Planets
How many planets are there in our solar system?
8 (not including dwarf planets)
What does the phrase "the naked eye" mean?
To look at something with just your eyes (no telescope, magnifying glass, etc.)
What do all planets in our solar system orbit?
The sun
What is the name of the galaxy that Earth and our solar system is in?
Milky Way Galaxy
Stars that form a pattern or shape that looks like such things as a person, an object, or an animal as seen from Earth
Constellation
What are the inner planets mostly made of?
Rock
What is the name of the telescope that, since its launch in 1990, has sent thousands of photos back to NASA, led to many new discoveries, and is still in space today?
Hubble Telescope
What do some planets have orbiting around themselves? They can have one or many of them.
Moons
What type of shape is our galaxy?
Spiral galaxy
One of the large outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, that is composted of mainly hydrogen gas
What is the nickname for the outer planets?
Gas giants
What animal did NASA first send to space?
An ape
What is a trick for remembering the names of all the planets in order?
My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles (other options are correct too!)
What is the name of the other spiral galaxy that is closest to our galaxy?
Andromeda Galaxy
A space rock whose name changes depending on whether it is orbiting the sun, burning up in the atmosphere, or falling to Earth
Meteor, meteorite, meteoroid
Name all eight planets in order.
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
What was the name of the rocket ship that the United States first sent to the moon?
Apollo 11
What is an atmosphere and what does it do?
A layer of gases around a planet. It provides protection from the sun (for Earth) and regulates temperature of a planet.
What is the name of the brightest star at the end of the Little Dipper? It stays in the same place in the night sky all year long.
The North Star or Polaris
A natural or man made object that orbits a planet or smaller object
Satellite
What are the criteria that planets have to meet?
Must orbit a star, must be large enough that it has a sphere shape, must be large enough that it has cleared its path of orbit
What is the force that rocket ships have to overcome to fly into outer space?
Gravity
What is the difference between rotating and orbiting? What space objects do each?
Rotating means spinning on an axis, like planets do. Orbiting means circling around something else, like planets orbit around the sun and the moon orbits around Earth.
How many constellations do astronomers say there are today?
88 constellations
A famous comet that is visible from Earth with the naked eye every 76 years
Halley's Comet