1. Chapter 6 Vocabulary
Mr. Gauck

2. Satellite An object that orbits a planet
Any object that orbits around another object in space

3. PLANET
An object that orbits a star, is large enough to have become round by its own gravity, and has cleared the area of its orbit

4. METEOR
A streak of light in the sky produced by the burning of a meteoroid in Earth’s atmosphere

5. COMET
A loose collection of ice and dust that orbits the sun, typically in a long, Narrow orbit

6. STAR
A ball of hot gas, primarily hydrogen and helium, that undergoes nuclear fusion

7. CONSTELLATION
A pattern or grouping of stars that people imagine to represent a figure or object.

8. Axis
An imaginary line that passes through a planet’s and it’s north and south poles, about which the planet rotates

9. ROTATION
The spinning motion of a planet on its axis

10. REVOLUTION
The movement of an object around another object

11. ORBIT
The path of an object as it revolves around another object in space

12. CALENDAR
A system of organizing time that defines the beginning, length, and division of a year

13. SOLSTICE
Either of the two days of the year on which the sun reaches it’s greatest distance north or south of the equator

14. EQUINOX
Either of the two days of the year on which neither hemisphere is tilted toward or away from the sun

15. FORCE
A push or pull exerted on an object

16. GRAVITY
The attractive force between objects

17. LAW OF UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION
That scientific law that states that every object in the universe attracts every other object

18. MASS
A measure of how much matter is in an object

19. WEIGHT
A measure of the force of gravity acting on an object

20. INERTIA
The tendency of an object to resist a change in motion

21. NEWTON’S FIRST LAW OF MOTION
The scientific law that states that an object at rest will stay at rest and an object in motion will stay in motion with a constant speed and direction unless acted upon by a force

22. PHASE
On of the different apparent shapes of the moon as seen from earth

23. ECLIPSE
The partial or total blocking of one object in space by another

24. SOLAR ECLIPSE
The blocking of sunlight to earth that occurs when the moon is directly between the sun and earth

25. UMBRA
The darkest part of a shadow

26. PENUMBRA
The part of a shadow surrounding the darkest part

27. LUNAR ECLIPSE
The blocking of sunlight to the moon that occurs when earth is directly between the sun and the moon

28. TIDE
The periodic rise and fall of the level of water in the ocean

29. SPRING TIDE
The tide with the greatest difference between consecutive low and high tides

30. NEAP TIDE
The tide with the least difference between consecutive low and high tides

31. MARIA
Dark, flat areas on the moon’s surface formed from huge ancient lava flows

32. CRATER
A large round pit caused by the impact of a meteoroid

33. METEOROID
A chunk of rock or dust in space, generally smaller than an asteroid