Download Solar System Test Review

Solar System Test Review
STUDY YOUR NOTES; VOCABULARY AND THIS
STUDY GUIDE…KNOW ALL OF THIS BY MEMORY!!!
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1. List the terrestrial planets and describe what makes them “terrestrial”.
a. Mercury Terrestrial means things related to land – small rocky planets
b.Venus
c. Earth
d. Mars
2. List the Gas Giants describe what makes them “Gas Planets”.
a. Jupiter
Gas giants are large and made mostly of gas
b. Saturn
c.Uranus
d. Neptune
3. List the Inner Planets in order to the Sun (closet to farthest) and describe
their location to the Sun.
a. Mercury - closest to the sun
b.Venus – 2nd
c. Earth – 3rd
d. Mars – 4th
4. List the Outer planets in order to the Sun (closet to farthest).
a. Jupiter – 5th
b. Saturn – 6th
c.Uranus – 7th
d. Neptune – 8th from the Sun
5. Define/describe the parts of the sun:
a. Corona – outer atmosphere of the sun
b. Chromospheres – thin region between Corona
c. Photosphere – area of the sun where the gases are thick enough to see and
known as the visible surface of the sun
d. Convective zone – region of the sun where hot and cooler gases circulate
in convection currents
e. radiative zone – dense region of the sun where atoms are packed tightly
f. core – Where the sun’s energy is produced.
6. What is retrograde rotation? Draw an arrow illustrating the direction it
moves.
Moves clockwise – to the right
7. What is prograde rotation? Draw an arrow illustrating the direction it
moves. Moves counter clockwise – to the left
8. Which celestial object has an elliptical orbit and crosses over the orbit of
the other planets?
Pluto
9. What is a period of rotation? Draw an example of a planet moving in a
period of rotation.
Period of rotation is the length of a day…it’s the spinning of an object in
space
10. What is a period of revolution? Draw an example of a planet moving in
a period of revolution. Period of revolution is the length of a year… it is the
motion of a body as it travels around another body in space ( remember “the
world does not revolve around you”)
11. What is the largest planet in our solar system?
Jupiter
12. What is the smallest planet (excluding Pluto) in our solar system?
Mercury
13. What term do we use to describe a year for all planets in our solar
system?
Period of revolution
14. What term do we use to describe a day for all planets in our solar
system?
Period of rotation
15. What 4 planets are closest to the sun and what is the title given to that
group of planets? Inner planets
a. Mercury - closest to the sun
b.Venus – 2nd
c. Earth – 3rd
d. Mars – 4th
16. Who improved the design of the telescope in the 1600s and discovered
many objects in our solar system? Galileo
17. Why do planets in our solar system orbit the Sun?
The sun is the celestial body with the greatest mass
18. What are the rings of Saturn composed of?
Ice, Dust, Boulders and Rocks
19. What is an Astronomical Unit?
the average distance between the sun and Earth.
20. What is a light-year?
a unit of length equal to the distance that light travels through space in 1 year
21. What are sun spots?
Sun spots are formed when magnetic fields slow down in the convective
zone causing areas on the sun to become cooler.
22. What are solar flares?
Giant storms on the sun’s surface that send huge streams of electrically
charged particles out into the solar system.
23. What are satellites?
Natural or artificial bodies that revolve around more massive bodies such as
planets.
24. What are comets?
Comets are small body of ice, rock and cosmic dust
25. What is the difference between meteors, meteorites, and meteoroids?
Meteoroids are like asteroids but smaller. – in space!
Meteorites are meteoroids that hit the ground.
Meteors are the bright streaks of light in the sky crossed our atmosphere
26. What is the difference between a rocket and a space shuttle? \
A rocket is a vehicle or device that contains all the substances needed to
burn fuel, and uses escaping gas from the burning of fuel to move.
The space shuttle is a reusable vehicle that takes off like a rocket and lands
like an airplane.
27. What is a space station?
Space station is a long-term orbiting platform from which other vehicles
can be launched or research carried out.
28. The asteroid belt is found between what 2 planets?
Jupiter and Mars
29. What makes up a comet’s ion tail?
Electrically charged particles of gas
30. What is the name of our Moon?
Luna
31. How have telescopes changed our understanding of the objects in space?
Open ended
They allowed scientist to conduct a wide variety of scientific studies