Constellation & Space Vocabulary

A massive ball of gas in outer space that gives off heat, light, and other forms of radiation.

• star

• moon

• meteor

• comet

Bodies in outer space that orbit a planet; natural satellites

• asteroids

• planets

• moons

• sun

A large circular mass that revolves around a star.

• galaxy

• solar system

• comet

• planet

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-2

Small objects made of rock or metal that orbit the Sun

• moons

• asteroids

• comets

• stars

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-3

Bodies of ice and dust that travel in a long narrow orbit around the sun

• comets

• meteoroids

• planets

• asteroids

Small chunks of rock that travel through space

• meteors

• stars

• asteroids

• meteoroids

If meteoroids enter a planet's atmosphere and burn up, they are then seen as _____________.

• moons

• comets

• meteors

• stars

A large region in the solar system past Neptune, where Pluto and other dwarf planets orbit the Sun, along with rocks, dust, and ice.

• universe

• asteroid belt

• habitable zone

• kuiper belt

A gravitationally bound system consisting of a sun and the objects that orbit it.

• universe

• kuiper belt

• galaxy

• solar system

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-2

1) An astronomical body that orbits a star, 2) is big enough to have enough gravity to force a spherical shape, and 3) is big enough that its gravity has cleared away any objects of a similar size near its orbit.

• planet

• meteor

• moon

• sun

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-3