Gravity Assist

An effect through which an orbiting object, such as a spacecraft or a comet, gains or loses speed by virtue of the gravitational might of a planet or other celestial object that it passes. For example, the Cassini spacecraft in its journey to Saturn used a gravity assist from Earth to increase its velocity by about 36,000 kilometers per hour (22,300 miles per hour).

Habitable Zone

A region around a star where planets with liquid water may be present. A planet on the near edge of the habitable zone would have a surface temperature slightly lower than the boiling point of water. A planet on the distant edge of the habitable zone would have a surface temperature slightly higher than the freezing point of water.

Heliocentric

An adjective meaning “centered on the Sun.”

Interplanetary Matter

Dust, gas, and other debris found within the solar system.

Interplanetary Space

The region of space surrounding our Sun. Asteroids, comets, Earth, and the solar wind are examples of things occupying interplanetary space.

Magnetic-Field Lines

Imaginary lines used to visualize a magnetic field. Magnetic field lines are related to the strength of the magnetic object’s influence and point in the same direction as a compass needle would.

Magnetopshere

A region of space above the Earth’s (or other planet’s) atmosphere where magnetic fields influence the motions of charged particles. The magnetosphere magnetically deflects or traps charged particles from space that would otherwise bombard the planet’s surface.

Nebular Theory

The idea that our solar system originated in a contracting, rotating cloud of gas that flattened to form a disk as it contracted. According to this theory, the Sun formed at the center of the disk and the planets formed in concentric bands of the disk.

Planetesimal

A small body of rock and/or ice — under 10 kilometers (6 miles) across — formed during the early stages of the solar system. Planetesimals are the building blocks of planets, but many never combined to form large bodies. Asteroids are one example of planetesimals.

Protoplanet

A small body that attracts gas and dust as it orbits a young star. Eventually, it may form a planetary body.

Solar System

The Sun and its surrounding matter, including asteroids, comets, planets and moons, held together by the Sun’s gravitational influence.

Sprites

Gamma-ray flashes produced in Earth’s atmosphere by severe lightning storms and upper atmospheric events.

Van Allen Belt

A region containing charged particles trapped in the Earth’s magnetic force field (magnetosphere). The belt’s lower boundary begins at about 800 kilometers (496 miles) above the Earth’s surface and extends thousands of kilometers into space.