| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Geology | The study of the Earth's surface and interior |
| Hypothesis | A possible explanation for a observation or phenomenon, developed from available info and used as a basis for testing |
| Astronomical Unit | The average distance between Earth and the sun, about 150 million kilometers |
| Galaxy | a group of millions, even billions, of stars held together by gravity |
| Nebula | A large cloud of dust and gas in space |
| Planetary Accretion | The gradual growth of a planet by collision and sticking |
| Super Nova | Brilliant burst of light that follows the collapse of the iron core and explosion of a massive star |
| Crust | The very thin outer layer of the Earth, above the mantle composed of a rigid later of lighter rocks |
| Singularity | the infinitely small space that all matter in the universe existed before the Big Bang |
| Astronomy | The study of the universe |
| Control | Part of the experiment that is the same |
| Light Year | The distance that light travels in a year, about 9.5 trillion kilometers |
| Local Group | group of nearby galaxies that the milky way belongs to |
| Oblate Spheroid | shape of the earth, a slightly flattened sphere |
| Big Bang | Theory of creation of Universe by instant expansion of an extremely small piece of matter of extremely high density and temperature |
| Meteor | Light made by meteoroid as it passes through Earth's atmosphere |
| Meteoroid | A rocky or icy fragment that travels through space |
| Meteorite | The part of a large meteoroid that survives its trip through the atmosphere and strikes Earth's surface |
| Mantle | The thickness of Earth's layers, located between the outer core and the Earth's crust, composed mostly of compounds rich in iron, silicon, and magnesium |
| Tambora | Volcano located in Indonasia that erupted in 1815 and caused the Year without a Summer in New England during 1816 |
| Oceanography | The scientific study of the ocean and seas |
| Variable | Part of an experiment that is changed. What is being tested |
| Kilometer | Unit of length. 1000 meters |
| Virgo Cluster | The closest cluster of galaxies to our local cluster. Contains roughly 2000 galaxies |
| Planetestimal | during planetary accretion, when blobs of matter collide to form and object 1 -10 km in size |
| Elements | A substance composed of atoms that are chemically alike and that cannot be broken down into simpler parts |
| Asteroid | A solid, rocklike mass that revolves around the sun. |
| Inner Core | The solid, inner most layer of the Earth, composed of iron and nickel under extremely high pressure and temperature |
| Tunguska | Located in Siberia, site where a asteroid struck in 1908 with the power of 1000 atmonic bombs |
| Meteorology | The study of processes that govern Earth's atmosphere |
| Theory | An explanation based on observation, reasoning, and experimentation, especially one that has been tested and confirmed as a general explanation for a phenomena that has been observed |
| Planet | 1) Round 2) Orbits the Sun 3) cleared most of its orbit of derbis |
| Nebular Hypothesis | The theory for how the solar system formed |
| Condensation | The change from water vapor to liquid water |
| Comet | a mass of rock, ice, dust, and gas traveling around the sun usually in a highly eccentric orbit |
| Solar System | The sun and its family of orbiting planets, moods, and solar system debris |
| Outer Core | The layer of the Earth's interior located between the inner core and mantle, composed of iron and nickel in a liquid state |
| White Nights | Occurred in 1908 in Northern Europe for three nights after the asteroid stuck Tunguska |
| Apparent Magnitude | the brightness of a star when viewed from Earth |
| Constellation | A group of stars that form a pattern in the sky |
| Lithosphere | the solid part of the earth consisting of the crust and outer mantle |
| Asthenosphere | the lower layer of the crust |
| Magnetic Field | The energy field created by the spinning of the inner and outer cores. |
| Proxima Centauri | Other than the Sun the next closest star to Earth, just over 4 lightyears away |
| 4.567 Billion Years | age of the earth |
| 13.7 Billion Years | age of the universe |
| Condensation Nuclei | solid surfaces around which a gas condenses |
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