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Solar System Review Questions
Journal Entries for this Unit:
1) Visual Brightness (we did this together in class)
2) Bode’s Law (you may put the table in your journal as a reference with a brief explanation
of what it is)
3) Planets – You may add tables or lists for the following references:
a. Planet order
b. List of classical vs modern planets
c. List of terrestrial vs Jovian
d. List of superior vs inferior
e. List of inner vs outer
f. List of period of revolution (1 year on each planet) and rotation period (1 day on
each planet)
g. List of planets in order of size
Using the information provided by your colleagues during their presentations as well as the
lectures/powerpoints from class (on website), answer the following questions. One word
answers are sufficient WHERE APPROPRIATE.
For each question below, think about the handouts only (there may be more recent discoveries
but you are not responsible for these).
Questions you will be responsible for on the upcoming test and the June exam:
Planets:
1. Which planet is the smallest? What is its diameter (you can round to 3 sig figs)?
2. Which planet is the largest? What is its diameter (round to 3 sig figs)?
3. Which planet is the furthest from the Sun? What is its period of revolution?
4. What is the Earth’s diameter (you can round to 3 sig figs)? Which planet is closest in
size to Earth? What is its diameter (3 sig figs)?
5. Name the different types of celestial objects in our Solar System.
6. Which celestial object was discovered most recently? When was it discovered and by
whom?
7. Which object has the most eccentric orbit?
8. Which planet has the most number of moons? How many moons does it have?
9. Who discovered Pluto? When was it discovered?
10. Which planet is the hottest?
11. What are the differences between gas giants and small planets?
12. Which object is closest in location to Earth?
13. Which planets are known to have rings? What are the rings made of?
14. Which planet is closest in size to Neptune?
15. Name a dwarf planet that is located within the Asteroid Belt.
16. Name a dwarf planet that is located within the Kuiper Belt.
17. Which is the only celestial object (besides Earth) that humans have been able to land on?
18. Which object was named after the Roman god of War because of its red colour?
19. Which object has acceleration due to gravity most similar to Earth?
20. Which planet has a density less than water (it would float if it could be put in a big
enough pool)?
21. Which objects have been visited by humans?
22. Which objects have been visited by landers?
23. Which objects have been visited by flybys or orbitors?
24. What makes an object “classical”? What makes an object modern?
25. What is the brightest object in the sky? What is its visual magnitude?
26. What is the brightest planet in the sky? What is its visual magnitude?
27. Name 1 spacecraft/rover/etc that has visited each planet or will be visiting each planet.
28. When will New Horizons reach Pluto?
29. Which is larger: our Moon or Pluto?
30. How much larger is the Earth than the Moon?
31. Which was the first planet found by mathematical prediction?
32. What is the dark spot on Neptune?
33. What is special about Uranus?
34. Name 3 unique things about Pluto.
35. What planets do not have moons?
36. What is the giant red spot on Jupiter?
37. What is Io?
38. What is Titan?
39. How old is our Solar System? How old are the planets? Explain this connection.
Planetary Systems:
40. Explain what a planetary system is and what it is made of.
41. What is the difference between a planet and a dwarf planet?
42. Compare an asteroid to a comet. (This means similarities/differences!)
43. Compare an asteroid and a dwarf planet.
44. Compare a meteor, a meteoroid and a meteorite.
45. Compare an asteroid to a meteoroid.
46. Where are comets found? What are the different parts of a comet (use a diagram and
label)? What are comets made of?
47. What is the Oort Cloud? How does it differ from the Kuiper Belt? How is it similar?
Where are they located in our Solar System?
48. What does the Asteroid Belt contain? What are these composed of? Where is this
located? What does the Asteroid Belt divide?
49. Why is Bode’s law important to astronomers? What problems does this mathematical
theory have? What else could Bode’s law be used to describe in our Solar System?
50. Explain how our planetary system was “born” using the 2 theories we discussed in class.
51. What are the problems with the Solar Nebula theory?
52. How does the Solar Nebula theory explain the following:
a) All planets are orbiting the Sun in the same direction
b) Uranus’ tilt
c) How moons are formed and are different sizes, even when they orbit the same planet
d) The 2 types of planets in our Solar System
e) The debris in the Oort Cloud/clearing the neighbourhood of the Sun
53. What is another word for an extrasolar planet?
54. What are the 6 types of extrasolar planets that have been discovered up until now? What
are the 2 theoretical extrasolar planets?
55. How much brighter is the Sun than each of the following planets?
a) Jupiter
b) Saturn
c) Mercury d) Mars