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The Outer Planets
Inquiry Warm-Up, How Big Are the Planets?
In the Inquiry Warm-Up, you investigated the relative sizes of the outer planets. Using
what you learned from that activity, answer the questions below.
1. EXPLAIN Explain how in Step 2 you calculated the relative diameter of
Jupiter in millimeters.
2. CALCULATE About how many Neptunes would you have to place side
by side in order to equal the diameter of Jupiter?
3. INFER Based on their relative sizes, would you expect Saturn or
Neptune to have the least mass? Explain.
4. ANALYZE SOURCES OF ERROR Explain whether a diagram, a data table,
or a pie chart is better to use to precisely compare the sizes of the
outer planets.
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The Outer Planets
What Do the Outer Planets Have in Common?
I get it! Now I know that the gas giants all
I need extra help with
What Are the Characteristics of Each Outer Planet?
1. DESCRIBE Describe one feature of each outer planet that distinguishes
it from the others.
I get it! Now I know that the outer planets differ in
I need extra help with
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The Outer Planets
On a separate sheet of paper, explain how the four outer planets are alike and tell one
distinctive thing about each.
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The Outer Planets
Understanding Main Ideas
Answer the following questions in the spaces provided.
1. What are the outer planets?
2. Which planets are the gas giants?
3. Which planet is by far the most massive of all the planets that revolve
around the sun?
4. What are Saturn’s rings made of?
5. Describe the tilt of Uranus’s axis, and explain how the tilt affects Uranus’s rotation as
viewed from Earth.
6. Name one feature of Neptune’s atmosphere.
Building Vocabulary
Answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper.
7. Define gas giant.
8. What is a ring?
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The Outer Planets
The diagram below shows the orbits of Neptune and Pluto. Read the passage and study
the diagram. Then answer the questions that follow on a separate sheet of paper.
The Orbits of Neptune and Pluto
Pluto is a celestial body known as a dwarf planet. It orbits the sun and has a roundish shape, but has
not cleared other objects out of the path of its orbit, a qualification for full planet status. Pluto was once
thought of as a planet, but scientists downgraded it to a dwarf planet in 2006.
The orbit of Neptune is very close to circular. Pluto’s orbit is more elliptical. The arrows on the diagram
show Pluto’s position at different times. The unit of distance used in the diagram is the astronomical unit,
or a.u. An a.u. is the average distance from Earth to the sun, about 150 million kilometers. Neptune’s
distance from the sun is about 30 astronomical units, or 4,495 million kilometers.
1. In 1989, Pluto was as close to the sun as it ever gets. How close
was it?
2. What was Neptune’s distance from the sun in 1989?
3. Pluto takes 248 years to complete on revolution around the sun.
When will Pluto and Neptune next be an equal distance from
the sun?
4. When will Pluto next be as far from the sun as it ever gets?
5. Which body is farther from the sun now, Neptune or Pluto?
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The Outer Planets
Fill in the blank to complete each statement.
1. All the outer planets have many
13 to greater than 60.
2. A(n)
, which range in number from
is a thin disk of small particles of ice and rock.
3. Because the four outer planets are so large, they are often called
.
4. A few scientists believe that Saturn’s largest moon,
support life.
5. Uranus’s axis is tilted at an angle of about
vertical.
, may
degrees from the
If the statement is true, write true. If the statement is false, change the underlined word
or words to make the statement true.
6.
Temperatures decrease tremendously from the outer to inner
layers of the gas giants.
All the gas giants’ atmospheres are made up primarily of
7.
helium and oxygen.
8.
Space telescopes such as Cassini have revealed many details of
the outer planets.
9.
Uranus is three times as far from the sun as Saturn, so it is much
colder.
10.
Neptune’s blue color comes from methane in its atmosphere.
The Outer Planets
Answer Key
1. I found the diameter of the quarter and then
multiplied by 11.2.
2. about four
3. Ignoring all other factors, the smallest planet
should have the least mass. Neptune should
have less mass than Saturn.
1. 29 a.u.
2. 30 a.u.
3. In 2227 (1979 + 248)
4. In 2113 (1989 + 124)
5. Pluto (after February 1999)
4. A data table would provide more accurate
data to use in precisely comparing the sizes of
the outer planets.
Sample: The four outer planets, known as the
“gas giants,” all contain hydrogen and helium.
They all have many moons and are surrounded
by a set of rings. Jupiter has an enormous storm,
larger than Earth, called the Great Red Spot.
Saturn has the most spectacular rings. Viewed
from Earth, Uranus rotates from top to bottom,
because its axis of rotation is tilted at about 90
degrees from the vertical. Neptune’s atmosphere
has visible clouds.
1. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune
2. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune
3. Jupiter
4. chunks of ice and rock
5. Uranus’s axis is tilted at 90 degrees from the
vertical. Viewed from Earth, Uranus rotates
from top to bottom instead of from side to
side.
6. Sample: Visible clouds
7. Sample: A planet that is very large and does
not have a solid surface
8. a thin disk of small particles of ice and rock
1. moons
2. ring
3. gas giants
4. Titan
5. 90
6. increase
7. hydrogen
8. probes
9. twice
10. true