Planet Power
Name the four terrestrial planets.
Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars
Which makes its own light: a planet or a star?
A star
What is the movement of a planet around the Sun called?
Revolution
What space object is made mostly of ice and dust?
A comet
What object should be at the center of a solar-system model?
The Sun
What do the inner planets have in common?
They are made mostly of hard, rocky material.
Which usually appears to twinkle in the night sky: a planet or a star?
A star
Which planet takes less time to orbit the Sun: one close to the Sun or one far away?
One closer to the Sun
What small rocky or metallic object orbits the Sun?
An asteroid
What object orbits Earth?
The Moon
Name the four outer planets.
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune
What shape do both planets and stars generally have?
Nearly spherical
Which planet has the shortest year: Mercury, Earth, Mars, or Neptune?
Mercury
A space object follows a long, stretched-out path around the Sun. What is it most likely?
A comet
A model correctly shows the planets in order but not their true distances from the Sun. Is that a strength or a limitation?
A limitation
Which planet is closest to Neptune?
Uranus
Why can’t we usually see most stars during the daytime?
The Sun is so bright that its light overwhelms the light of the other stars.
Why does a planet closer to the Sun usually complete its revolution faster?
It travels along a smaller/shorter orbit.
Why is Pluto called a dwarf planet instead of a full planet?
It has not cleared its orbit/orbital neighborhood.
A picture shows four planets that all look round. Which conclusion is best supported: they all have moons, they all have thick atmospheres, or they are nearly spherical?
They are nearly spherical.
Jupiter and Saturn have moons and orbit the Sun. What statement would NOT be true about both of them?
They are the closest planets to the Sun.
A student says, “That blue object is a star because stars can be blue.” What observation would better help decide whether it is a planet or a star?
Whether it twinkles / whether it makes its own light.
On an orbit diagram, Planet A is on the innermost orbit and Planet B is much farther out. Which has the shorter revolution time, and why?
Planet A, because it has the smaller orbit and is closer to the Sun.
Which clue best separates a comet from an asteroid: “made of ice and dust” or “orbits the Sun”?
Made of ice and dust, because both can orbit the Sun.
A model shows the Moon and Sun both orbiting Earth. What is wrong with the model?
Earth and the other planets orbit the Sun; only the Moon orbits Earth.