Solar System Vocabulary Practice

a massive star that has collapsed in on itself and whose gravity is so powerful that it pulls everything in, even light

used to measure distance in space; equal to the distance that light travels in one year.

a spiral galaxy; our home in space (Earth’s galaxy)

a group of stars that forms a pattern in the sky

Moon(s) orbiting a body in space

a ball of gases that gives off light and heat

a group of stars, gases, and dust held together by gravity and that travels through space

Phases of the moon that occur after the full moon as the visible side of the moon grows smaller

a lump of ice, rock, frozen gas, and dust that orbits the sun

pieces of rock and metal similar to that which formed planets

The dark features of the moon are called

an imaginary line through the center of a planet around which that body spins

a cloud of gas and dust in space that forms stars

a burst of bright light and energy from a black hole that has pulled in matter

the curved path of a satellite around another body in space

Phases of the moon after the new moon as the visible side of the moon grows larger

a region between Mars and Jupiter where most asteroids are found

dark areas on the sun cooler than their surroundings

small pieces of comet that move through space

occurs when the moon passes between the earth and the sun

envelope of gases that surrounds Earth

the spinning of a planet or another body on its axis

a yellow, average, middle-aged star

The four seasons on Earth are caused by

a small meteoroid that burns up in Earth’s atmosphere

The only two planets without a moon are

a meteoroid that strikes the earth