30.3 Vocab Flashcards
The fifth planet from the Sun
Jupiter
The sixth planet from the Sun
Saturn
The seventh planet from the Sun
Uranus
The eighth planet from the Sun
Neptune
Nearly round objects in orbit around the Sun that are not satellites and that have not cleared the debris in their orbits
Dwarf Planets
Composed of dust and rock particles, frozen water, methane, and ammonia
Comet
Rocky objects formed from material in planets’ composition
Asteroids
Sand - to boulder - sized objects in the solar system
Meteoroids
Labeled a distant planetoid
Sedna
Which space probes flew past Jupiter in 1979?
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2
Which space probe reached Jupiter in 1995?
The Galileo Space Probe
What did the Voyager probes and Galileo study?
The composition, structure, and motion of Jupiter’s atmosphere as well as the features of it’s moons including the active volcanoes on Io.
How many known moons does Jupiter have?
63
What are the 4 Galilean moons?
Ganymede, Callisto, Io, & Europa
Which of the Galilean moons is the largest in the solar system?
Ganymede
Which of the Galilean moons most likely has water trapped beneath the surface?
Europa, Ganymede, & Callisto
Which of the Galilean moons is the most volcanically active object in the solar system?
Io
What is Saturn’s most commonly known feature?
Complex Ring System
What are Saturn’s rings made of?
Particles of Water-Ice
How many moons does Saturn have at least?
60
What is the name of Saturn’s largest moon?
Titan
What is the name of the spacecraft that approached Saturn in 2004?
Cassini-Huygens
What was Cassini’s mission?
Orbit Saturn
What was the Huygens’ mission?
To collect data about Saturn, its ring system, and its many moons
Which space probe is the only probe to study Uranus?
Voyager 2
How many moons does Uranus have?
27
Does Uranus have moons?
Yes
How is Uranus’s axis tilt?
Nearly parallel to the plane of the planet’s orbit
What color is Uranus?
Blue-Green
Which space probe is the only probe to reach Neptune?
Voyager 2
What makes Neptune a bluer color than Uranus?
The methane
How many moons does Neptune have?
At least 13
What is Neptune’s largest moon?
Triton
What are the names of the three dwarf planets?
Pluto, Eris, & Ceres
What is the bright cloud of a comet called?
Coma
Where do comets originate?
a vast disk of icy objects beyond Neptune’s orbit-called the Kuiper Belt - or from the Oort Cloud
When meteoroids enter the Earth’s atmosphere, what are they called?
shooting stars
What does AU stand for?
Astronomical Unit
What is an AU equal?
150 million kilometers
When a meteor strikes Earth’s surface, what are they called?
meteorites
