The Solar System Flashcards
(25 cards)
What can our Sun also be called?
A star
What is meant by a ‘Solar System’?
All of the things that orbit a star (Sun)
What is meant by an orbit?
When an object (or planet) moves around another e.g. the Earth orbits the Sun.
The moon orbits the Earth. What does this mean?
The moon moves around the Earth
How many planets orbit our Sun?
8
List the planets in order of distance from the Sun
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
What is meant by the inner planets?
The planets closest to the Sun
Name the inner planets.
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
What is meant by the outer planets?
The planets that are much further away form the Sun
Name the outer planets
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
What is found in between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter?
The asteroid belt
What else, other than planets, orbit the Sun?
Dwarf planets
comets
dust
What do planets often have orbiting them?
Moons
How are stars different to planets?
They are much bigger
They are very hot
They are far away
They give out their own light
How are planets different to stars?
They are smaller
They do not give out light - they reflect light from the Sun
They are closer to us
How old is our Solar System?
5 billion years old
How was our Sun formed?
Dust and gas clouds were squeezed
Gravity continued to squeeze the particles
The cloud collapsed in on itself
a Protostar is formed
The temperature increases
Hydrogen undergoes fusion to form helium
This results in heat a light - a Sun is born
What are planets made from?
The heavier elements formed from the clouds of dust in our early solar system
Where are the oldest rocks on Earth from?
They are meteorites from space
How do we know that the solar system is at least 4.5 billion years old?
Because the oldest rocks on Earth are that age
Asteroids and comets formed from
stuff left over from the formation of the solar system
What is an asteroid?
smallish lumps of rubble and rock that did not form planets
What is a comet?
A ball of rock, dust and ice which orbits the Sun in a very elongated elilipse.
Why do comets sometimes have tails>
When a comet comes near the Sun, its ice melts, leaving a bright tail of gas and debris which we can see from Earth
