Earth and the Solar System

Meteors

-"shooting stars" -is the LIGHT when a meteoroid passes through the Earth's atmosphere

Outer Planets

-Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune -gas giants -lots of moons each -long orbits (revolutions) -short rotations -larger

Inner Planets (compared to gas giants)

-Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars -rocky/terrestrial planets -no moons to a couple of moons -shorter orbits (revolutions) -rotation length varies -smaller sizes

Comet Location

-located outside of Neptune's orbit -orbit at different angles (example: Halley's Comet)

Kuiper Belt

-outside of Neptune's orbit -comprised of small icy objects -Pluto thought to be of this -comets may have originated from this

Objects in the Solar System

-planets -asteroids -meteoroids -natural satellites (moons) -comets

Comet Composition

-rock -ice -carbon dioxide -methane -ammonia (have a nucleus and tail trailing behind them)

Oort Cloud

-surrounds the solar system like a cloud -comets may have originated from this

Asteroids location

Asteroid Belt (which is located between Mars and Jupiter)

Why do we see only one side of the moon?

It takes 27 days for the moon to orbit the Earth. It also takes 27 days for it to rotate. As a result, we only see one side of the moon.

Galaxy we live in

Milky Way Galaxy

Meteoroids

asteroids that are smaller in size

Eclipse

blocking of light from or to a celestial body

Lunar Eclipse

blocking of the sun by the Earth (Earth blocks sun)

Solar Eclipse

blocking of the sun by the moon (moon blocks the sun)

Waxing Moon

moon appears to be growing

Waning Moon

moon appears to be shrinking

Moon phases occur because

of the sun shining its light on it's surface

Asteroids Orbit

orbit sun in the same direction as the planets

Meteorites

strike Earth surface

Moon Influence on Earth

(Controls the...) -tide -moon phases -eclipses