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Grade 9 Astronomy
Investigation 13-C “Planet Database”
Page 446 Question 3 (a – e)
#3(a)
In months, Mercury’s orbital is about 3 months
(0.24 x 12 = 2.88)
#3(b) Distance from Sun for each gas giant
Jupiter (5.27AU x 150 million km)
= 790.5 million km
(790 500 000 km)
Saturn (9.54AU x 150 mill. km)
= 1.43 billion km
(1 431 000 000 km)
Uranus (19.19AU x 150 mill. km)
= 2.88 billion km
(2 878 500 000 km)
Neptune (30.06AU x 150 mill. km)
= 4.5 billion km
(4 509 000 000 km)
#3(c)
Jupiter’s diameter is approximately 143 000 km
(11.25 x 12 750 km = 143 437.5)
#3(d)
It takes Saturn about 10½ hours to do one rotation.
(0.44 x 24 = 10.56 hours)
* 10.56
does not equal 10 hrs. 56 minutes
#3(e)
From the chart, the smallest celestial body is
Pluto (0.002 Earth masses)
Analyze Questions #1 – 7
Page 447
1. The planets most unlike the Earth are the gas
giants (Jupiter, Saturn …)
They are unlike in all regards,
 Composition (made of gas)
 Size (much larger than Earth)
 distance from Sun (much further away)
 Temperature (much colder)
 (other reasons…?)
2. The planet(s) most similar to Earth is….
Venus or Mars
It is similar because…..
3. There is a pattern to the surface temperatures of the
planets. Generally, the closest to the Sun are the
warmest, and the temperature drops as you move
away.
The exception is Venus, which is warmer than
Mercury.
4. We would not be able to survive on Venus
because…
5. The main difference between the inner planets, and
the outer planets is…
6. Venus has a higher surface temperature than
Mercury because…
The Soviets have spent considerable time and
money in an attempt to get to Venus:
Venera A (1961)
Crashed shortly after take-off
Venera 1 (1961)
Lost contact shortly after leaving Earth orbit
Venera 2 (1965)
Lost contact 7 days after leaving Earth orbit
Venera 3 – 4 (1966 – 1967)
First set of man-made objects to crash into Venus.
Limited data on atmospheric pressure and wind speed
is transmitted before the last crash.
Venera 5 – 6 (1968 – 1969)
Fail to leave Earth orbit
Realizing the ships would be crushed long before
reaching the surface, the Soviets massively overbuilt
the next set to ensure survival.
Venera 7 (1970)
Parachute fails to fully open and crashes into the
surface at 70km/h.
All scientific instruments refuse to work except for
temperature indicator (892oF).
Contact is lost after 23 minutes.
Venera 8 (1972)
First successful landing on Venus.
Data transmitted for 50 minutes.
Soviets kick themselves for not including a camera
on board.
Venera 9 (1975)
Two cameras on board for stereoscopic images.
One camera refuses to work
(lens cap doesn’t come off)
First black and white images sent from the surface of
Venus.
Craft fails after 53 minutes.
Venera 10 (1975)
Lands, but the lens-cap doesn’t come off
Venera 11 (1978)
Lands, but the lens-cap doesn’t come off
Venera 12 (1978)
Lands, but the lens-cap doesn’t come off
Venera 13 (1981)
Lands….
The lens cap successfully comes off!
Unfortunately, it lands precisely on the area which
was targeted by the soil probe.
The multi-million dollar spacecraft sends back data
on the compressibility of a titanium lens cap.
Sends back the first (and only) coloured images from
the surface of Venus.
Shortly after, the Soviets decide to stop sending
spacecraft to Venus.
7. a) The data shows a clear pattern in the planets:
the inner and outer planets are quite different from
each other.
Planets further away are much more massive
than the inner planets, have a longer year, colder
temperatures, are composed of gas, and many more
moons.
b) There are no other “planets” beyond Pluto. All
bodies discovered beyond Pluto are all very similar in
many respects to Pluto.