Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

Let's go, begin.
Hi, everybody and welcome back to Top Words. My name is Alisha, and today, we're going to talk about 10 words for talking about space.
"Planet." The first word is "planet." So, "planets" are those really, really big things that we have in our solar system. Now they're officially eight because Pluto is no longer considered a planet. In my example sentence, "Pluto used to be considered a planet."
"Star." The next word is "star." So "stars" are those very, very bright objects that you can see in the sky, sometimes at night. The closest star to us is the Sun. The Sun is a star. And we can see a lot of other stars if we look up into the night sky sometimes. In a sentence, "It's hard to see stars from big cities."
"Solar system." The next expression is "solar system." So, "solar system" in our case here on planet Earth refers to the system of planets and objects which are near our star. So, our solar system now, there are eight planets in our solar system. It used to be nine planets, sorry again, Pluto, eight planets in our solar system. And then, we can talk about other objects which maybe enter our solar system like comets, for example, or a meteor, or some other events might happen in space within our solar system. So, our solar system is the area surrounding our Sun and our planets that we know of. In a sentence, "Mercury is part of our solar system."
"Comet." The next expression is "comet." A "comet" is actually an icy body that is slightly melting and then releasing gases. So, that's what produces that look, a comet. Okay. In a sentence, "Comets are really cool."
"Meteor." Alright. So, yes, the next word is "meteor." So, essentially, meteors are different from comets because comets are made of ice. Meteors, however, are made of rock. So, these are two different kinds of objects that move around in space. In a sentence, "Lots of meteors burn up before they pass through the atmosphere."
"Meteorite." The next word is "meteorite." So, this is an important distinction that many people don't know about, actually. This drives me crazy too. So, a meteor is the space rock. It's in space or it's in the atmosphere. A meteorite, however, is the rock--if the meteor makes it, if the meteor can pass through the Earth's atmosphere and fall to the surface of the Earth, that rock then is called a meteorite. So, in space, in the atmosphere, it's a meteor. When it falls to Earth, it is a meteorite. That becomes a meteorite when it hits the Earth. So, fun facts. Okay. That's the difference between the two. In a sentence, "Have you ever seen a meteorite?"
"Supernova." So, the explosion of a star is a huge event. A "supernova" is the name of it. So, the star explodes, and that's what we call it. It's called a "supernova," a star explosion. In a sentence, "Supernovas must be incredible things."
"Black hole." Alright, the next expression is "black hole." "Black holes" are the subject of a lot of study. They have intense gravitational pull. So, meaning they have very strong gravity. Black holes will pull other objects into them. It is said that time stops in a black hole or if you get too close to a black hole, if you get too close to the event horizon of a black hole, you yourself will be pulled into that hole too. It's pretty crazy. So, the event horizon is the point at which there's no turning back from, like you can't escape essentially at a gravitational pull of a black hole once you're within the event horizon of that space. It's like crazy. You're done for. All this kind of stuff is so interesting. So, in a sentence, "Black holes are mysterious."
"Galaxy." Okay. Alright, so the next word is "galaxy." Before, we talked about the expression "solar system." So, "solar system" is kind of our region of space, the region we're familiar with. But the next step up, so if you think of the solar system as kind of your neighborhood a little bit, you could think of maybe the galaxy as like your city or your country maybe. It's sort of the next step out. So, a "galaxy" is made up of lots and lots of stars, maybe other planets, other solar system, many other solar systems in one galaxy. I think, yeah, we belong to the Milky Way Galaxy, I believe. In a sentence, "Our galaxy is made of lots of different stars and planets."
"Earth." The next expression is "Earth." "Earth" is our planet. "Earth" is the planet we live on. "Earth" is, yeah, habitable, meaning humans can live here. This word I included it in this vocabulary list because it is a very good word to practice your pronunciation. It is the word "Earth" that "r" and the "th" sound can be difficult to pronounce together, "Earth." So this is a great word to use to practice your pronunciation of "Earth." So, in a sentence, "Our planet is called Earth."
Oh, that's the end. So, those are 10 words that you can use for talking about space. I hope that those were interesting for you. Thanks very much for watching this episode of Top Words and we will see you again soon. Bye.
Space. What sound does space make? Actually, I was just going--like trying to figure out this sound of it. It's the sound that space makes. In my head, I'm thinking, "Ah." That would be my sound of space. I'm like, "Ha" or maybe like, "Ha." Maybe silence is the best sound of space.

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