THE OUTER PLANETS Flashcards
What similarities do the gas giant planets have?
They are bigger than the inner planets.
They have many moons.
Far from the Sun.
What are the 4 gas giants?
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
The first four outer planets do not have solid……..
surfaces
What is the compositions of the gas giants?
Hydrogen and Helium
Name all outer planets in order.
Jupiter, Saturn,Uranus, Neptune and Pluto
What is the composition of the ring around the gas giants?
Ice and rock
Which planet is the biggest, the most massive?
Jupiter
What is the Great Red Spot on Jupiter?
It is a storm.
Facts about Jupiter.
Jupiter has a dense/thick core of hydrogen & helium.
Jupiter has dozen of moons .
Many of Jupiters moons have been discovered today.
What are the 4 largest moons of Jupiter called?
Io,Europa,Ganymede,Callisto
Is moon IO covered with active volcanoes?
yes
What are Saturn’s rings made of?
ice and rocks
How many moons does Saturn have?
- It has many moons.
What is the name of the largest moon of Saturn?
Titan. It is bigger than Mars.
Why does Uranus look blue-green?
Because it’s made up of Methane
How much larger is Uranus than Earth?
4 times
What discovery made astronomer William Herschel famous?
He discovered Uranus.
How is the rotation of Uranus unlike that of most of the other planets?
because it is tilted 90 degrees from the vertical so it rotates sideways.
What are Uranus’s 5 largest moons like?
they have icy surface and craters also lava flows.
Which spacecraft sent many images of Uranus back to Earth?
Voyager
Neptune’s surface is yellow and has no clouds. T or F
False
In the 1800’s, how did astronomers predict that the Neptune would be discovered before anyone had seen it?
The mathematicians had calculated Neptune’s orbit because they saw that Uranus wasn’t following its own orbit as predicted.
How is the Great Dark Spot similar to the Great Red Spot?
Probably a giant storm.
Didn’t last long.
Which is the largest of Neptune’s moons?
Triton
T or F. Pluto is smaller than Earth’s moon.
True
Facts about Pluto.
Its moon is more than half Pluto’s size.
It has a solid surface.
It’s a dwarf planet.
Pluto is sometimes closer to the sun than Neptune.
Why do astronomers think Pluto should not be called a planet?
Because they found a body farther from the sun and larger than Pluto.
