SCIENCE DETECTIVE' Begrnning
Earth Science
39-Objects in the 5 ky
A tEorth science is more thon the
study of Eorth by geologists.'zTt is
olso the study of the otmosphere
by mefeorologists,the oceons by
oceanographers, ond objects in the
universe by osfronomers.
B 3fn this lesson, you will leorn obout
some of the objects in the sky. aWhot
do you see up there? 5You see clouds,
birds, oirplones,the moon, stors, ond
the sun. 65ome of these ore quite close.
TBirds seldom fly higher thon very toll
buildings. sClouds ore usuolly no more
thon two miles up. eAirplones fly o little
higher, sometimes up to eight miles.
loHowever, some objects ore very f or
owoy. lrThe moon is obout 240 thousond
miles from Eorth. t'zThe sun is 93 million
miles owoyl
C l3Closer objects seem to move
foster thon distont objects. laThe
distonce between you ond o moving
object affects how fost it seems to
go.L5Close objects, like flying insects,
seem to zoom ocross the yord while for
objects, like the moon, toke the whole
night to move ocross the sky. 16ft moy
surprise you to leorn thot on insect
flies ot obout 5 miles per hour while
the moon trovels ot 2,300 m.p.h.l
D l7When tolking obout the sky,
-o< +
08 P
T€ #
(n
rn
o
E
La)
(J"r-
c*
xo
o
(5
tr
stors hove objects thot revolve oround
them, such os plonets ond asteroids.
z5Eorth is o plonet thot revolves oround
the sun. 26An qsteroid is o smoller
object thot olso revolves oround the
sun.
F 27Just os plonets ond osteroids
revolve oround o stor, moons revolve
around o plonet. 'z8The poth token by a
plonet, osteroid, or moon is colled on
orbif
.
G 2eA solor system includes o stor, oll
its osteroids, ond plonets with their
moons. 30A goloxy is o collection of
billions of solor systems. 3'Eorth is in
the Milky Woy 6oloxy.
H 325ix of the eight plonefs in our
solor system hove moons. 33Look ot the
toble below. 3aCon you conclude onything
obout the diometer of o plonet ond the
numbers of moons it hos?
zo
ostronomers refer to the universe.
'sThink of the universe os o huge spoce
filled with oll the objects in the sky. teThe
toble ot the upper right shows some
=
objects found in the universe. 20Which "U
object is lorgest? 2lWhich is smollest? ,-
o
o
o
TU
z
23Our sun is one of these stors. 2aSome
E z'zThe universe hos billions of stors.
L
(,
+-
J
Name
Diometer
# Moons
Mercury
3,000
7,500
8,000
4,000
88,500
74,500
31,500
30,000
0
0
Venus
Eorth
Mors
Jupiter
5oturn
Uronus
Neptune
in miles
I
2
26
30
18
8
CL
a2
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Eadh Soence
SCIENCE DETECT,VE' Beginnrng
1. For eoch stotement, circle T
ot F fq true or folse. In eoch
blonk, write theletter of the
PARAORAPH thot gives the best
evidence for your" onswer.
o. Stors ore studied by geologists.
T F-
b. The closer o moving object, the
foster it seems to go. T F
c. Astronomers study the objects
-
universe. T F
in the
d Stors ate lotgq than their solorsystems. T F_
2. Whot is the most likely meoning of
5. In this toble,
the Sun
the distonce
from eoch
plonet to the
sun is given in
ostronom icol
units* (AU).
Plonet
AU
Mercury
Venus
.4
.7
Eorth
1
Mors
1.5
Jupiter
*one AU :
the distonce
from Eorth to
the sun, or 93
5
Soturn
9
Uronus
Neptune
30
19
million miles.
Usethe toble to onswer the questiors.
o. Which plonet is closest to
Eorth2
revolve os used in porogroph E?
o. move in o stroight line
b. move down
c. move up
d. move in o circle
Distonce From
b. Which is closer to Uronus?
Neptune
Soturn
c. Which two plonets ore the some
3. Eorth, Mors, Venus, ond Soturn
distonce from Venus?
hove something in common. They oll
shore the some
o. moons.
b. stor.
c. orbit.
d. osteroids.
d. Which two plonets hove the
gr eat est d isf once bet w een
them2
4. Use the Planefs d /vloons toble
in the lesson to complete the
following senlence.
e. How for is Jupiter f rom the sun
The lorger plonets tend to hove
more
fewer
moons thon smoller plonets hove
in ostronomicol unitsZ
f
. Fill in the multiplicotion problem
to show how for Jupiter is from
the sun.
93 million miles
X-AU
fs this true for oll planets?
Yes
No
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=
. 800-458-4849
miles
-million