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Name _____________________________________________________________
Solar System
Workbook II
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The assignments
Date
Due:in this workbook cover the following
standards:
STANDARD III: Students will understand the
relationship and attributes of objects in the Solar
System.
 Understand and correctly use unit vocabulary.
 Using a table, identify physical properties of the
components of the Solar System (i.e., planets, dwarf
planets. comets, asteroids, meteors)
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Kids Discover Planets Magazine Worksheet
Before Reading
What do you know about the planets in the Solar System? In Before Reading, write true
if you think the statement is true. Write false if you think the statement is not true.
Then read KIDS DISCOVER Planets. Check back to find out if you were correct. Write
the correct answer and its page number.
Before
After
Page
Reading
Reading
Number
1. Earth is one of the gaseous planets.
2. The Sun formed about a million years ago from a
collapsing cloud of gas.
3. Mercury is the planet closest to the Sun.
4. The hottest planet in the Solar System is
Jupiter.
5. Much of Earth looks blue from space because
more than 70 percent of its surface is covered in
water.
6. A day on Mars is less than an hour longer than a
day on Earth.
7. Planets are often formed after a star is formed.
8. Jupiter has only four moons.
9. Saturn’s rings are made of pieces of ice or rocks
coated in ice.
10. Triton, Neptune’s largest moon, is one of the
coldest places in the Solar System.
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It’s in the Reading
After reading KIDS DISCOVER Planets, choose the best answer for each question.
Fill in the circle.
Find your answer on the pages shown in the book icon next to each question.
1. Which of these is not one of the criteria the group of astronomers used to identify
an object in space as a planet?
a. Its gravity squishes it into a round ball.
b. It must orbit the Sun.
c. It must have at least one moon, or satellite.
d. It must have cleared all other objects in its orbital path.
2. What are the three criteria that a space object must meet to be considered a
planet?
a. ___________________________________________________________
b. ___________________________________________________________
c. ___________________________________________________________
3. Which planets are rocky like Earth? Which are not?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. How are Ceres and Pluto alike?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
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5. What causes the surface of Mercury to fold like the skin of a dry apple?
a. The heat of the Sun.
b. The lack of water.
c. The slight shrinking of the planet as its iron core cools.
d. The freezing temperatures in the shadowed regions at the poles.
6. What is the largest known surface feature of Mercury?
__________________________________________________________________
7. How was the Caloris Basin on Mercury formed?
a. By a volcano.
b. By a comet.
c. By a meteorite.
d. By an asteroid.
8. What is a likely reason for Venus being hotter than Mercury?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
9. How is Mars like Earth?
a. It has a thin carbon dioxide atmosphere.
b. It is cold, dry, and barren.
c. Its winter temperatures may be 200 degrees below freezing.
d. It has seasons.
10. How is Earth “invading” Mars?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
12. Which of Jupiter’s moons may have life in its buried ocean?
a. Io
b. Europa
c. Ganymede
d. Callisto
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13. What makes up the white clouds of Jupiter?
a. Organic chemicals.
b. Ammonia ice crystals.
c. Faint rings of dust.
d. Gases sinking into the atmosphere.
14. What is the Great Red Spot? Why is it red?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
15. Why are Saturn’s cloud bands less prominent than Jupiter’s cloud bands?
a. They are made up of ice.
b. Giant storms erupt in the atmosphere.
c. They are too thin to be seen.
d. The top of Saturn’s atmosphere is hazier
16. What makes up Saturn’s thousands of rings?
__________________________________________________________________
17. For what was Saturn named?
__________________________________________________________________
18. What are the fractures of Saturn’s moon Enceladus?
__________________________________________________________________
19. How is Pluto now like Ceres?
a. It is now classified as a dwarf planet.
b. It has three moons.
c. It is 3.5 billion miles from the Sun.
d. It was once classified as a planet.
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20. Why do Neptune and Uranus appear blue-green in color?
a. They have very hazy atmospheres.
b. They are giant balls of water.
c. They have thick atmospheres of hydrogen.
d. Methane is in the atmosphere.
21. How far are Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto from the Sun?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
22. What is 2003 UB 313? What is its nickname? How far from the Sun is it?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
23. Name the planets in order by their DISTANCE from the Sun.
a. ___________________________________________________________
b. ___________________________________________________________
c. ___________________________________________________________
d. ___________________________________________________________
e. ___________________________________________________________
f. ___________________________________________________________
g. ___________________________________________________________
h. ___________________________________________________________
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24. Name the planets in order from the SMALLEST to the LARGEST.
a. ___________________________________________________________
b. ___________________________________________________________
c. ___________________________________________________________
d. ___________________________________________________________
e. ___________________________________________________________
f. ___________________________________________________________
g. ___________________________________________________________
h. ___________________________________________________________
History of Saturn Discovery
(modified from Cassini Educators Guide)
Procedure
1. Look at the group of the History of Discovery Cards (get from Mr. Hill). Make sure
you understand the information on the cards.
2. Complete the timeline based on the information from the cards.
Saturn Discovery Timeline
Using the information recorded on the History of Discovery Table, complete the
timeline (name, date, what they/it did).
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1600
1610
1620
1630
1640
1660
1670
1680
1690
1700
1650
1660
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1770
1780
1880
1890
1790
1900
1800
1910
1920
1930
1940
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1940
2000
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
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Solar System Scavenger Hunt
(Picture from http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/solar_system_level2/solar_system_image.html)
Using Kids Discover Solar System magazine, complete the list below. Answers can be
found in paragraphs, tables, and the captions for photographs. The means you will have
to read the magazine very carefully to find answers. Good Luck!
Pgs. 2-3
1. A very big system of stars. ___________________________________________
2. A ball of ice, dust, rocks, and gas a few miles across. ________________________
3. Orbits a planet. Earth has one. _______________________________________
4. Third planet from the Sun. ___________________________________________
Pgs. 8-9
5. Is not the hottest planet even though it’s closest to the Sun. _________________
6. Spacecraft that found a 4,200 mile channel on Venus. _______________________
7. These planets are spinning balls of rock. _________________________________
8. After Earth, this is the most likely planet to have life. ______________________
9. A hole produced by the fall of a meteorite. _______________________________
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10. Hurricane-force dust storms whip around this planet. ______________________
11. The surface of the second planet from the Sun is so hot it will melt lead. ________
Pgs. 12-13
12. These are mostly atmosphere with very, very tiny cores. ____________________
13. These planets are big, swirling clouds of gas. _____________________________
__________________________________________________________________
14. Of all the planets that have rings, this planet’s rings are the most stunning. ______
15. The eighth planet from the Sun. ______________________________________
16. Planet tilted on its side. ____________________________________________
Pgs. 14-15
17. Was the ninth planet. Is now a dwarf planet. _____________________________
18. Its orbit is long and skinny. __________________________________________
19. Forms on comets only when it is close to the sun. __________________________
20. Left by a comet as it travels through space. Burns up in the atmosphere becoming a
meteor. ___________________________________________________________
21. Space probe that discovered a moon (Dactyl) orbiting an asteroid (Ida). ________
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Solar System Trading Cards
Task
Create a set of trading cards for each planet in the Solar System.
Materials




