| A | B |
|---|
| How many times can light travel around the Earth in one second? | 7 |
| What is the distance from the Earth to the Sun? | 93 million miles or 1 Astronomical Unit |
| What is an unmanned spacecraft that travels past other planets? | A space probe |
| Give examples of natural and man-made satelites. | Natural - moons. Man-made - weather, radio stallites. |
| What is the name of the galaxy our solar system is in? | The Milky Way Galaxy |
| What is the telescope that uses mirrors to gather light? | A reflecting telescope. |
| Where are observatories commonly placed? Give two reasons why they are placed in these locations. | Remote areas - open fields, far away from cities. They are placed there because there is less pollution and not as many lights. |
| How far is an Astronomical Unit? Why did scientists come up with this unit of measure. | 93 million miles. They came up with this unit because a mile was not large enough to measure distances in space. |
| How long does it take light to get to Earth from the sun? | 8 minutes. |
| List the planets in order from the sun outward. | Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto |
| What is the definition of a day? a year? Why does this vary from planet to planet? | A day is the amount of time it takes a planet to make one full rotation on its axis. A year is the amount of time it takes a planet to orbit the sun once. Some planets spin faster than others so days vary. Planets farther away from the sun have a longer orbit so it takes longer to go around the sun. |
| What are the two shapes of orbits of comets in which the comets will visit the Earth over and over again. What are the two shapes of comet orbits that will allow them to pass Earth only once. | Numerous times - elliptical and circular. Only once - hyperbola, parabola. |
| Why is studying the solar system - the planets, comets,stars, etc. - important? Why do we take the time and money to study the universe? | THINK ABOUT YOUR OWN ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION. |
