NAME - ____________________________________________ HOUR - _________ DIRECTIONS: GO TO WWW.SPACE-FACTS.COM TO COMPLETE THE WEBQUEST. MERCURY 1) How many moons does Mercury have? ________________ 2) What is the high/low temperature on Mercury? _____________________________________________ 3) How long is one year (orbit) on Mercury? _________________________________ 4) What are Lobate Scarps? ________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ 5) Explain two facts about the craters on Mercury. 1 - _______________________________________________________________________________________ 2 - _______________________________________________________________________________________ 6) Name two spacecraft that have visited Mercury. In what years did these crafts study the planet? 1 - _______________________________________________________________________________________ 2 - _______________________________________________________________________________________ VENUS 7) What is the surface temperature on Venus? _____________________________________________ 8) How long is one year (orbit) on Venus? ________________________________ 9) What are two reasons that Venus is called Earth’s “Sister Planet”? 1 - ________________________________________________________________ 2 -_________________________________________________________________ 10) What causes the extreme hot temperatures on Venus? _______________________________________________ 11) What has been discovered on the surface of Venus? How many of them have been found? _________________________________________________________________________________________ 12) Name two spacecraft that have visited Venus. In what years did these crafts study the planet? 1 - _______________________________________________________________________________________ 2 - _______________________________________________________________________________________ EARTH 13) Earth is the only planet in the galaxy not to be named after? ___________________________________________ 14) Specifically how long does it take Earth to orbit the sun? ______________________________________________ 15) Explain two facts about Earth’s rotation. 1 - ___________________________________________________________________________ 2 - ___________________________________________________________________________ 16) What two elements in the Earth’s core help create our planet’s magnetic field? 1 - __________________________________ 2 - _____________________________________ 17) Explain one additional fact about Earth from this website. _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ MARS 18) What are the names of Mars two moons? __________________________________________________________ 19) What is the Olympus Mons? Explain one fact about it. ________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ 20) How many exploration missions to Mars have there been? _________________________ How many of these explorations were successful? _____________________________ 21) What are the three main types of technology sent to study Mars? _________________________________________________________________________________________ 22) Name two of the spacecraft that have studied Mars and in what year. 1 - _______________________________________________________________________________________ 2 - _______________________________________________________________________________________ 23) What are two signs that might prove that Mars may contain liquid water? 1 - _______________________________________________________________________________________ 2 -_______________________________________________________________________________________ 24) There is a theory that one day Mars will have a ring system. Explain how this may be possible. _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ JUPITER 25) How many moons does Jupiter have? Name four of them. _____________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ 26) Does Jupiter have rings? How many? ______________________________________________________ 27) How long is one day on Jupiter compared to Earth? __________________________________________________ 28) What is the Great Red Spot? Explain one fact about it. ________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ 29) What is Ganymede? Explain two facts about it? _____________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ 30) Name the eight spacecraft that have visited Jupiter. __________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ SATURN 31) How many moons does Saturn have? Name four of them. _____________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ 32) Explain two facts about the ring system of Saturn. 1 - ____________________________________________________________________________________ 2 - ____________________________________________________________________________________ 33) Explain two facts about Saturn’s atmosphere. Which elements are found in Saturn’s atmosphere? _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ 34) Explain a fact about the weather on Saturn. ________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ 35) Name four spacecraft that have visited Saturn. 1 - __________________________________ 3 - _____________________________________ 2 - __________________________________ 4 - _____________________________________ URANUS 36) What device did astronomers use to discover Uranus? ____________________________________ 37) Who discovered Uranus and on what date? _________________________________________________________________________________________ 38) How many discovered moons does Uranus have? Name four of them. _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ 39) Compared to Earth, how long is one day on Uranus? _________________________________________________ 40) What are the three main substances that help form the solid part of this gas giant planet? _________________________________________________________________________________________ 41) Explain one fact about the temperature of Uranus? __________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ 42) What was the only spacecraft to study Uranus? When? _______________________________________________ NEPTUNE 43) Who discovered Neptune and on what date? _________________________________________________________________________________________ 44) In Earth years, how long does it take Neptune to make one orbit around the sun? __________________________ 45) Explain how Neptune and Earth compare to each other in size. _________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ 46) What gives Neptune its blue color? _______________________________________________ 47) How long does it take Neptune to make 1 rotation. What did NASA scientists measure to learn this fact? _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ 48) What is Triton? Explain one fact about Triton. _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ 49) What two forms of space technology have studied Neptune? 1 - ______________________________________ 2 - ____________________________________ 50) Besides space technology, what other devices have studied Neptune? ___________________________________
