The Solar System Vocab Crossword

3. time of the year during which Earth’s axis is at 90 degree angle to the sun; both hemispheres receive exactly 12 hours of sunlight and the Sun is directly overhead at the equator
7. a small fragment of an orbiting body that has fallen to Earth, generating heat; does not completely burn up in Earth's atmosphere and strikes Earth’s surface, sometimes causing an impact crater
8. percentage of sunlight that is reflected by the surface of a planet or satellite, such as the Moon
9. small, eccentrically orbiting body made of rock and ice which have one or more tails that point away from the Sun
12. piece of interplanetary material that falls toward Earth and enters its atmosphere
14. when the Moon passes between the Earth and Sun and the Moon casts a shadow on Earth; blocking Earth’s view of the sun; can be partial or total
15. period when the Sun is overhead at its farthest distance either north or south of the equator

1. an oval that is centered on two points, called the foci; the shape of planets' orbits
2. when Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon, and Earth’s shadow falls on the Moon; occurs only during a full moon
4. plane of Earth’s orbit around the sun
5. the average distance between the Sun and Earth 1.496 x 10^8 km
6. space object built of solid particles that can form planets through collisions and mergers
10. an object that, due to its own gravity, is spherical in shape, orbits the sun, is not a satellite, and has not cleared the area of its orbit of smaller debris
11. layers of loose, ground-up rock on the lunar surface
13. streak of light produced when a meteoroid falls towards Earth and burns up in Earth’s atmosphere