Science flashcards

Comet

cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock, and dust that orbit the Sun.

elliptical orbit

the oval-shaped path called an ellipse on which one object revolves around another.

asteroid

Asteroids are small, rocky objects that orbit the Sun.

ceres

Dwarf planet Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and it's the only dwarf planet located in the inner solar system.

meteor

a small body of matter from outer space that enters the earth's atmosphere, becoming incandescent as a result of friction and appearing as a streak of light.

meteorite

a rock that falls to Earth from space.

meteoroid

a small body moving in the solar system that would become a meteor if it entered the earth's atmosphere.

solar nebula

a spinning, swirling disk of material.

asteroid belt

The asteroid belt probably contains millions of asteroids.

meteor shower

a transient rain of meteors, such as the Perseids, occurring at regular intervals and coming from a particular region in the sky.