Astronomy

2. A huge system of stars gas dust and dark matter held together by gravity.
5. A celestial body made of ice dust and rock that develops a glowing tail as it approaches the Sun.
9. A small rocky object that orbits the Sun mostly found in the belt between Mars and Jupiter.
10. A giant cloud of dust and gas in space often where new stars are born.
12. Any object natural or artificial that orbits a larger object in space.
17. A group of stars that forms a recognizable pattern in the night sky.
19. The distance light travels in one year used to measure vast distances in space.
20. The gravitationally bound system of the Sun and the objects that orbit it.
23. The star at the center of our Solar System which provides heat and light to Earth.
24. A large celestial body that orbits a star and does not produce its own light.
26. The force of attraction between two objects that have mass.
27. The streak of light seen when a space rock enters Earth's atmosphere and burns up often called a "shooting star."
28. Giant A large planet composed mainly of hydrogen and helium such as Jupiter and Saturn.
29. An imaginary line through the center of a planet or other body around which it rotates.
30. A massive luminous ball of plasma held together by its own gravity that produces energy through nuclear fusion.

1. A piece of rock or debris from space that survives its journey through the atmosphere and lands on Earth's surface.
3. The region of space between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter where most asteroids are found.
4. A celestial body orbiting the Sun that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity but has not cleared its neighboring region of other objects.
6. The spinning motion of a planet or other celestial body on its axis.
7. The curved path an object takes in space as it travels around another object due to gravity.
8. An area in space where gravity is so strong that nothing not even light can escape.
11. The orbital motion of one celestial body around another such as the Earth moving around the Sun.
13. A natural satellite that orbits a planet.
14. A small piece of rock or debris in space smaller than an asteroid.
15. An optical instrument used to make distant objects appear closer and larger.
16. The name of the spiral galaxy that contains our Solar System.
18. Cloud A theoretical spherical shell of icy objects thought to exist at the outermost reaches of our solar system.
21. Planet A planet with a solid rocky surface like Earth or Mars.
22. A region of the solar system beyond Neptune's orbit that contains many comets asteroids and other icy bodies.
25. Unit The average distance from the Earth to the Sun used to measure distances within our Solar System.