Solar System Study Guide

Front 1

A star

Back 1

(a sun, like ours) that has planets revolving around it

Front 2

Star

Back 2

a hot ball of glowing gases (just like our sun!)

Front 3

Planet

Back 3

A large rocky or gaseous ball that revolves around a star

Front 4

Asteroids

Back 4

- Odd-shaped rocky masses that orbit the sun between Mars’ and Jupiter’s orbits. Remember the students who were not planets but were asteroids when we went outside and did the activity about how far planets were from the sun.

Front 5

Revolves

Back 5

What an object does when it circles around a sun or star. It is also sometimes called an orbit around the sun.

Front 6

Rotation

Back 6

When an object spins on its axis, like the globe we have in our classroom.

Front 7

Axis

Back 7

The imaginary line through the center of a spinning object. You can actually see it if you look at our classroom globe

Front 8

Moon

Back 8

a round rocky object smaller than a planet. Moons always revolve around a planet. Every planet except Mercury and Venus have moons

Front 9

Comets

Back 9

Frozen balls of dirty ice. They look like they have a tail on fire but they don’t

Front 10

Astronomer

Back 10

A person who studies the universe. They usually use a telescope.

Front 11

Astronaut

Back 11

A person who travels in space

Front 12

Meteor

Back 12

A small rock that hits the atmosphere and burns up, so we can see it at night as it streaks across the sky

Front 13

Meteorite

Back 13

A meteor that lands on the earth before it burns up

Front 14

Mercury

Back 14

The closest planet to the sun. It is much smaller than the earth

Front 15

Venus

Back 15

The next planet closest to the sun. It is about the same size as the earth. Because it is the same size as earth, it is sometimes called our "sister planet.” It has a thick atmosphere and is VERY hot.

Front 16

Earth

Back 16

The 3rd planet from the sun. It is the only one that has water in liquid form on it. This is where we live!

Front 17

Mars

Back 17

The 4th planet from the sun. It is smaller than the earth and has no water on it. It has 2 moons. It is cold but not super cold.

Front 18

Jupiter

Back 18

The next planet past Mars. It is the largest planet. It is not solid, but is made up entirely of gases. It has a large red spot, which is a large storm. It has many moons.

Front 19

Saturn

Back 19

The 6th planet from the sun. It has large, beautiful rings and is also a gaseous planet. It is the 2nd largest planet. It also has many moons.

Front 20

Uranus

Back 20

The 7th planet from the sun. One of the blue-green giants, it is 3 1/2 times larger than earth, but smaller than Jupiter. It is blue-green because of chemicals in the atmosphere.

Front 21

Neptune

Back 21

The 8th planet from the sun. This is the other blue-green giant. Both it and Uranus are the same size. It also has rings, but not as visible as those of Saturn

Front 22

Pluto

Back 22

the 9th and farthest known planet from the sun and it is the smallest. It is extremely cold, and is actually smaller than our moon. It has 3 moons of its own. Pluto is more than 4 billion miles from the sun (technically a dwarf planet).

Front 23

Our Moon

Back 23

It orbits (revolves) around the earth. It is the only body in space that has been visited by astronauts

Front 24

Craters

Back 24

Round, deep holes in the surface of the moon and many planets. These were formed by meteorites hitting the surface of the planet or moon. There are even a few on earth!

Front 25

The planets were named after

Back 25

Greek or Roman Gods

Front 26

Mars was named after

Back 26

Roman God of War

Front 27

Venus was named after

Back 27

the Roman God of Beauty

Front 28

Every planet has moons around it except for

Back 28

Mercury and Venus