1. PLANETS

2. How many planets are in the Solar System?8

3. Name the eight planets in the correct order as they go from the sun.
Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto
Clue: My Very Eager Mother Just Sold Us Nine Pizzas

4. What are the four inner planets?
Mercury Venus Earth Mars

5. What are the four outer planets?
Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune

6. What splits the four inner planets from the four outer planets?
Asteroid Belt

7. What is the farthest planet from the sun?
Neptune

8. Average-size star that gives off light
What is the sun?
Average-size star that gives off light

9. What two things are the sun composed of?
Hydrogen and Helium

10. What are stars?
Huge balls of gas

11. A path that planets follow around the sun!
What is an orbit?
A path that planets follow around the sun!

12. What orbits around the Sun?
Planets

13. What does the Earth orbit?
Sun

14. What does the moon orbit?
Earth

15. What two things keep the planets in orbit and how?
Gravity: Force that pulls the planets toward the Sun
Inertia: A moving object that tends to keep moving in a straight line

16. What would happen to the planets if gravity were only working?
Pulled into the Sun

17. What would happen to the planets if inertia was only working?
Go in a straight line and fly off into space

18. Why does life exist on Earth and not on other planets in our solar system?
Right Temperature
Air
Water
Resources

19. What is a day? What is the reason for night and day?
A day is the amount of time it takes a planet to complete one spin.
When the Earth spins, then only one side can be facing the Sun.

20. Name some characteristics of the moon.
No water
No air
No weather
Temperature changes greatly
Rocky Surfaces
Many craters

21. How long does it take for the moon to complete all of its phases?
One Month

22. What is Earth’s nearest neighbor?
Moon

23. What are constellations?
Patterns formed by groups of stars in the night sky

24. Why do constellations appear to move across the sky?
Because Earth rotates

25. Describe the inner planets.
Solid, rocky crusts
Have atmospheres
Do not have rings
Warmer Temperatures
Slow rotation time

26. What planet is the only one that can support life?
Earth

27. Describe the outer planets.
Gaseous
Has rings
Cooler Temperatures
Many moons
Slow revolution time

28. What is an asteroid belt?
Region between Mars and Jupiter where most asteroids are found.

29. Small, rocky objects that orbit the Sun.
What are asteroids?
“Minor Planet”
Small, rocky objects that orbit the Sun.

30. What are meteors?
A chunk of rock from space that burns up as it travels through Earth’s atmosphere.
A “shooting star”

31. What are meteorites?
A chunk of rock from space that strikes the surface of Earth or the Moon.

32. What are comets?
A “dirty snowball” orbiting the Sun- a mixture of ices, frozen gases, rock, and dust left over from the formation of the solar system.

33. A collection of billions of stars.
What is a galaxy?
A collection of billions of stars.

34. What is the Milky Way?
Our galaxy

35. What is our solar system?
The Sun and the objects that are traveling around it.

36. What is a planet?
Any of the eight major objects that travel around the Sun and shine by reflecting its light.

37. The force of attraction between any two objects due to their mass.
What is gravity?
The force of attraction between any two objects due to their mass.

38. To move around, or orbit, another object.
What does revolve mean?
To move around, or orbit, another object.

39. The path a planet travels in as it goes around the Sun.
What is an orbit?
The path a planet travels in as it goes around the Sun.

40. What are phases?
As the moon travels around Earth, we see different amounts of its lighted half.

41. What effect is there because of the Earth’s tilt?
Sun’s light shines differently throughout the year

42. The blanket of gases surrounding the Earth
What is an atmosphere?
The blanket of gases surrounding the Earth

43. Time it takes for a planet to turn on its axis
What is rotation time?
Time it takes for a planet to turn on its axis
(24 hours)

44. What is revolution time?
Time it takes for a planet to orbit the Sun
(One Year)

45. Distance light travels in a year
What is a light year?
Distance light travels in a year
5.8 trillion miles

46. Closest planet to the Sun Extremely hot and cold temperatures
MERCURY
Closest planet to the Sun
Extremely hot and cold temperatures

47. VENUS
Hottest planet

48. Right temperature and resources for life Revolution time: 1 year
EARTH
Water Planet
Right temperature and resources for life
Revolution time: 1 year
Rotation time: 1 day

49. Largest volcano in our solar system Red Planet
MARS
Largest volcano in our solar system
Red Planet

50. JUPITER
Largest planet
Gas Giant

51. SATURN
Has most visible rings

52. URANUS
Tilted Planet

53. NEPTUNE
Twin Planet

54. PLUTO
No longer a planet-
dwarf planet