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16 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Star |
A large, glowing ball of gas that generates heat and light through nuclear fusion. |
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Planet |
A moderately large object which orbits a star; it shines by reflected light. They may be rocky, icy or gaseous in composition. |
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Moon |
An object which orbits a planet |
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Asteroid |
A relatively small and rocky object which orbits a star. |
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Comet |
A relatively small and icy object which orbits a star |
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Solar (star) system |
A star and all the material which orbits it, including its planets and moons |
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Nebula |
An interstellar cloud of gas and/or dust |
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Galaxy |
A great island of stars in space, all held together by gravity and orbiting a common center. |
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Atom |
Microscopic "building blocks" of all chemical elements. |
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Universe |
The sum and total of all matter and energy; that is, everything within and between all galaxies. |
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Scientific notation |
Simple way to write very large or small numbers without using lots of zeros. 380,000 to 3.8x10^5 |
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Solar system |
The sun, its family of planets, and some smaller bodies such as moons and comets. |
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Astronomical unit (AU) |
Distance from the earth to sol. 1.5x10^8 km. |
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Light year (ly) |
The distance light travels in one year. Roughly 10^13km or 63,000 AU. |
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Spiral arms |
Arms winding outward from a galaxy. Places where stars are formed from clouds of gas and dust. |
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Milky way galaxy |
Our galaxy. It has spiral arms and had never been photographed by us. |
