Download Solar System Study Guide

Solar System Study Guide
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* Terrestrial Planets (the 4 inner, smaller planets between the Sun and the Asteroid Belt).
Mercury: Closest to the sun, takes 88 days to orbit the Sun.
Venus: The hottest planet, takes 225 days to orbit the Sun, surrounded by thick clouds.
Earth: Goldilocks (just right) planet, 365 ¼ days to orbit the Sun. Only planet known to have life.
Mars: The red planet, has seasons & polar ice caps, takes 687 days to orbit the Sun. We plan to have a colony
on Mars in the next 10-15 years (Mars One).
Asteroid Belt: located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter and has many irregularly shaped
bodies called asteroids or minor planets.
The Gas Giants (the outer, larger planets located after the Asteroid Belt)
Jupiter: The LARGEST planet, has Great Red Spot (a giant storm), takes 12 years to orbit the Sun.
Saturn: A planet with 100s rings (made of dust, ice & rock), takes 29.5 years to orbit the Sun.
Neptune: The beautiful blue/green planet (due to methane gas), strong winds (up to 1,300 mph), and takes
165 years to orbit the Sun.
Uranus: The planet that spins on its side (horizontal), has many moons (at least 27), ring systems and takes
84 years to orbit the Sun.
Pluto: Poor Pluto was demoted from planet status, is now considered a “dwarf” planet. The LAST planet to be
discovered (in the year 1930).
Planets are NOT an equal distance from each other and revolve at different rates around the Sun.
AU (Astronomical Unit): 1 AU = the distance from the Sun to Earth. 1 AU = 150 million kilometers = 93,000,000 miles.
Asteroids, Meteors, and Comets:
Asteroids: LARGE chunks of rock and metal that orbit the sun. Can be called a minor planet.
Comets: Dirty chunks of ice/snowballs and the tail always points away from the sun due to the solar winds
(movement of heat away from sun).
Meteors: Meteors are small pieces of space debris (junk) pulled into Earth’s atmosphere by gravity.
Space Exploration:
Robert H. Goddard: Father of modern rocketry
John F. Kennedy: The United States President who launched a huge space exploration program.
Satellite: A natural or artificial object that revolves around the Earth.
Hubble Telescope: Orbits the Earth and takes pictures of planets and space to help us learn more about our
galaxy and other galaxies.
International Space Station: A lab, observatory, and factory in our exosphere orbiting Earth.
Voyager 1: This probe has left our solar system (Sept. 2013) and has traveled farther than any other space
exploration probe.
New Horizons: This mission is scheduled to reach Pluto in July 2015.
Mars Rover: Shown above – recently landed on and explored Mars.
Fruit Flies, a monkey and a dog: Were sent into space between 1947 & 1957 before the first human was sent
into space in 1961 to ensure space travel was safe for living organisms.
Space Shuttle: The GREATEST BENEFIT of using the space shuttle was transporting astronauts and material
to and from space.