asteroid--one of the small planets occupying orbits mainly between Mars and Jupiter.

 

astronaut--a space traveler

 

astronomer--someone who studies the heavenly bodies

 

Black hole - An object whose gravity is so strong that the escape velocity exceeds the speed of light.

 

comet--A small body of ice and dust in orbit around the Sun. While passing near the sun, a comet's vaporized ice become its "tail".


Constellation -
A group of stars that make a shape, often named after mythological characters, people, animals, and things.

Core - The innermost layer of a planet or star.


Corona - The Sun's outer atmosphere.

crater- A hole caused by a meteorite crashing into the moon's surface or by a volcano exploding.

 

Earth--The fifth largest planet of the solar system. It is the third planet from the sun.

 

galaxy--one of the vast number of systems containing stars, star clusters 

 

Halley's Comet--He  observed the great comet of 1682 and calculated its orbit and predicted  its return in 1758.

 

Jupiter--It is the fifth planet from the sun. Jupiter has a Great Red Spot.  It is the first of the outer planets, and is the largest of all the planets. 

 

lunar eclipse--A darkening of the moon caused by the passing of the earth between the sun and the moon.

 

Mars-- Mars is the inner planet farthest from the sun.  It is called the Red Planet because its soil is red.

 

Mercury-- Mercury is the planet closest to the sun.  It is the smallest of the inner planets.

 

meteor--It falls across the dark sky, leaving a silvery trail behind.  It may look like a shooting star,  but really this is a meteor.  Meteors are the junk of the Solar system. 

 

meteorite--A part of a meteoroid that survives through the Earth's atmosphere.

 

meteoroid--A small rock in space.

 

Moon--The moon is Earth's natural satellite.  It takes the moon 27 days and 8 hours to circle the Earth.

 

Neptune--It takes 165 years to go around the sun.  It is the eighth planet. Of the four giant planets, it is farthest away from the sun.  Neptune has 3 known satellites.

 

orbit--The path of an object that is moving around a second object or point.

phases- The different shapes we see as the moon moves around the sun.

 

Pluto--Pluto still remains a mystery to scientists.  It is the ninth planet/

 

satellite--A body that revolves around a larger body

 

Saturn--Saturn isn't the only planet with rings.  It is the sixth planet from the sun. Saturn is the second largest planet in our solar system.  

 

solar eclipse--A darkening of the sun caused by the passing of the moon between the sun and the earth.

 

sun--The central controlling body of the solar system, lying at the principal focus of all planetary orbits.  It is also a star.

 

Uranus--This planet was discovered 200 years ago.  It is our seventh planet. Uranus is the third of the four big outer planets.  It is a small giant-only four times bigger than Earth.  It has rings.

 

Venus--When you look up at the sky, the brightest objects are the sun and the moon.  The next brightest is Venus. It is called the Evening Star.

 

Our Solar System

Lift Off

Poems

The Sky