3x5 cards
Colored pencils or crayons
Charting the Solar System factsheet
Any Solar System reference book
Each card has two sides.
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The front shows a picture of the person. It has the name, position, etc.
The back gives you information about the person. It has statistics, personal
information, fact, etc.
Procedure
1. Draw and color a picture of the planet on the front of the card. Include…
 Planet’s name.
 Planet’s position from the Sun. (If you are doing Mercury, its position form the
Sun would be #1.)
2. On the back of the card, organize and provide the following information (Note: A
table is a good way to organize the information).







Distance from Sun.
Diameter.
Composition (what the planet’s made of – gas giant or rocky planet).
Number of moons.
Does it have rings?
Length of day.
Length of year.
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Solar System Cinquain
A cinquain is a five-line poem. It follows this pattern:
Line 1: One word – subject of the poem
Line 2: Two words – describe subject
Line 3: Three action –ing words - describe something your does
Line 4: Phrase that describes something about your subject
Line 5: One or two words – renames what your poem is about (a synonym)
Your assignment is to write eight cinquain poems. The eight must include:




One cinquain about comets.
One cinquain about asteroids.
One cinquain about a meteoroid, meteor, or meteorite.
Four cinquains about four different planets.
Write your cinquains on a sheet of paper and place it in your workbook when you turn it
in.
Here is your opportunity to use your creativity. Have fun doing this assignment.
Examples
Mercury
Inner, little
Freezing, melting, rotating
Is the smallest planet
Planet
Neptune
Far, blue
Blowing, chilling, intriguing
Farthest planet from Sun
Gas Giant
Dawn
Vesta, Ceres
Exploring, traveling, seeking
Exploring the asteroids
Space Probe
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