Planet Flash Cards
Get out 13 Index cards or cut
paper into 13 pieces
3 sheets plus one card (share with
your table)
The Order of the Planets
► 1.
Mercury
► 2. Venus
► 3. Earth
► 4. Mars
► 5. Jupiter
► 6. Saturn
► 7. Uranus
► 8. Neptune
► 1.
My
► 2. Very
► 3. Educated
► 4. Mother
► 5. Just
► 6. Served
► 7. Us
► 8. Nachos
Inner Planet (Terrestrial)
-Mercury
-Venus
-Earth
-Mars
Outer Planet (Gas Giant)
► Jupiter
► Saturn
► Uranus
► Neptune
Retrograde Rotation
(spins backwards)
► Venus
► Uranus
Smaller Than Earth
► Mercury
► Venus
► Mars
No Moons
► Mercury
► Venus
Has a ring system
► Jupiter
► Saturn
► Uranus
► Neptune
No Solid Surface
► Jupiter
► Saturn
► Uranus
► Neptune
Too far away to see without a
telescope.
► Uranus
► Neptune
Mercury:
►Closest
to the Sun
►Shortest Revolution
►Smallest planet
Venus:
►Close
in size to Earth
►“Earth’s Twin”
►Hottest Average Temp.
►Very thick atmosphere
Compare the sizes of the Terrestrial
Planets:
Earth:
►1
moon (Luna)
►Has liquid water
►Has the only known life
Mars:
►2
Moons
►Thin Atmosphere
►The “Red Planet”
Jupiter
►Largest
Planet
►Made mostly of H and He
►Most moons (about 64)
►Has a red spot (1.5 X the diameter
of Earth)
►Radiates more heat than it gets
from the Sun
Compare the sizes of the Gas Giants
Saturn:
►Made
mostly of H and He
►Many moons (about 32)
►Less dense than water
►Largest rings
Uranus:
►Much
smaller than Jupiter
and Saturn
►Tilted at a 90 degree angle
►Has many moons (27)
Neptune:
►Much
smaller than Jupiter
and Saturn
►Many moons (13)
Compare the size of the Sun
to all 8 Planets!
Pluto/dwarf planets:
► Considered
a dwarf planet
► There are over 50 similar objects in the
solar system – too many to call them all
planets
► Pluto has a moon which is more than half its
size
► Orbit is so elliptical that it’s path is inside
Neptune’s for 20 years
Asteroids
► Large
rocky bodies that revolve around the
sun in an orbit between Mars and Jupiter
► Thought to be left over pieces from the
early formation of the solar system that
were not massive enough to form into a
planet
meteoroid
► Small
rocks that revolve around the sun in
random orbits throughout the solar system
► Meteor
– rock burning in our atmosphere
“shooting star”
► Meteorite
– a rock from space that has hit
the Earth’s surface
 (a meteor “rite” here on the ground)
comet
► Small
dust
► Has
object made of frozen gas, ice and
a highly elliptical orbit
► Often
called a “dirty snowball”
► Meteor
showers happen when we travel
through the debris of a comet’s dirty orbit