Sun and Solar System Review
What is the Giant cometary sphere completely surrounding the solar system?
Oort cloud
The Inner Planets are also known as what?
Terrestrial planets (solid and dense)
Nebular Theory
The idea that the Sun and planets formed together from a cloud of gas and dust called a Nebula
Reddish loops of gas that link different parts of sunspot regions are called?
prominences
How many Hydrogen nuclei fuse to form one Helium in nuclear fusion?
4
The Sun is how many times larger than the moon?
400
How far away is the Sun from Earth? How many miles?
93 million
What % of the solar system's mass does the Sun contain?
99.8%
What is nuclear fusion?
A kind of nuclear reaction in which lighter atomic nuclei of H combine to form heavier nuclei (He)
The outer planets are also known as what?
Jovian planets (large, many have rings, composed mostly of H and He gas)
What does the Solar System contain?
At least 9 planets, their approx. 150 moons, and a large # of Asteroids and comets
The gas ring above the photosphere that gives off a red glow during an eclipse.
Chromosphere "chromo" means color
What is the Solar System?
Collection of objects gravitationally bound to our Sun
The turbulent layer full of hot gases in the Sun. Outermost layer of the Sun's INTERIOR.
Convection zone.
The outer / upper part of the sun's atmosphere that looks like rays.
Corona
What results from a larger meteoroid hitting Earth?
Crater
Astronomers use AU or astronomical units to discuss the distance in space because why?
Distance is so large (AU = distance from the Earth to the Sun)
All planets and their larger moons follow orbits that lie roughly in the same plane called the?
Elliptic
What is the belt beyond Neptune that contains Pluto, comets and assorted objects?
Kuiper Belt
What type of eclipse is when the Moon passes into the shadow of the Earth?
Lunar Eclipse
What are the "inner planets"?
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
The layer of the Sun that gives off visible light.
Photosphere "photo" means "light"
The zone that transfers energy towards the surface of the Sun. A region of very tightly packed gas where energy is transferred mainly in the form of electromagnetic radiation.
Radiation zone
What are the "outer planets"?
Saturn,Uranus, Jupiter, Neptune
What is a Comet?
Small icy body. "Dirty snowballs"
What type of eclipse is when the Moon's shadow falls upon Earth?
Solar Eclipse
What is an explosion that happens when the build up of magnetic energy is finally and suddenly released from the Sun?
Solar flares aka "solar eruptions"
What are darker, cooler spots on the Sun where magnetic fields are the strongest?
Sun Spots
During thermonuclear fusion, energy is given off as primarily which two types of rays?
X-rays, Gamma Rays
What direction do our planets orbit?
counter clockwise
The solar system is mostly what?
empty space
Solar flares can greatly increase what?
solar wind
Where do most asteroids and comets exist?
the innerplanetary medium, a blend of gas and particles in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
What is a light year?
A unit of astronomical distance that light travels in one year. How we measure distance in space.
Hottest part of the Sun where energy is produced.
Core
What causes meteor showers?
A result when Earth passes through a stream of particles left behind by an orbiting comet.
What is an Asteroid?
A small rocky body.
What is a meteoroid?
A small sand grain to boulder size piece of debris chipped off from an asteroid or comet.
What is a shooting star?
A tiny chip of a comet