Starter quiz
- Which of these objects in the solar system is a planet?
- Callisto
- Europa
- Ganymede
- Io
- Jupiter ✓
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- Put these planets in order of increasing distance from the Sun, starting with the closest one.
- 1⇔Mercury
- 2⇔Venus
- 3⇔Earth
- 4⇔Mars
- 5⇔Jupiter
- Put these planets in order of increasing size, starting with the smallest.
- 1⇔Mercury
- 2⇔Earth
- 3⇔Jupiter
- Which of these statements is correct about Earth?
- Earth is a spherical, rocky planet. ✓
- Earth is a flat, gaseous planet.
- Earth is a spherical, gaseous planet.
- Earth is a flat, rocky planet.
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- Which of these objects are not found in our solar system?
- asteroids
- black holes ✓
- moons
- planets
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- Which of these planets does not have any moons?
- Earth
- Jupiter
- Mercury ✓
- Saturn
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Exit quiz
- Which of these statements about planets is incorrect?
- Planets orbit a star.
- Planets are spherical.
- Planets give out their own light. ✓
- Planets are usually much smaller than stars.
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- Which of these objects is not found in our solar system?
- asteroids
- dwarf planets
- moons
- nebulae ✓
- planets
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- Which of the planets listed is small and rocky?
- Mars ✓
- Jupiter
- Saturn
- Uranus
- Neptune
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Between which two planets is the asteroid belt found?- Mercury and Venus
- Earth and Mars
- Mars and Jupiter ✓
- Saturn and Uranus
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- If a scale model was made of our solar system, and the Sun was represented by a tennis ball, what size would the planets be?
- smaller than an apple pip ✓
- about the same size as a golf ball
- larger than a grapefruit
- larger than a football
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Lucas has drawn this diagram of the solar system, but has made some mistakes. Which of the statements below identify the parts that Lucas has drawn correctly?- the order of the planets ✓
- the sizes of the planets compared to the Sun
- the positions of the planets in their orbits
- the relative distances of the planets from the Sun
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Worksheet
Presentation
Video
Lesson Details
Key learning points
- A star is an extremely large sphere of hot gas that gives out light.
- A planet is a very large sphere of rock or gas that orbits a star.
- Our solar system includes the Sun (a star) and all the objects that orbit the Sun.
- Orbiting the Sun are: 8 planets (many of which have moons), dwarf planets and smaller objects such as asteroids.
- Distances between objects in our solar system are very, very large compared to the sizes of the objects.
Common misconception
Stars and the planets in our solar system are intermingled, with stars between the planets.
Make it clear with diagrams, scaled examples and/or videos (freely available online) that 'zoom out' from Earth, that the second nearest star to Earth is 10 000 times further away from the Sun than Neptune, the most distant planet.
Keywords
Star - A star is an extremely large sphere of hot gas that emits light.
Planet - A planet is a very large sphere of rock or gas that orbits a star.
Dwarf planet - A dwarf planet is a large, round object that orbits a star but is not big enough to clear its orbital path of other debris.
Asteroid - An asteroid is a small, rocky object that orbits the Sun.
Solar system - Our solar system includes the Sun and all the objects in orbit around the Sun.