SPACE - The Solar System Flashcards
(26 cards)
What makes up our Solar System?
8 planets, dwarf planets and comets that orbit the Sun, as well as dust and rocks.
Describe the orbit of planets.
They orbit the Sun in an elliptical (oval) shape.
What separates the inner and outer planets?
The asteroid belt
What are the inner planets?
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
What is one common feature of all the inner planets?
They are all made of rock; they’re all terrestrial planets
Why does Mercury have such extreme temperatures?
Mercury has no atmosphere, so being so close to the sun, it gets extremely hot during the day and extremely cold at night.
How high can temperatures on Mercury reach?
430°C
How low can temperatures on Mercury reach?
-170°C
Why is Venus so hot?
It has a dense CO₂ atmosphere that traps a lot of energy from the sun.
What are the outer planets?
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
What is another name for the outer planets?
Gas giants
Why are the outer planets called the gas giants?
They are made up of the majority of hydrogen and helium and are much larger than the inner planets.
What are temperatures like on the gas giants?
They are much colder than the terrestrial planets.
Why are gas giants colder than the terrestrial planets?
They are much further away from the Sun.
What are all the planets in order?
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
What is the asteroid belt?
A collection of rocks and dust orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, separating the inner and outer planets.
What is Ceres?
A dwarf planet in the asteroid belt.
What is a dwarf planet?
An object that cannot be classified as a planet due to its small size and because they have been unable to clear its orbit path (there is rock and debris in its path and surrounding it)
What is beyond our Solar System?
Similar to the asteroid belt, outside the orbit of Neptune, there is the Kuiper Belt.
What is the Kuiper Belt?
A collection of asteroids, comets, etc., orbiting the Sun
Where do most comets come from?
Oort Cloud
What is the Oort cloud?
Theoretical spherical-shaped collection of icy objects, like comets, that surrounds our Solar System.
According to scientific belief, how was our Solar System formed?
Gravity pulled in a lot of dust and gas to form our Sun
According to scientific belief, when was our Solar System formed?
5 billion years ago
