The outer space is an enormous expanse. We’re still uncovering the wonders of this vast unknown. WhiZo presents a glossary of fascinating space terms. Some of these may be recognisable to you. If not, there’s still more to discover!
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Asteroid | a tiny rocky object that orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter |
| Black hole | the core of a collapsed star where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape, not even light |
| Comet | a small mass of rock and ice that orbits around the sun |
| Dwarf planet | a small planet that does not fit the description of a planet (eg. Pluto) |
| Ecosphere | the area around a star |
| Flare | sudden burst of energy seen in space |
| Galaxy | an extremely large collection of stars that extends over billions of light years |
| Hubble’s law | the farther a galaxy is from us, the farther it is moving away from us |
| Interstellar | the space between stars of a galaxy |
| Jet stream | high-speed winds that influence Earth’s weather |
| Kepler’s laws | the three most important laws related to motion of planets |
| Light year | used to measure distance in space |
| Milky way | this spiral-shaped galaxy contains our solar system and hundreds of billions of stars |
| Nebula | giant cloud of dust and gas |
| Orbit | curved path taken by a celestial object around a star, moon or planet |
| Parallax | used to measure the distance of stars from the Earth |
| Quasar | bright celestial object that is powered by the black hole |
| Rotation | when a celestial body spins around its central axis |
| Supernova | violent explosion seen as a result of the death of a star |
| Transit | passage of a celestial body |
| Umbra | the deepest and darkest area of a shadow created by a lit body that completely blocks all light |
| Void | a large expanse of unoccupied space between galaxy clusters and superclusters |
| White hole | it spews out matter and light |
| X-ray binaries | contains a normal star as well as a dead/collapsed star |
| Yellow dwarf | a white star, that appears like the Sun |
| Zodiac | the 12 zodiac constellations are represented by this imaginary belt in the sky |
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