Across
- 3. large, dark, flat plains on the surface of Earth's Moon
- 5. a natural luminous display of colored light in a planet's upper atmosphere, caused by charged particles from the solar wind colliding with atmospheric atoms and molecules
- 7. a three-dimensional rotational shape that is mostly round, but is flattened at the poles and bulges outward at the equator
- 8. where one tectonic plate moves beneath another and sinks into a planet's interior mantle
- 12. the bright, rugged, and heavily cratered regions that make up roughly 83% of the Moon's surface
- 13. when Earth moves directly between the Sun and the Moon, casting Earth's shadow onto the lunar surface during a full moon
- 15. the thick layer of solid or semi-fluid rock or ice situated between a planetary body's dense metallic core and its thin outer crust
- 19. the spontaneous transformation of unstable atomic nuclei into more stable configurations by emitting radiation or subatomic particles
- 21. the amount of mass contained within a specific volume
- 22. the apparent deflection of moving objects, fluids, or gas streams when they are observed from a rotating frame of reference
- 23. the geological process where a planet’s or moon's crust is pulled apart and stretched by extensional tectonic forces
- 24. the large-scale movement and interaction of rigid crustal plates over a planet's or moon's warmer, softer interior layer
Down
- 1. when the Moon passes directly between the Sun and Earth, casting a shadow on Earth’s surface and blocking the Sun's light
- 2. long, bright, streaky lines of pulverized rock and fine ejecta that radiate outward from certain impact craters on the Moon's surface
- 4. a layer of gases that surrounds a planet, star, moon, or other celestial body, held in place by its gravity
- 6. a long, narrow depression, channel, or valley on the surface of the Moon
- 9. the process by which a planet's atmosphere traps thermal energy emitted by its surface, raising the planet's average surface temperature higher than it would be without an atmosphere
- 10. is an astronomical phenomenon where an orbiting celestial body's rotational period equals its orbital period
- 11. the hypothetical single supercontinent that existed on Earth before breaking apart
- 14. photosynthesis is defined as a primary metabolic process by which extraterrestrial life converts stellar light into chemical energy
- 16. a transverse body wave that propagates through the interior of a solid planetary body during a seismic event or starquake
- 17. acoustic sound waves trapped inside stars or planets, where pressure is the primary restoring force
- 18. propagating mechanical vibrations that travel through the interior of stars or planetary bodies, used to image and study hidden internal structures
- 20. the transport of thermal energy through the physical movement of hot, less-dense gas or plasma rising and cooler, denser material sinking in a cyclical motion
- 22. a bowl-shaped depression or hollow in the surface of a solid planet, moon, or asteroid