Planet Basics
This force keeps planets in orbit around the Sun.
What is gravity?
This zone around a star is where liquid water can exist on a planet’s surface.
What is the habitable zone (Goldilocks zone)?
The four terrestrial planets in our solar system are Mercury, Venus, Earth, and this planet.
What is Mars?
The four gas giants in our solar system are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and this planet.
What is Neptune?
THE ORBITS OF THE PLANETS HAVE AN _____________, OR OVAL, SHAPE.
What is elliptical
The four planets closest to the Sun are classified as these types of planets
What are terrestrial planets?
A planet must have this essential feature to protect it from harmful solar radiation.
What is an atmosphere?
The surface of this planet is covered in thick clouds of sulfuric acid, making it the hottest in our solar system.
What is Venus?
This planet has the most extensive and visible ring system in our solar system
What is Saturn?
The asteroid belt lies between these two planets.
What are Mars and Jupiter?
This is the only planet in our solar system, outside of Earth, that has the possibility to support life
What is Mars
Mars is often studied for its potential to support life because of evidence of this past resource.
What is liquid water?
The rings of Saturn are mostly made up of what substance?
What is ice?
What galaxy is our solar system in?
What is the Milky Way.
This planet has the shortest orbit around the Sun, completing a year in just 88 days.
What is Mercury?
Too much of this greenhouse gas can make a planet too hot for life, as seen on Venus.
What is carbon dioxide?
This rocky planet has no atmosphere and is covered in craters, making it resemble Earth's Moon.
What is Mercury?
Gas planets can be broken into 2 groups: gas giants and what?
What are ice giants?
This is a region of icy bodies and even short term comets that extend far into our solar system
What is the Kuiper Belt
True or false: Two planets' orbits cross paths?
What is false?
What are three characteristics for a planet to become habitable for humans?
What is: 1. Liquid water 2. Planet rotation 3. Axial tilt 4. Large Mass planet 5. Presence of a moon
These are the only two planets without moons
What is Venus and Mercury?
This planet has an orbital period of 11.9 Earth years
What is Jupiter
This cloud of comets marks the outermost boundary of the solar system
What is the Oort Cloud?