Inner Planets
The third planet from the sun, but the largest of the four terrestrial planets. Only planet we know of that contains life. The only planet that has water in its liquid form on its surface (71%+ of it). It has one natural satellite.
Earth
planet with a surface made up of a thick layer of hydrogen gas, rather than a solid surface you can stand on
gas giant
one of the four terrestrial planets in our solar system that have hard, rocky surfaces you can stand on; are within 2AU of the sun; and are within the asteroid belt
inner planets
a celestial body that orbits the sun, is round in shape, is not a moon, but has not cleared its orbit, and therefore can not be classified as a planet
dwarf planet
an imaginary line running through an object around which it rotates.
axis
All inner planets are within 2 AU of the sun. What does "AU" mean? What does it measure?
Astronomical Unit -- the average distance from Earth to the Sun in its orbit -- measures distance (length).
This blue planet with 27 moons rotates on its side. It is a gas giant, 14.5 times the mass of Earth and has the coldest atmosphere of all the planets in the solar system at an average of -320°F. It is the only planet named after a Greek God.
Uranus
the path that one celestial body follows around another
orbit
a rocky object that orbits the sun
asteroid
a force attracting one object towards another object
gravity
The red planet. Its hard, dry surface is covered in reddish dust and rocks. It is home to Olympus Mons, a dormant volcano that is the highest mountain in the Solar System. It has frozen ice caps like Earth, but does not have any liquid water on its surface. Its two moons are named Phobos and Deimos. The Greeks called the planet "Ares" after their own god of war.
Mars
Third brightest object in the sky; a gas giant with 79 moons (including Ganymede, Io, Europa, and Callisto), 11.9 year orbit, 9.8 hour days, an average temperature of -162°F, and has 318 times the mass of Earth. It is home to the Great Red Spot.
Jupiter
the gases held by gravity around Earth and around other planets. It can also be used to talk about gases around stars.
atmosphere
An icy rock that lets off gas and dust, which may form tails when it is flying close to a sun in its elliptical orbit
comet
the movement of an object around its own center axis.
rotation
description for Earth-like planets that have a hard, rocky surface that you could walk on
terrestrial
This blue gas giant once had a Great Dark Spot, a storm the size of the Earth. 14 moons (including Triton), its non-solid surface is even colder than Uranus's atmosphere and is an average of -331°F. It is the furthest planet from the sun and takes 164 years to revolve around it, but only 16.1 hours to spin on its axis.
Neptune
the space between Mars and Jupiter where most asteroids are found
asteroid belt
a meteor that hits Earth’s surface
meteorite
The movement of an object around another object.
revolution
This cloudy planet is the hottest planet in our solar system due to its thick CO2 atmosphere. Its geography is somewhat like Earth's geography with mountains, valleys, plateaus, and volcanoes. It has long rivers of molten lava and thousands of volcanoes. Like Mercury, it has phases due to being inside Earth's orbit. It is the only planet named after a female mythological figure.
Venus
This second largest planet in the solar system is actually less dense than water and would float. Its rings are made up of mostly ice with some dust and rocks; they are shepherded by some of its 82+ moons including Titan (the only moon in the Solar System that has a dense atmosphere). It has the most visible and large rings of any of the other gas giants.
Saturn
a spherical shell around our solar system. It may contain more than a trillion icy bodies. Long-period comets (which take more than 200 years to orbit the sun) come from the Oort Cloud. It is 2,000 to 200,000 AU away from the sun.
Oort Cloud
the streak of light caused when a meteoroid enters a planet’s atmosphere and starts to burn from the heat of friction.
meteor
the amount of time it takes a celestial body to spin around its axis once
period of rotation
This planet's year is only 88 days. It has no moons and is the smallest planet in our solar system. Its long days (58.7 Earth days) result in the side facing the sun reaching 800°F and the dark side going down to -300°F. It has no moons and is barren and covered with craters. It and Venus have phases because its orbit is inside Earth's.
Mercury
What gas causes Uranus and Neptune to have a blue color?
methane
a donut-shaped region of millions of icy objects that exists outside the orbit of Neptune. Objects in the Kuiper belt consist of "ices" such as ammonia, water, and methane. it includes some larger objects like the dwarf planets Pluto and Eris
Kuiper Belt
a fragment (piece) of an asteroid or comet with a size ranging from a few millimeters to several tens of meters.
meteoroid
the amount of time it takes for a celestial body to complete one orbit
period of revolution