The Solar System

4. one of the four planets closest to the sun that are solid, dense, and rocky; Mercury, Venus, Earth,
5. small rock in interplanetary space that has not entered Earth’s atmosphere
6. a huge amount of energy
7. Mars
11. enormous, oval-shaped, long-lasting storm visible on Jupiter
12. region of the solar system beyond the orbit of Neptune that contains millions of frozen objects
13. chunk of rock from space that burns up as it passes through Earth’s atmosphere
14. nuclear reaction in which two nuclei fuse, or join together, to form a larger nucleus and
16. one of the four outer planets, which are composed mainly of the gases hydrogen and helium
19. one of the four planets that are located beyond the asteroid belt in the solar system; Jupiter,
22. celestial body orbiting a star that meets all the criteria of a planet except that it has not cleared
23. of meteoroids
24. orbit of other objects
26. small, irregularly shaped rocky body that orbits the sun, typically in a belt of asteroids that is located

1. the orbits of Mars and Jupiter
2. event in which many meteors fall through the atmosphere because Earth passes through a
3. ring of gases, ice, dust, and/or rock encircling a planet in a thin plane
8. Uranus, or Neptune
9. unit of length that is used in astronomy; equals the distance between Earth and the sun
10. Jupiter’s four largest moons, which were discovered by Galileo
15. region between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter where the majority of asteroids are located
17. our sun and all of the objects that revolve around it because of the sun’s gravity
18. amount of time it takes for a planet to complete one revolution around the sun
20. celestial body orbiting a star that has enough gravity to be spherical and has cleared its orbit of smaller
21. cloud of gas and dust in space
25. small icy, dusty object with a bright tail that orbits the sun