ASTRONOMICAL OBJECTS star Alarge. lowing ballofgas that gencrates heat and light through | rnokear fusion in its core. Our Sun isa sa, planet A moderately large object that orbits @ star and shines Pearly by reflecting light fom is sa, According toa definition sdopted in 2006, an abject can be considered planet only fi (1) orbis a str, 2) large enough for is oven gravity to make st round, and (3) has cleaned moet other object rom ite orbital path Am object that meets the fist two criteria but has ot eared its orbital path ike Plo is designated a dwarf planet moon (or satelite) An cbc tha orbits a planet. The trm satelite in also used more generally o refer to any objet orbiting another ject. asteroid A relatively small and rocky object that rbisa star comet A relatively small and ice-tich object that orbit a str small solar system body An asteroid comet, or other object that orbit star bat soo smal to qualify a¢ a planet or dwarf planet. COLLECTIONS OF ASTRONOMICAL OBJECTS Solar system ‘The Sun and all the material that bis, incinding| Planets, dar plats, and seal scar system bois. Although the term solar syste technically crs only tour own tar syst oar means "othe Sun), its ofien applied to othe star systems as wall starsystem A star (sometimes more than onestar) and any plane's ann ter materials that obit galaxy A great iland of stars in space, containing ftom a few hundred million toa trillion or more sar, all held together by orbiting aconnmon center. duster (or group) of galaxor A collection of galases bound’ together by gravity. Smal clletons (up to afew dozen galaxies) are generally called groups while larger collections are called dusters superciustor A gigantic region of space in which many groups apd clusters of galaxies are packed more closely together than else ‘where inthe universe ‘universe (or cosmos) ‘Tho sum total fll matt and enorgy— thet {sal galaxies and everything between them. ‘observable universe The portion ofthe ene univers that can bbe sea from Earth, a east principle The observable universe i probably only tiny portion ofthe entire universe ASTRONOMICAL DISTANCE UNITS astronomical unit (AU) The average distance boteeen Earth and the Sun, which is about 150 milion klomacters. More technically, 1 AU is the length ofthe semimajor axis of Earths orbit. light-year ‘The distance that light can travel in 1 yeas, which i bout 9.46 rlion kilometers. Tens RELATING To MOTION. rotation ‘The spinning ofan object around its exis. For example, arth rotates once each day around its ais, which isan imaginary line connecting the North and South Paes ‘orbit revolution) The orbital motion of one object around another ue to gravity For example, Fant ovis the Sun nce each year expansion (of the universe) The increas inthe average distance between galaces a ne progseses,