Solar System Vocab

region of the solar system between Mars and Jupiter

A meteoroid that passes through the atmosphere and hits Earth's surface

Rocky objects revolving around the sun that are too small and numerous to be considered planets

A region of the solar system just beyond the orbit of Neptune and that has small bodies of ice

clouds of gas and dust that form a fuzzy outer layer of a comet

Joining of an atomic nucleus into larger nuclei, during which nuclear energy is released

One of the small asteroid-like bodies that formed the building blocks of the planets.

model of the universe in which Earth is at the center

A ball of frozen dust and rock that orbits the sun and has a tail that glows

a thin disk of small particles of ice and rock that surrounds a planet

A sudden eruption of intense high-energy radiation from the sun's surface

A stream of electrically charged particles produced by the sun's corona

A elongated circle, or oval shape, the shape of the planets orbit.

An object that orbits the sun and is spherical, but has not cleared the area of its orbit.

A rocky or icy fragment that travels tough space that is smaller than an astroid

A spherical region of comets that surrounds the solar system.

part of the sun we can see as it emits light in the visible range of wavelength; sun's surface

The outermost layer of the sun's interior.

consists of the sun, the planets, their moons, and a variety of smaller objects.

model of the solar system in which Earth and the other planets revolve around the sun

A dark area of gas on the sun's surface that is cooler than surrounding gases.

outer layer of the sun which looks like a white halo or "crown"

A STREAK OF LIGHT in the sky produced by the burning of a meteoroid in Earth's atmosphere

The name given to the four inner planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars

central region of the sun which produces an enormous amount of energy through nuclear fision

loop of gas that protrudes from the sun's surface, linking parts of sunspot regions

the solid inner core of a comet

A large planet that consists mostly of gases in a dense form.

tightly packed gas in the sun's interior where energy is transferred mainly into light