Download Solar System Review Sheet - Grosse Pointe Public School System

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Name _______KEY_________
Solar System Review Sheet
*TEST ON THURSDAY, MARCH 8th
Our Solar System
 A solar system is a star and all of the objects that travel around it.
 A star is a huge ball of glowing gas that gives off light and heat. Therefore, the sun is
the star in our solar system.
 A satellite is a smaller object that travels around a larger object.
Gravity is the force that keeps each planet in its path around the sun.
 Satellites of our sun are: planets, moons, asteroids, meteoroids, and comets.
 The path a planet takes around the sun is its orbit. It’s not an exact circle. The orbit
of the planets is oval-shaped, or an ellipse.
 If you include Pluto, there are 9 major planets in our solar system.
 To remember the order of the planets, use the mnemonic device from class:
My Very Educated Monkey Just Served Us Nachos!
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
 All of the gases that surround a planet are its atmosphere.
Characteristic
Material
Diameter
Length of orbit/year
Rotation speed
Number of rings
Number of moons
4 Inner Planets
(Mercury, Venus,
Earth, Mars)
rocky with craters
smaller
shorter
slower
none
few
4 Outer Planets
(Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, Neptune)
gas giant
larger
longer
faster
some
many
 Because of the tremendous size of our solar system, scale models help us show the
relative size or distance of the planets.
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Movement of the Earth
 The earth moves in two ways:
1) The earth revolves around the sun. The path that the planet takes as it
revolves is the planet’s orbit. One revolution around the sun is called a
year.
2) The earth rotates, or spins, on its axis. An axis is an imaginary line through
the center of a planet. One rotation of the earth is called a day. Therefore,
we have day and night because the earth rotates on its axis.
 A year on another planet may be longer or shorter than on earth because the
planet’s orbit may be larger or smaller than earth’s orbit.
Seasons on Earth
 The northern part of the earth’s axis always points toward the North Star, also
known as Polaris.
 This causes the earth to tilt on its axis. Because of this tilt, we have
seasons.
 It is summer when your hemisphere is pointing toward the sun and we receive
direct sunlight. Direct light from the sun is warmer and stronger. There are also
more hours of daylight than night during the summer, causing the temperature to
be warmer.
 It is winter when your hemisphere is pointing away from the sun and we receive
indirect sunlight. Indirect light from the sun is weaker and more spread out.
There are less hours of daylight than night during the winter, causing the
temperature to be cooler.
 The northern and southern hemisphere have opposite seasons:
Season in the Northern Hemisphere
spring
summer
fall
winter
Season in the Southern Hemisphere
fall
winter
spring
summer
 Seasons are NOT caused by how close the earth is to the sun. We know this
because the earth is closest to the sun during January in the northern
hemisphere!
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 The vernal equinox is the first day of spring that occurs in March when the
hours of daylight are equal to the hours of night time.
 The summer solstice is the first day of summer that occurs in June and is the
longest day of the year.
 The autumnal equinox is the first day of fall that occurs in September when the
hours of daylight are equal to the hours of night time.
 The winter solstice is the first day of winter that occurs in December and is the
shortest day of the year.
Our Moon
 Earth has one moon that revolves around us.
 It formed about the same time as the earth.
 Its surface has not changed in the past 3 billion years because there is no wind or
water, so there is no erosion.
 Asteroids have hit the surface of the moon causing craters.
 The moon causes tides on earth – 2 high tides and 2 low tides each day.
 The sun always lights up half of the moon. We see the moon’s phases because we
see different amounts of the moon’s lit surface.
 Here are the 8 phases of the moon:
new
moon
waxing
crescent
first
quarter
waxing
waxing
gibbous
full
moon
waning
gibbous
last
quarter
waning
waning
crescent
 A solar eclipse is when the moon moves between the earth and the sun, causing a
shadow to fall on the earth.
 A lunar eclipse is when the earth moves between the sun and the moon, causing a
shadow to fall on the moon.
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The Solar System’s Rubbish
 There are millions of other objects in the solar system other than planets and
moons.
 Asteroids are pieces of rock that orbit the sun. Most of them are in the
asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
 A comet is a frozen chunk of dust, ice, and gases that revolves around the sun and
has a glowing tail of melting ice. The tail points away from the sun.
 A meteoroid is a chunk of rock and metal moving towards earth. As the chunk of
rock shoots through the earth’s atmosphere, friction causes it to heat up and burn
and it becomes a meteor. A meteor is another name for a shooting star! If the
chunk of rock is large enough, it may not burn up completely. If it hits the earth’s
surface, it is called a meteorite.
 Draw a picture of the meteoroid - - meteor - - meteorite process:
 If one of these space objects hits a planet, a bowl-shaped hole known as a
crater forms.