asteroid
description
Transcript of asteroid
asteroid
• a small rocky object in space
axis
• a line through the center of a sphere or planet
comet
• an object in space that is made mostly of ice and dust and may appear to have a “tail”
eclipse
• the hiding of a planet or the moon by the shadow of another; a way in which planets, moons, and stars (such as the Sun) line up so that one creates a shadow hiding the view of another
ecliptic
• the plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun
elliptical
• shaped in an oval
gibbous
• showing more than half, but not the whole, especially of the moon
gravity
• the pull of the earth on an object; a mutual physical force attracting two bodies, such as planets; the force of attraction between two or more objects, the strength of which is determined by mass and distance
orbit
• a path that circles around something, especially a body in space such as a planet
planet
• a large body in space that rotates around a star and does not give off light itself, but reflects light from the star
rotation
• a spin; a turn around something
satellite
• an object that goes around a larger body; an object that goes around a planet and is held in orbit by gravity
Satellites can be natural, like the moon (left), or man-made like this weather satellite (right).
tide
• the rising and falling levels of the ocean that happens twice each day
wane
• to shrink or become smaller
wax
• to grow and become larger