Planetary Motion
The force that holds all the planets in their orbit.
What is GRAVITY?
A ball of ice, dust and frozen gases that orbits the sun in an elliptical orbit.
What is a comet?
Scientists have recently found evidence of liquid water on this planet, suggesting that it might have once supported life (and could do so in the future).
What is Mars?
This is the farthest planet from the sun
What is NEPTUNE?
The invention and improvement of this device over hundreds of years has greatly improved our understanding of the Solar System.
What is a telescope?
True or False: Gravity only exists in our planet's solar system.
What is false?
These are naturally-created objects that orbit a planet.
What are moons?
This planet is being explored by numerous robots that we have sent there.
What is Mars?
This is a field of small objects that rotates the sun between Mars and Jupiter.
What is the asteroid belt?
This person developed the laws of planetary motion, which include a basic understanding of gravity.
Who is Newton?
Gravity is an attraction that exists between all objects that have this.
What is mass? (Matter would work, too)
Chunks of space rocks that are too small and too numerous to be considered planets.
What are asteroids?
List two things the inner planets have in common that the outer planets don't have.
What is they are small, rocky, closer together, closer to the sun, shorter orbital path/year, less moons, no rings? (must have 2)
These two planets are known as the Ice Giants.
What are NEPTUNE and URANUS?
This is one benefit of using robots to explore planets and other objects in the solar system.
(Answers may vary)
True or False: Gravity was a force that helped form our Solar System and the objects within it.
What is true?
The reason why Pluto is a dwarf planet instead of a full-fledged planet.
What is it didn't clear its orbital path of other objects?
This planet has a similar gravity and size as Earth.
What is Venus?
Name two things the outer planets have in common.
What is they are much larger than the inner planets, made of gas, lots of moons and have rings, farther apart, longer orbits and farther from the sun?
The name for the Earth-centered model of the solar system.
What is the geocentric model?
What is the sun?
Explain the difference between a meteoroid, a meteor, and a meteorite.
meteoroids are in space, can fall through the atmosphere.
meteors are the streaks of light produced from a burning meteoroid
meteorites are pieces of a meteoroid that reach the Earth's surface.
This planet is one of the four inner planets, has no moons, is the smallest planet and has the shortest year.
What is Mercury?
Name the outer planets in order, starting with the Asteroid belt going to the Kuiper belt.
What is Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune?
Using a telescope, Galileo saw that there were moons that orbited around Jupiter. Explain how this changed our understanding of the solar system.
It showed that not everything orbited around the Earth.