General Information on the Solar System Flashcards
How many official planets are there in the Solar System? (Pluto doesn’t count)
8
What is at the centre of the Solar System?
The sun
What is the Sun?
A huge ball of very hot burning gas at the centre of the Solar System. It is also a star that gives off heat and light.
What are the twinkling lights in the sky that we see at night?
Stars- other suns in the universe that are too far away for us to feel their heat, although we can still see their light at night.
What are asteroids?
Chunks of rock that travel around the Sun. Asteroids are meteors that have broken up.
What is the asteroid belt?
The chunks of rock that travel around the Sun, in a part of the Solar System between Mars and Jupiter.
Explain how each planet is different.
Each planet has it’s own features: size, move in different orbits and are different distances from the Sun. They also have different compositions: some are rocky like Earth and others are gas planets. Some planets have many moons, some have a few, while others have none at all.
How long does Earth take to revolve around the Sun?
365 and a quarter days
What is a leap year?
Every 4 years, the 1/4 of a day that’s part of a year that add up to a full day. This day always takes place on 29 February.
How do we measure the orbits of other planets around the Sun?
Using Earth days and years
Explain why Neptune takes longer to orbit the Sun than Mercury.
It is further away from the Sun and has a longer distance to cover, therefore taking longer to orbit the Sun.
What is revolution?
The movement of one body in space around another…
Name the members of our Solar System
The Sun, the planets, their moons and asteroids.
How long does it take for the Earth to rotate once?
24 hours
Explain why we experience day and night…
When one side of the Earth is facing away the Sun, that side is in almost complete darkness. Night! When the Earth faces the Sun, we experience day.
