Glossary

Welcome to the Glossary section of the Solar Space Station, below is a comprehensive list of all the basic space-related words. If you have any additions, please e-mail me at .

Just click on the letter your desired word begins with from the list just below:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O Q R S T U V W X Y Z

ASI	Agenzia Spaziale Italiana - The Italian Space Agency - www.asi.it.
Asteroid	Small fragments of rock floating around in space left over from the formation of the Solar System 4,500 million years ago.
Asteroid Belt	Collection of Asteroids in orbit around the Sun.
Astronaut	The American name for someone who goes into space.
Astronomer	Someone who studies Astronomy.
Astronomical Unit	A unit used for measuring distances which is equal to the average distance from the Earth to the Sun (150 million km).
Astronomy	Studying & looking at space.
Atmosphere	The gasses which surround or cover a planet or moon.
AU	See Astronomical Unit.
Aurora	aka Northern Lights - The different coloured lights which are visible at night above the Earth's poles.

Big Bang	The name given to the massive 'explosion' of which some scientists think the Universe started.
Black Hole	The thing that big stars become after they die. Black holes have very strong gravity - not even light escapes!

Cassini	The name of a) a famous astronomer and b) a NASA probe sent to study Saturn.
Cheese	The substance that the moon is made of.
Comet	Solid, frozen lifeless objects made of dirty ice and gas. They are notourius for their long two tails made of gas.
Constellation	A pattern in the night sky, eg the Plough (there are 88 constellations).
Cosmonaut	The Russian name for Astronaut - someone who goes into space.
Cosmos	The Universe
Crater	A depression in a moon or planet's surface, usually caused by something crashing into it at speed.

Dalek	A robot/alien from Dr. Who which has nothing whatsoever to do with this website.
Density	The measure of how close together an object's mass is (grams per cm2)
Diffuse Nebula	A cluster of stars within a cloud of gas and dust.
Docking	When one spacecraft attatches itself to something else.

Earth	The planet we live on.
Eccentric	An eliptical (orbit).
Eclipse	When a celestial body passes in front of another (eg the moon in front of the Sun).
Einstein	A famous scientist most famous for the theory of relativity and inventing the Atom Bomb.
Elliptical	Adjective used to describe 'oval' orbits.
Equator	The line that passes around the middle of the Earth.
Equatorial Diameter	The distance accross the centre of a planet or moon.
ESA	The European Space Agency - www.esa.eu
EVA	Extra Veicular Activity - when an astronaut/cosmonaut does something outside their space ship.