| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Astronomy | the study of the moon, stars, and other objects in space |
| revolution | the movement of one object around another |
| rotation | the spinning motion of a planet on its axis |
| axis | an imaginary line that passes through Earth's center and the North and South Poles, about which Earth rotates |
| orbit | the path of an object as it revolves around another object in space |
| solstice | either of the two times of the year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator |
| equinox | period of equal days and nights; the beginning of spring and autumn; Ex. vernal/autumnal equinox; ADJ. equinoctial |
| force | a push or pull exerted by an object |
| gravity | the attractive force between objects; the strength depends on the objects masses and the distances between them |
| law of universal gravitation | the scientific law that staes that every object in the universe attracts every other object |
| mass | the amount of matter in an object |
| weight | the force of gravity on an object |
| inertia | the tendency of an object to resist a change in motion |
| Newton's first law of motion | an object at rest stays at rest; an object in motion will stay in motion with a constant speed and directed unless acted upon a force |
| phases | the different shapes of the moon you see from Earth |
| eclipse | the total or partial hiding of one heavenly body by another |
| solar eclipse | occurs when the Moon passes directly between the Sun and Earth and casts a shadow over part of Earth |
| umbra | a region of complete shadow resulting from total obstruction of light |
| lunar eclipse | the blocking of sunlight to the moon that occurs when Earth is directly between the sun and the moon |
| tide | the periodic rise and fall of the sea level under the gravitational pull of the moon |
| spring tide | the tide with the greatest difference between consecutive low and high tides (new moon and full moon) |
| neap tide | the tide with the least difference between consecutive low and high tides (first quarter moon and third quarter moon) |
| penumbra | the part of a shadow surrounding the darkest part |
Combine with other sets
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace
!