the Sun, its nine planets, moons, asteroids, and comets
Revolution
one full orbit around the Sun
Rotation
one whole spin of an object on its axis
True / False:
Earth's elliptical orbit lasts 365 days?
True
True / False:
The Moon has an atmosphere just like Earth's atmosphere?
False
True / False:
Earth's tilt causes Earth to have seasons?
True
True / False:
Light from the Sun transfers energy to Earth?
True
How is the Earth protected by its atmosphere?
The atmosphere's layer of air helps prevent Earth from overheating in the Sun's rays both by reflecting some of the Sun's energy into space and absorbing other energy. It also holds warm air near the planet's surface, releasing thermal energy slowing into space.
What are the results of the movements of Earth?
It causes the cycle of day and night and the cycle of the seasons.
How many planets circle the Sun?
Nine planets
What is the shape of the Sun, planets, and moons?
All are nearly spherical, or ball-shaped.
Orbits have what type of path?
Elliptical paths= slightly flattened circle.
How long is the Moon's revolution around Earth?
About 28 days
What does gravity do?
It keeps you on the Earth, keeps the Earth and other planets in their orbits around the Sun, and it keeps the Moon orbiting around the Earth.
How long does Earth's rotation take to complete?
one rotation takes one day or 24 hours
What planet is known as a gas giant; the largest planet?
Jupiter
What planet is a rocky planet covered by red, dusty soil?
Mars
What planet is a planet with a thick layer of hot clouds covering a rocky surface?
Venus
What planet has a deep blue gas that gives off more energy than it receives from the Sun?
Neptune
Which planet is the smallest and coldest planet?
Pluto
Which planet is the least dense of all the planets?
Saturn
Which planet is one Astronomical Unit from the Sun?
Earth
Which planet is a blue-green gas giant with an axis tipped farther than any other planet?
Uranus
What is a space probe?
A spacecraft that gathers data without a crew. They are equipped with scientific instruments and cameras.
What does a space probe do?
They collect data about the planet's properties.
Name several space probes.
Venera 7= sent to Venus
Mariner 10= took pictures of Mercury and Venus.
Spirit= Mars
Opportunity= Mars
What would happen if Earth rotated more slowly?
Days would get hotter and nights would get colder.
Why does Earth not get as hot or as cold as other planets?
Because Earthe rotates quickly on its axis, which causes day and night to follow each other in short period of time and this helps keep temperatures mild enough for you and all living things to go on living.
Does the moon have an atmosphere?
No, because of this the dark side gets colder than any freeze on Earth and the Sunny side gets hot enough to fry eggs.
Does the distance from the Sun affect Earth's season?
No, its tilt does.
When is Earth closest to the Sun?
In January or when the US is having winter.
When is Earth farthest from the Sun?
In July, or when the US is having Summer.
Does Earth's axis always tilt in the same direction during its orbit?
Yes
When are the hours of daylight and night equal in the Northern Hemisphere?
Around September 21 and around March 21. Autumn and Spring.
What is the season in the North Hemisphere when the North Pole points most directly toward the Sun?
Summer.
How is the climate near the equator different from the climate near the poles?
The climate near the equator is warmer while the climate near the poles is colder.
What causes the difference of climate near the equater versus the climate near the poles?
The tilt of Earth from the Sun.
What is your space address?
Planet Earth, Solar System, Milky Way Galaxy.
What is the largest body in the solar system?
The Sun.
What planet is has the nickname "Red Planet"?
Mars
Which planets travel the fastest in their orbits?
The planets that are closests to the Sun.
What measurement do scientists use to measure distance in space?
AU= Astonomical Units
List the order of planets from nearest to farthest from the Sun.
Core is 3/4 iron, no atmosphere, surface temp. changes from-170 C to a high about 430 C.
Facts about Venus.
Closest planet to Earth, thick cloudy atmosphere made of poisonous gases, stays hot day and night, bright.
Facts about Mars.
