Astronomy Vocab

3. the force of attraction between all masses in the universe
7. the spinning motion of a planet on its axis
10. the movement of an object around another object
11. the amount of matter in an object
14. a huge cloud of dust and gas in space
16. planets the four planets that have rocky surfaces
18. all of space and everything in it
20. a ball of dust and ice that orbits the sun
23. the partial or total blocking of one object in space by another
25. the force of gravity on an object
26. an imaginary line that passes through Earth's center and its North and South Poles

1. eclipse when the earth passes between the sun and the moon and casts a shadow on the moon
2. the first day of spring or fall when the sun is directly over the equator.
4. the study of the moon, stars, and other objects in space
5. a bright streak of light that results when a meteoroid burns up in the Earth's atmosphere
6. an imaginary pattern of stars in the sky
8. matter that does not give off electromagnetic radiation but is quite abundant in the universe
9. giants planets made up mostly of substances that would be gases on Earth - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
12. the time that Earth's poles point at their greatest angle toward or away from the sun.
13. rocky objects revolving around the sun that are too small and numerous to be considered planets
15. an object so massive and dense that even light cannot escape its gravity
17. a collection of stars, star systems, dust, and gas bound together by gravity
19. wind a stream of electrically charged particles given off from the sun
21. the path of an object as it revolves around another object in space
22. the periodic rise and fall of the sea level under the gravitational pull of the moon
23. an elongated circle, or oval shape, the shape of the planets orbit.
24. year the distance that light travels in one year; about 9.46 trillion kilometers