrial planets with thin atmospheres Inner planets Inner planets

28. Largest planet Jupiter Jupiter