3rd grade EARTH IN THE UNIVERSE

24 hours

1 day

365 days or one year

1 revolution around the sun

How long does it take the moon to go through it's phases in order?

29 1/2 days

What is the constellations?

A group of stars that appear to form the shape of an animal, a person, or an object.

What is a planet?

A large body of rock or gas in space.

What does Axis mean?

A line that you cannot see from the North pole to the South pole.

blackhole

A star in which light cannot escape because of the immense gravitational pull at its surface is called a (Blank).

astronomical unit

A unit of length equal to the average distance from Earth to the sun (93 million miles).

Milky Way

A very large group of stars and planets that includes the sun and its solar system.

How long does it take Earth to make on full revolution around the sun?

About 365 day.

What are the three things that all of the inner planets have in common?

All of the inner planets have rocky surfaces, smaller than most of the other planets and warmer than the other planets.

What is a lunar eclipse?

An event in which Earth blocks sunlight from reaching the moon.

What is a solar eclipse?

An event that occurs when the moon blocks the sunlight from reaching Earth and the moon´s shadow falls on Earth.

asteroids

Any of thousands of celestial bodies with diameters between one and five hundred miles that revolve around the sun in orbits located mostly between those of Jupiter and Mars.

Why are the stars you see in summer and winter different?

Earth is orbiting the Sun.

What causes day and night to happen?

Earth rotating on its axis.

Explain what causes the seasons to happen on Earth?

Earth's tilt makes the sun's light shine on the earth at an angle.

What are stars?

Hot balls of glowing gases that give off energy.

Outer 4 planets

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

Inner 4 planets

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars

How long does it take Earth to make an full rotation?

One day

meteorites

Pieces of rock or metal that have reached the Earth from outer space.

aphelion

That point of a planet's or comet's orbit which is most distant from the sun.

rotation

The act of turning on, or around, its axis. On Earth, this is equal to 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds (=24 hours).

What is moon phases?

The different shapes that the moon seems to have in the sky when observed from Earth.

blackdwarf

The final stage of a star's life cycle, when no light is released from the star.

atmosphere

The mixture of gases that surrounds a planet.

What makes the moon look like it's moving each night?

The moon revolves around Earth.

What does revolution mean?

The movement of Earth one time around the sun.

corona

The outer atmosphere of a star.

How are most of the outer planets alike?

The outer planets are made mostly of frozen gases, are very large and have many moons.

What does orbit mean?

The path a planet takes as it revolves around the sun.

What is a lunar cycle?

The pattern of phases of the moon.

What does rotation mean?

The spinning of Earth on its axis.

What is the center of the solar system and the star that is closest to Earth?

The sun

Describe why the sun is very important to life on Earth?

The sun's energy helps plants grow and keeps Earth warm.

What is a solar system?

The sun, the planets and their moons, and the small objects that orbit the sun.

Earth

The third planet from the sun. And the only planet where life is know to exist.

greenhouse effect

The warming of an atmosphere that is the result of gases such as carbon dioxide which prevent the sun's heat from escaping.

protostar

a contracting cloud of gas and dust with enough mass to form a star

supernova

a star that explodes and becomes extremely luminous in the process

constellation

an apparent group of stars originally named for mythical characters

Sun's gravity

causes objects in the solar system to stay in orbit

asteroid

chunk of rock or metal that orbits the sun

phases

different shapes the moon seems to have

universe

everything that exists, including the sun, stars, all the planets, and outer space

constellation

group of stars that form a pattern

Saturn

has the most moons

star

hot ball of glowing gases

axis

imaginary line that goes through the North Pole and South Pole

telescope

instrument that makes things that are far away look clearer and bigger

comet

large ball of ice and dust that orbits the sun

planet

large body of rock or gas that orbits the sun

nebula

large cloud of gas and dust that contracts under gravitational force and breaks apart into smaller pieces, each of which might collapse to form a star

Jupiter

largest planet

light-year

light distance travels in one year (9.5 trillion km)

Outer planets

made of mostly gases; colder; larger

revolution

movement of one object around another

Earth

only planet that supports life; has a very watery surface. rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun. has seasons because its axis is tilted.

orbit

path an object takes around another object

lunar eclipse

result of Earth's shadow falling on the moon

solar eclipse

result of the moon's shadow falling on Earth

Inner planets

rocky surfaces; warmer; smaller

rotation

spinning of an object on its axis

solar system

sun and objects that orbit around the sun