Solar System

• Sun

  • A hot glowing ball of hydrogen and helium, a 4.5 billion-year-old yellow dwarf star providing the energy that sustains life on Earth at the center of the solar system.
• Solar wind

  • Stream of high-energy particles sent into space; causes the light display Aurora Borealis (if seen from the Northern Hemisphere) and Aurora Australis (Southern Hemisphere).
• Prominences

  • storms that look like huge arches; may last several days
• Solar flares

  • more intense than prominences; only lasts about 15 minutes
• Sunspots

  • Cool black storm areas
• Order of planets:

  1. Mercury
  2. Venus
  3. Earth
  4. Mars
  5. Jupiter
  6. Saturn
  7. Uranus
  8. Neptune
• Mercury

  • Smallest and the closest planet to the sun, has no atmosphere
• Venus

  • Has a core of molten iron, hottest planet in the solar system, rotates the slowest among the planets
• Earth

  • Only known planet to harbor life
• Mars

  • Red planet covered with iron-rich dust
• Jupiter

  • Biggest planet, has the Great Red Spot
• Saturn

  • Has prominent rings
• Uranus

  • Ice giant, orbits on the side unlike other planets
• Neptune

  • The windiest planet
• Milky way

  • The galaxy that includes our solar system
• Moon

  • Earth's only natural satellite
• Comets

  • With tails of dust and gases forced from the head by solar radiation; tail always points away from the sun
  • Also described as "dirty snowballs"
• Meteor

  • A meteoroid as it burns up in the atmosphere
• Meteorite

  • A meteoroid that does not completely burn up
• Black holes

  • collapsed stars that resulted to huge gravitational forces where even light cannot escape
• Spring tides

  • strongest tides
• Spring tides

  • When the sun, Earth, and moon are in a straight line; the sun's and the moon's gravities add up
  • Highest and lowest tides
• Neap tides

  • Weakest Tides
• Neap tides

  • When the sun, Earth, and moon form a right angle; the sun's and moon's gravities cancel out one another.
• Polaris

  • North Star; tip of Little Dipper's "handle"
• Sirius

  • Brightest Star in the night sky, "Dog Star"
• Proxima Centauri

  • Closest Star to earth but is too small to be seen in the night sky.
• Alpha Centauri

  • Closest visible star to earth (visible in the night sky)
• Moon Phases

  A) First quarter

  B) Waxing Crescent

  C) New moon

  D) Waning Crescent

  E) Third Quarter

  F) Waning gibbous

  G) Full moon

  H) Waxing gibbous