Thin atmosphere made of carbon dioxide, has polar ice caps of "dry ice", iron in soil gives it its' surface a reddish-orange color, hugh extinct volcanoes.
What are the four "gas giant" planets?
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. They are made mostly of hydrogen, helium, and other gases.
Facts about Pluto.
Solid planet, made of rock and ice, moon is about half the size of Pluto, called a double planet.
What is Jupiter know for?
Great Red Spot
How does Uranus spin?
On its side.
Name the planets that have solid surfaces and give another detail about each.
Pluto, Mars, Earth, Mercury, and Venus. Then give a detail that you have learned from previous cards.
Compare and contrast inner planets with the outer planets, excluding Pluto.
Inner planets have solid surfaces while outer planets are gas giants. Inner planets have shorter orbits while outer planets have longer orbits. Day and night are much longer on further planets than inner planets.
What are comets?
A frozen mass of different types of ice and dust orbiting the Sun. Comets are icy objects that form a bright cloud and long tail as they orbit the Sun. They are smaller than planets. Several pass through the solar system a year and only the largest can be seen without a telescope.
What are asteroids?
Rocky, odd-shaped objects, smaller than planets. Rocky mass up to several hundred kilometers wide that revolves around the Sun. They are sometimes called minor planets.
What is the most famous comet?
Comet Halley and it passes the Sun about every 76 years. The next time will be 2061.
What are the parts of a comet?
Nucleus= very small, dirty snowball. Because more and more black and solid over time.
Coma= a giant cloud of dust and evaporated gases surrounding the nucleus. It can be larger than the size of Jupiter. Dust particles reflect sunlight brightly and gases absorb and glow with energy. It gives the comet its bright, fuzzy appearance.
Two tails= Ion tail and dust tail.
When does the coma and tail form on a comet?
The form only when the comet gets close enough for the Sun to melt the nucleus.
What is the Ion tail?
Consists of various glowing charged gases. Ion tails are narrow and bluish.
What is the Dust tail?
Tail of comet that contains fine dust particles that escaped the nucleus as the ices melt. It is wide and yellowish. Dust particles are heavier than gas so the dust tail may be seen in a different position from the ion tail.
What pushes the comet tails?
Outward moving particles from the Sun, called solar winds, always push the two tails in a direction away from the Sun. The tails may extend up to 80 million kilometers long.
Describe a comet's orbit and the changes that occur to a comet during an orbit.
Comets pass through the solar system in very stretched out and elliptical paths. They orbit the Sun. A comet's tail points in different directions at different spots along its orbit.
Where do most asteriods orbit?
In the asteriod belt, which is a region between Mars and Jupiter. Most complete a revolution in three to six years.
What is a meteoroid?
It is a small asteroid. They are boulder size or smaller.
Does the Moon have air or water?
No
What is an example of a meteoroid?
Shooting stars.
How does a meteoroid form?
When a meteoroid hits the Earth's atmosphere. When it shoots through the air, it heats up quickly. It gets so hot that it glows as a streak of light. Very bright meteors are called fireballs.
When does a meteor shower take place?
When Earth passes through the orbit of a comet. It is the colliding or the loose pieces of comet with Earth's atmosphere. Most meteors burn up before they hit Earth's surface.
What is the size of the Moon compared to Earth?
About 1/4 of Earth's size.
What is the Earth's only natural satellite?
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and it travels an orbit around the Earth.
What is a satellite?
A satellite is a moon, rock, or anything that orbits another object.
Why are there craters on the Moon?
Craters were caused by crashes of rocks or comets from space. They last or millions of years because no air or water wears them away.
What does the Moon's surface look like?
It shows evidence of craters, valleys, mountains, and flat, smooth plains.
From Earth what side of the moon do we see?
The "near side" of the Moon is seen from Earth.
How many days does it take for the Moon to revolve around the Earth?
About 27 days
Do we ever see any other side of the moon?
No, we always see the same side of the moon because the moon's spin and orbit happen at the same rate.
Who was the first human to walk on the Moon?
