Question | Answer |
The _________________ ___________ is a lot like the Asteroid Belt, but the objects are larger and colder. | Kuiper Belt |
Objects in the Kuiper Belt look a lot like Pluto so they have been called _______________. | Plutinos (or little Plutos) |
In 2002 an object was found in the Kuiper Belt that is about half the size of Pluto. It was named _________________. | Quaoar |
Pluto is usually considered the 9th planet, however for a ___________ year period during its orbit, it switches places with Neptune to become the 8th planet. | 20 |
What year was Pluto discovered in? | 1930 |
Pluto looks a lot like a comet's _____________ which is made of ice with rocks mixed in it. | nucleus |
Pluto rotates in the opposite direction compared with most planets. Name two other planets that also rotate in the opposite direction. | Venus and Uranus |
It takes __________ Earth days for Pluto to rotate on its axis. (So a day on Pluto is this many Earth days.) | 6 |
Pluto is called a "_________ _________" like Uranus because is looks like it is lying on its side. | sleepy planet |
The revolution period (time it takes for it to revolve around the Sun once) is _________ Earth years for Pluto. | 248 |
Pluto has seasons. (true or false) | true |
NASA has sent an unmanned spacecraft to Pluto called _______ _______________ which is scheduled to arrive in 2015. | New Horizons |
Pluto has a mooon named _______________. | Charon |
Pluto's moon is not much smaller than Pluto and is very close to Pluto causing them to be called a ____________ ____________ by some astronomers. | double planet |
Be able to list 5 reasons (from your book) why Pluto may not be a planet. (There are more than 5 listed in book---I have listed them all for you.) | Possible answers:(1) It's too small to be a planet.(2) It has a highly elliptical orbit.(3) It orbits on a slanted plane. (4) It's moon is too big compared to Pluto's size.(5) It is the only non-gaseous planet of the outer planets. |
(con't list of reasons why Pluto may not be a planet) | (6) It looks like a comet. (7) It looks like a Kuiper Belt object. (8) It is not large enough to be a planet. |
Pluto is named for the Roman god of the ______________. | underworld |