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47 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
There are _____ planets in the solar system.
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Eight. In 2006, Pluto was "downgraded" from the ninth planet to a Dwarf Planet. Mercury is now the smallest planet.
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____________ is nearest the Sun.
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Mercury, the smallest planet in the solar system.
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The planet farthest from the Sun is ___________.
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Neptune. With the declassification of Pluto, Neptune is now the planet farthest from the Sun.
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The largest planet in the solar system is ______________.
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Jupiter. This gas giant is the innermost of the outer planets and larger than all of the other planets, combined.
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The smallest planet in the solar system is presently _________.
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Mercury. In 2006, the planet nearest the Sun became our solar system's smallest.
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In order from the Sun, the inner planets are:
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Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars. Mars is the outermost of the inner planets.
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The inner-most of the outer planets is __________.
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Jupiter.
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Ranked by proximity to the Sun, the outer planets are:
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Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
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The inner planets are all __________.
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Terrestrial. Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are all rocky planets.
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The outer planets are __________.
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Gas giants. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are all Jovian planets.
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The _____________ separates the inner and outer planets.
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Asteroid Belt. Although there are many asteroids within the Belt, it is thinly-populated.
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The second planet from the Sun is __________.
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Venus. Venus is second from the Sun and the third smallest planet in the system.
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Mercury's only planetary neighbor is ________.
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Venus. Second-largest of the rocky planets, Venus is second from the Sun.
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Nearly identical in size to its larger neighbor, __________ lies between Mercury and Earth.
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Venus. Venus, the second planet from the Sun, is slightly smaller than Earth but larger than Mars.
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__________ is third nearest the Sun.
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Earth. Larger than Mercury or neighbors Mars and Venus, Earth is a mid-sized planet in our solar system.
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The fourth planet from the Sun is ___________.
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Mars. The Red Planet is Earth's next door neighbor in the solar system.
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Mars lies between Earth and ________.
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Jupiter. The second-smallest planet is fourth from the Sun.
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The fifth planet from the Sun is ____________.
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Jupiter. This largest of the gas giants is better known for its moons than its rings.
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Jupiter's neighbors are Mars and ___________.
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Saturn. The two largest planets in the system are also near one another.
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___________ is sixth from the Sun.
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Saturn. The Ringed Planet is also the second-largest in the solar system.
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_____________ falls between Jupiter and Uranus.
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Saturn.
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___________ is seventh from the Sun.
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Uranus. The third-largest planet is the second-farthest from the Sun.
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__________'s only planetary neighbor is Uranus.
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Neptune. Like Mercury, Neptune has only one planetary neighbor.
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Until 2006, the ninth planet was ________.
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Pluto. Until it was reclassified as a Dwarf Planet, Pluto was the smallest planet and the furthest from the Sun except for those occasions when its erratic orbit brought it inside Neptune's orbital ellipse.
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As an observer moves farther from the Sun, the gas giants become ___________.
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Smaller. Although they are the largest planets in the solar system, the largest giant, Jupiter, is nearest the Sun and the smallest, Neptune, is farthest away.
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The planets from nearest the Sun to farthest from it are ___________________________.
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Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
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There is/are ______ ringed planet(s) in the solar system.
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Four. All four of the gas giants have rings, although Saturn's are most closely associated with it.
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The smallest planets are ____________.
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Terrestrial. From smallest to largest, they are Mercury, Mars, Venus, and Earth.
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The largest planets are __________.
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Jovian or gas giants. From smallest to largest, they are Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter.
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Earth and Venus display a ________ effect.
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Greenhouse. Atmospheric gases on Earth and Venus trap heat from the Sun, stabilizing planetary temperatures.
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The smallest planet in the solar system is presently _________.
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Mercury. In 2006, the planet nearest the Sun became our solar system's smallest.
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The largest planet in the solar system is ______________.
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Jupiter. This gas giant is larger than all of the other planets, combined.
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From smallest to largest, the planets are _________________.
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Mercury, Mars, Venus, Earth, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter.
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The largest of the terrestrial planets is ____________.
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Earth. Although smaller than the smallest gas giant (Neptune), Earth is larger than (in descending order) Venus, Mars, and Mercury.
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___________ is the only planet without a magnetic field.
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Venus. Although Mars' magnetic field is patchy, Venus is the only planet completely devoid of a magnetosphere.
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Chunks of ice and dust collect to form ____________.
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Comets. These "dirty snowballs" brighten and gain long, narrow tails or gas and dust as they near the Sun.
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Comets orbit in a ___________ ellipse.
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Narrow. A comet orbits in a long, narrow ellipse.
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Objects in a solar orbit that are too small and too numerous to be called planets are called __________.
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Asteroids. The nearest asteroids in our solar system lie in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter.
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A chunk of rock or dust in space is a ___________.
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Meteoroid. Meteoroids have the potential to become meteors or meteorites if they enter Earth's atmosphere.
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A __________ burns up in Earth's atmosphere in a streak of light.
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Meteor. A meteoroid becomes a meteor if it enters Earth's atmosphere but does not reach the surface.
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A meteor becomes a ______________ when it hits the surface of the earth.
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Meteorite. The "chunks" of meteor found at impact sites are meteorites.
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___________ occur when Earth's orbit passes through a comet's elliptical path.
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Meteor showers. These events occur at the same point in Earth's orbit and so fall on the same date each year.
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A ___________ is a center of mass in a system of two orbiting bodies.
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Barycenter. The binary system of Pluto and Charon orbit a barycenter.
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A large object that moves around a star is a __________.
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Planet. This is the most basic definition of a planet.
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The star at the center of our solar system is the _____.
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Sun. The Sun provides the energy necessary for life on Earth.
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A ____________ is a group of objects in space that revolve around a central star.
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Solar system.
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_________ are huge balls of superheated gases.
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Stars.
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