Glossary Part 2

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

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If you have any possible additions to this list, please E-Mail me.

Galaxy	A Galaxy is a collection of millions of stars and debris in space.
Galileo	Italian astronomer who invented the telescope and made lots of astronomic discoveries.
Gas Giant	Big planets made nearly completely of gas (eg Jupiter, Saturn).
Geosynchronus Rotation	When a satellite of some sort rotates at the same speed as a planet and at a constant height (as in Arthur C. Clarke's The Fountains of Paradise).
Gravity	The force which pulls any two (or more) objects together. It is inversely proportional to the square of the distance of the objects, and is what keeps the planets, asteroids etc orbiting the Sun.
Greenhouse effect	The term used for the trapping of certain gasses by a planet's atmosphere, causing it to heat up.

Heliocentric	Centred on the Sun.
Hemisphere	A half of a celestial sphere.

Inclination	The angle between a planet and the plane of its orbit.
Ion	An atom that, because of the loss of one or more electrons, has a positive electrical charge.

Jovian

The Jovian planets are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

K	Kelvin - a measure of temperature (273 K = 0^oC, 373 K = 100^oC)
Km	Kilometre - Measure of distance (1km = 0.62 miles)

Lander	A spacecraft which lands on the surface of a planet or object in space.
Light Year	A measure of distance - the distance light travels in one year at 671 mph - 9.5 million million km (US trillion) or 63,240 AU.
Luna	The Latin word for moon.
Lunar	Of the moon.