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Planets_Asteroids
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Mercury | Has little to no atmosphere, Smallest planet, Fastest revolution |
Venus | Hottest planet, Earths twin, Rotates in opposite direction (retrograde), Day is longer than its year, Thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide |
Earth | 78% Nitrogen and 21% oxygen, Densest planet, Has one moon |
Mars | Thin atmosphere of carbon dioxide, Has two moons |
Inner Planets | also called terrestrial planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars (planets closest to the sun). These planets are solid, rocky, dense, and small. |
Outer Planets | Gas Giants: A large, massive, low-density planet composed primarily of hydrogen, helium, methane, and ammonia in either gaseous or liquid state. |
Jupiter | Largest planet, Rotates the fastest (day), Red spot (massive hurricane-like superstorm) |
Saturn | Is the least dense of all planets. Has rings made of mostly rock and ice with some large dust particles. |
Uranus | Tipped on side (Early Comet Strike) |
Neptune | Outermost gas planet - Called The Ice Giant |
Pluto | Its highly elliptical orbit overlaps with that of Neptune. It will now join a new category of dwarf planets (Ceres and Eris) |
Rotation | An object rotating around on its axis (imaginary line). Day |
Revolution | The time it takes an object to make a complete orbit. Year |
Comet | A frozen mass (3-5 mile diameter) that travels around the sun in a highly elliptical orbit. |
Tail (Comet) | Vaporized gas and dust pointing AWAY from the sun (solar wind blows the tail away from the sun). o ice begins to melt as it approaches the sun o responsible for meteor showers |
Asteroid Belt | between Mars and Jupiter |
Asteroids | rocky and metallic objects that orbit the sun but are too small to be considered planets. |
Meteoroid | Debris located outside Earth’s atmosphere. |
Meteor | When a meteoroid is located within Earth’s atmosphere and often burn up in the atmosphere leaving a streak of light. |
Meteorite | Meteoroids that don’t burn up in the atmosphere and strike the Earth forming craters. Often broken up into smaller pieces as it enters the atmosphere and before it reaches Earth’s surface. |
Yuri Gagarin | Soviet Union was the first country to send a man into space. |
Sputnik | First artificial satellite to orbit Earth |
Neil Armstrong | First man to walk on the moon |
Apollo 11 | Spaceflight that landed first humans on the moon. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon on July 20, 1969. |