Stacey Smith Vocabulary Crossword

4. A steep slope or cliff on a planet’s surface, often formed by tectonic activity or erosion.
6. A system that uses radio waves to detect, map, and measure the distance, speed, or surface features of objects like planets or asteroids.
7. Large gas or ice giant planets with thick atmospheres and no solid surface; Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
9. The smaller and more distant moon of Mars, with a smoother shape than Phobos.
12. The four largest moons of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, discovered by Galileo.
13. The minimum distance a moon can orbit a planet without being torn apart by tidal forces.
15. A huge impact crater on Mercury formed by a massive asteroid collision.
16. A large highland region on Venus containing mountains and plateaus, similar in size to Australia.
17. The larger and closer of Mars’s two moons; it is irregularly shaped and slowly spiraling toward Mars.
18. Collections of ice, rock, and dust particles that orbit a planet; most famously found around Saturn.

1. A massive canyon system on Mars, over 2,500 miles long, caused by tectonic forces rather than erosion.
2. Rocky planets with solid surfaces; Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.
3. Saturn’s largest moon, known for its thick atmosphere and lakes of liquid methane and ethane.
5. A chemical process where sunlight breaks molecules into smaller parts, common in planetary atmospheres.
8. The largest moon in the solar system, orbiting Jupiter; it is even larger than the planet Mercury.
10. The largest volcano in the solar system, located on Mars; it is about three times taller than Mount Everest.
11. Fast-moving bands of wind in a planet’s atmosphere that influence weather patterns.
14. Neptune’s largest moon, notable for its retrograde orbit and icy surface with geysers.