Astronomy Vocabulary

Fall 2010 Oak Ridge Elementary

Rotation

I was rotating on my chair in class.

Turning around, or spinning, on an axis, or center point.

From Tricky’s Photostream on Flickr

Solar System

The Earth is part of our solar system.

The Earth, Moon, other planets and objects, that circle around our Sun.

From This is Yu’s Photostream on Flickr

Orbit

The planets orbit around the sun.

When a planet or moon circles around another body, like the sun.

From imageeditor’s Photostream on Flickr

Revolution

For every year the Earth makes one revolution around the Sun.

Each time a planet or moon completes an orbit around something.

heliocentric

Galileo believed in heliocentrism.

The astronomical theory that the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun and that the Sun is stationary and at the center of the universe.

Vocabulary Week One

• Rotation: Turning around, or spinning, on an axis, or center point.

• Solar System: The Earth, Moon, other planets and objects, that circle around our Sun.

• Orbit: When a planet or moon circles around another body, like the sun.

• Revolution: Each time a planet or moon completes an orbit around something.

• Heliocentric: The astronomical theory that the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun and that the Sun is stationary and at the center of the universe.