Earth’s Orbit and Rotation Vocabulary List

An orbit is the path an object follows as it

moves around another one. Earth moves in

a circle around the sun once every 365.25

days.

• Earth’s Orbit

• Earth’s Rotation

• Stellar Parallax

• Sundial

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-1

The action of the earth turning or spinning

around its center.

• Earth’s Orbit

• Earth’s Rotation

• Stellar Parallax

• Sundial

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-6

An ancient tool used to tell time during the

day. Part of it casts a shadow onto a flat

surface marked in hours. It works due to

Earth’s rotation.

• Earth’s Orbit

• Earth’s Rotation

• Stellar Parallax

• Sundial

The apparent shift of position of some

stars through the year.

• Earth’s Orbit

• Earth’s Rotation

• Stellar Parallax

• Sundial

Ours is made up of the sun, 8 planets and

their moons. The planets all orbit around

the sun and moons orbit around a planet.

• Solar System

• Foucault’s Pendulum

• Constellations

• Shadow

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-1

NGSS.MS-ESS1-2

NGSS.MS-ESS1-3

A tool that provides evidence that the earth

is rotating. It is made of a heavy weight

hanging from a long wire which swings

back and forth. The direction of the

swinging ball appears to change due to

Earth’s rotation.

• Solar System

• Foucault’s Pendulum

• Stellar Parallax

• Time Zone

A dark shape made when an object blocks

light. When you stand outside, your body

blocks sunlight and that makes a shadow.

• Solar System

• Foucault’s Pendulum

• Shadow

• Time Zone

Tags

NGSS.5-ESS1-2

A group of stars that form a recognizable

shape such as the big dipper. Today there

are about 90 constellations.

• Constellations

• Mr. Holmquist

• Shadow

• Leap Year

A year with one additional day added. We

have leap years every 4 years because one

orbit of the earth around the sun is 365.25

days.

• Constellations

• Mrs. Pizza

• Solar System

• Leap Year

An area on Earth that has a specific time

that all people living there can set their

clocks to. There are 24 different time

zones.

• Time Zone

• Shadow

• Stellar Parallax

• Sundial