Download Name - CHS Room 124

Name: _________________________
STUDY GUIDE
Date: ______________
ASTRONOMY UNIT
Part I. The Solar System
A. Names of the planets in order from the Sun.
(Remember: My Very Elegant Mother Just Served Us Noodles)
1.
5.
2.
6.
3.
7.
4.
8.
B. Our Solar System
1. One star, called the Sun, around which everything else rotates
2. Eight planets
3. One asteroid belt, located between Mars and Jupiter
4. Dwarf planets, like Pluto (considered to be a planet for about 75 years!)
5. Many moons (Earth has only one, but Saturn, for example, has 25+)
C. Planet Facts
1. Mercury- the closest planet to the sun, revolves around the Sun the fastest—once
every 88 days.
2. Venus- the hottest planet, even though it’s not the closest planet. It rotates
“backwards” when compared to the earth.
3. Earth- the only place in the universe where we know life exists.
4. Mars- the red planet, has ice and the solar system’s largest volcano.
5. Jupiter- so big that more than 1,000 Earths could fit inside it!
6. Saturn- its seven rings are the brightest and easiest to see from Earth.
7. Uranus- rotates “sideways” compared to Earth, and it has rings that are
perpendicular to Jupiter’s, Saturn’s, and Neptune’s rings.
8. Neptune- one year (one full revolution around the sun) takes about 165 Earth
years because it is so far from the Sun!
Part II. Rotation and Revolution
A. Rotation
1. Earth rotates on its axis
2. It takes the Earth 24 hours to rotate on its axis
3. We have day and night on Earth because of the Earth’s rotation
4. The size of a planet does NOT determine how fast it rotates on its axis
B. Revolution
1. Earth revolves around the Sun
2. Another word for “revolves” is “orbits”
3. It takes the Earth 365 and ¼ days to revolve around the Sun. (Every 4 years we
celebrate leap year to account for the ¼ day each year.)
4. We have a 365-day year because that’s how long it takes the Earth to make one
complete revolution around the Sun.
5. We have seasons because of the revolution around the Sun.
6. The closer a planet is to the Sun, the less time it takes for it to revolve around it.
C. Seasons
1. As the Earth revolves around the Sun, the Earth is tilted on its axis.
2. During summer months, the axis points more directly at the Sun.
3. When the axis is pointing more directly at the Sun, sunlight hits this
hemisphere more directly.
4. Because the axis is tilted towards the Sun, sunlight hits this hemisphere for more
hours, even though the Earth rotates once every 24 hours.
Part III. The Moon - Name the 8 Moon phases in order and what each phase looks like.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Part IV. Miscellaneous Facts
 the Moon has no atmosphere
 constellations are a group of stars that, as seen from Earth, seem to be next to
each other, but are actually scattered throughout the universe
 the first person in space was the Russian cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin
 the first woman in space was the Russian cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova
 the first American in space was Alan Shepard
 the first person to step on the moon was Neil Armstrong