Solar System Unit Test Study Guide
Test Date: October 18, 2013
What you should know and/or be able
to explain:
ü Phases of the moon. You should what
they look like and be able to label them.
ü Why the moon seems to change its
shape:
As it orbits Earth, the
moon reflects different amounts of sunlight off its surface. This makes the
moon appear to change shape.
ü Why the sun appears so much larger
than the other stars:
It is the closest star in
our solar system.
ü What causes the four seasons:
The Earth tilts as it
orbits the sun, so different parts of Earth get different amounts of sunlight.
ü That the moon orbits the Earth once a
month (approximately every 28 days)
ü It takes the Earth (and moon) 365
days to orbit the sun.
ü It takes 24 hours (one day) for the
Earth to make one complete rotation
ü Pluto is the coldest and smallest of
the planets. It is considered a dwarf planet.
ü List the planets (and dwarf planet)
in order of their distance from the sun (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto)
A way to remember this
is: My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine
Pizzas.
ü Vocabulary words:
o
Astronomers: scientists who study things in
space
o
Solar system: the sun, planets, and all the
objects that orbit the sun.
o
Rotation: the turning or spinning of a planet
on its axis.
o
Orbit: the path each planet travels on its
own around the sun
o
Star: a self-luminous (lights itself)
object that shines through the release of energy produced by nuclear reactions
at its core.
o
Crater: when a meteorite slams into the
ground creating a hollow area
o
Outer planets: The five outer planet/dwarf, which
are the farthest from the sun (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and the dwarf
planet Pluto). They are made up of gases.
o
Inner planets: the four planets closest to the sun
(Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars). They are all hard and rocky, and have three
layers (crust, mantle, and core).
o
Three parts of the inner planets
§ Crust: thin
outer layer
§ Core: made of
very hot iron
§ Mantle: a
thick layer of rock and hot lava.
o
Asteroid belt: located between Mars and Jupiter.
It is filled with thousands of asteroids which are chunks of rock and metal
that orbit the sun.
