The Sun
These are the cooler, dark areas on the Sun’s surface. Every 11 years, the Sun seems to have a major breakout.
What is a Sunspot?
The galaxy we are located in, and the shape the galaxy is described as.
Milky Way, Spiral
Planets that are rocky and dense and found within the inner solar system.
What are Terrestrial, or Rocky planets?
The spacecraft that first orbited Mercury.
What is Messenger?
Why is Mars known as the “Red Planet?”
Mars has a chemical called iron oxide (rust) in its soil that causes the surface to take on a reddish appearance.
All stars are made-up of these two gases. They are used to create energy through the process of nuclear fusion.
What is hydrogen and helium?
The phenomenon of of extreme gravity, where nothing can escape.
What is a black hole?
Large chucks of rock and metal in space.
What are asteroids?
The spacecraft that was the first to visit Venus in 1962.
What is Mariner 2?
The second largest and lightest planet in the solar system. It's so light that its density would allow it to float on water. This planet is also known to have distinctive rings around it.
What is Saturn?
The kind of star that describes the Sun.
What is a Yellow Dwarf?
The path of a planet, or space object, usually around another object.
What is an orbit?
A chunk of rock from outer space that burns up in the atmosphere.
What is a meteor?
The spacecraft that completed the first flyby of Mars in 1965.
What is Mariner 4?
What is Jupiter’s “Great Red Spot"?
A huge storm (Hurricane) that has been circulating around the planet for hundreds of years.
The force (that is present throughout the Solar System) that aids in holding the Sun in place.
What is gravity?
The natural satellite of the Earth.
What is the Moon?
The eight planets in order from the Sun starting with the closest planet to the Sun.
What is Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune?
The current rover stationed on Mars.
What is Curiosity?
Why is Venus considered the hottest planet in the Solar System?
Venus has a tremendous Greenhouse Effect due to a large amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (98%); the CO2 traps the heat and causes the surface temperature to reach around 700 Fahrenheit.
What impact does the Sun have on our planet Earth? Think about what we have discussed.
The Sun provides heat/light energy but can damage plant and animal life with its ultraviolet rays (UV). The Sun also produces a force of gravity on planet Earth.
The smallest planet in our Solar System as well as the closest planet to the Sun.
What is Mercury?
The term for an area with no air, or sound, where molecules are too far apart for these instances to occur.
What is a vacuum?
The only spacecraft to visit Uranus thus far.
What is Voyager 2?
This planet is blue because of the methane gas in its atmosphere and is tipped on its side. This is also the first planet to be discovered with a telescope.
What is Uranus?