Name ______________________ Date ___________ Class _____ Jorgenson – 8 th Grade
A hand filled in study guide is due the day of the test!
Study Guide Key for Chapter 2 - The Solar System
1.
The hottest of the planets is _________ because of the ____________________The inner planets are __________________ because gravity pulled the denser materials towards the Sun.
2.
The outer planets, which are also known as the_____ ________. The interiors of the outer planets are mainly liquid instead of solid. In general, the outer planets have thick ______and
_________ layers covering a small ________ core.
3.
The inner planets—____________ , Venus, _______, and_______—are the planets closest to the Sun.
4.
A ____________ is a streak of light in Earth’s atmosphere made by a glowing _______________
5.
A ______________ is a meteoroid that strikes a ___________ or a moon.
6.
Some _________________think the strength of Jupiter’s gravitational field might have caused the chunks to collide so violently that they __________ apart instead of ___________together.
7.
_______________ has no atmosphere.
8.
As a ___________ moves closer to the Sun, it heats up and can develop a bright _______.
9.
Evidence suggests that ____ originate in the Oort Cloud located beyond the orbit of Pluto. Longperiod comets come from a zone called the Oort cloud.
10.
_____________is the largest planet in the solar system, is the ________ planet from the Sun, and has colorful clouds.
11.
The _______________ effect occurs when a planet’s ________________ traps solar energy and causes the surface temperature to ______________.
12.
The ____________ planet and the planet closest to the Sun is ___________
13.
Why did the artists for both of these illustrations feel it necessary to represent the _________ planets with a pulled out piece? Since the__________ planets are as much as 30 AU from the
Sun, and the inner planets as little as 0.39 AU from the ______, it is very hard to represent them all in a meaningful way using the same ________.
14.
The basic ________________unit based on the average distance from ________ to the Sun.
15.
The basic shape of every planet’s orbit is an ___________which is a special kind of rounded shape that has two foci _________________ from the center of the figure.
16.
The _____________ of the Sun keeps the objects in________. While the gravity of the objects does exert some force, it is negligible compared to the gravity of the______.
17.
The outer planets are primarily made of ____________and helium, materials that are usually
_________on Earth.

Name ______________________ Date ___________ Class _____ Jorgenson – 8 th Grade
A hand filled in study guide is due the day of the test!
18.
________ systems and moons orbit all of the _______planets. Scientist do not know what
_____________make up the ________of the outer planets, but they think they are small
_________ cores.
19.
All of the dwarf planets are __________ than Earth’s Moon, which is in turn smaller than
_____________ and Earth.
20.
A _______________ is a meteoroid that strikes a planet or a moon. The depression it makes when it hits is an______________ ______________.
Name the planet that is being described below.
21.
dark-colored storms and 13 moons ________________
22.
iron oxide and polar ice caps ______________
23.
largest planet _______________
24.
most complex ring system ________________
25.
axis of rotation tilted on its side _________________
26.
greenhouse effect causes extremely high surface temperatures _________________
27.
smallest planet _______________
28.
liquid water oceans _______________
29.
Match the planets below with the letters labeling the planets.
30.
Mercury is too ________ to have strong enough gravity to hold an ________________