U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong in 1969; Between 1969 and 1972 a total of 12 people walked on the Moon.
Why do we not see the "far side" of the Moon?
Because the same side always faces Earth due to the Moon's spin and orbit happening at the same rate.
Does the Moon make their own light?
No, it only reflects light from the Sun.
What are Moon phases?
They are the shapes of the lit side of the Moon we can see.
What are the names of the Moon phases?
New Moon, Crescent Moon, First Quarter, Full Moon
What is a New Moon?
It is when you can barely see the Moon if at all. At this stage the Moon is passing between Earth and the Sun. Its sunlit side faces away from Earth while the side in shadow faces Earth.
What is a Crescent Moon?
This can be seen just for a few days after the new Moon. It is a tiny sliver of the Moon's sunlit side.
What if the First Quarter?
This can be seen about a week after the new Moon. Half of the Moon's sunlit side faces Earth.
What is a Full Moon?
This is the stage when you can see the Moon's entire lighted side about a week after the first quarter (two weeks after teh new Moon). This is when the Earth is between the Moon and teh Sun. About seven days after this, you can see another quarter Moon.
Are the Moon phases predictable? Why or why not?
Yes they are predictable because the Moon revolves around the Earth at the same rate in about a 27 day cycle.
How many high and low tides are there each day?
Most places have to high tides and two low tides each day.
What makes the oceans rise and fall?
The Moon is the main cause of the tides. The Moon's gravity pulls on Earth and this effect of gravity causes the Earth's land, water, and atmospher to bulge slightly toward the Moon. We see the tides because Earth's oceans move more easily than the solid land. The water moves as a large mass dragged by the Moon as it circles the Earth.
What causes the highest tide?
During a full moon or new Moon, the Moon and Sun both exert tidal forces on the Earth along the same line.
What causes the low tide?
During first quarter or third quarter Moon phase, the Moon and Sun form almost a 90 degree angle with the Earth. The Moon's tidal force is strongest, but the Sun does exert a weak tidal force on the Earth, in a direction perpendicular to the Moon's force.
Does the Sun's gravity have any affect on the tides?
Yes, the Sun's gravity is strong enough to affect the tides. However, the Sun's effect is much smaller than the Moon's effect.
How high is a high tide compared to a low tide?
The difference between high and low tide in the open ocean is about two feet. Near the coast the difference can be much greater. The shape of the land masses and the ocean floor affect the tides. The average difference between high and low tide along coastal areas is less than six feet. The Bay of Fundy has the greatest tidal range in the world. The range is 50 feet.
Which phases of the Moon bring the highest tides?
A full Moon or new Moon bring the highest tides.
What causes the high tides?
When the Moon and Sun both exert tidal forces on the Earth along the same line.
The Moon is a natural __________of Earth.
satellite
A planet spins around an imaginary line called its ____________.
axis
The most common place to find a(n) _____________ is between Mars and Jupiter.
asteroid
A(n) ________ is an icy ball that has a very elliptical orbit around the Sun.
comet
Earth's _________ on its axis causes day and night.
rotation
One kind of __________ is the crescent Moon.
Moon phase
One full orbit of an object around another object is called a ____________.
revolution
The ___________ has planets, moons, comets, and asteroids.
solar system
A spacecraft that does not carry people is a(n) _________.
space probe
Earth and the other plantes closest to the Sun are made mostly of __________.
rock
What evidence indicates that Earth's axis is tilted?
The year has different seasons.
What am I?
I am a rocky object in space that has a diameter of 120 km, an irregular shape, and it orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.
An asteroid.
Why when Earth is slightly closer to the Sun during winter in th Northern Hemisphere are the winter temperatures colder here than those of summer.
The reason is the Earth's tilt. It is not Earth's distance from the Sun but Earth's tilt from the Sun. The sun's rays are very spread out at this time because the North Pole tilts away from the Sun. The Northern Hemisphere receives the least amount of energy at this time of the year and the temperatures drop and winter sets in.
