Name:______Date:______

Planet Webquest

Solar System Overview

1. Look at the solar system scoreboard. How many of each of these objects are in our solar system?

Object / How many in the solar system
Planets
Dwarf Planets
Moons
Asteroid
Comets

2. What does it take to be a planet? (Scroll down to chart on bottom.)

Mercury

3. What spacecraft have visited or will visit Mercury? What are the names and years?

4. Click on some of the pictures of Mercury. Describe the surface.

5. Mercury has the most extreme temperature ranges. What are they?

Venus

6. List 2 things you did not know about Venus you learned from the “10 Need to Know Things About Venus”

7. Why is Venus the brightest planet in the night sky?

8. What are some of the surface features on Venus that are similar to the Earth??

Mars

9. How many past mission to Mars have there been?

10. How many current missions to Mars are there? Pick one current mission and list 3 facts about it.

11. What is Olympus Mons?

What is Valles Marineris?

12. Look at thebest Mars Images. Which one is your favorite? Why?

Jupiter

13. Jupiter is the largest planet. How many times bigger than the earth is it?

14. What is the composition of Jupiter?

15. What is the wind like on Jupiter?

16. What happens in the Great Red Spot?

17. How many moons does it have?

16. What happened when Comet Shoemaker Levy 9 collided with Jupiter?

Saturn

17. What are Saturn’s rings made out of?

19. What is the Cassini Solstice Mission?

20. Explain two things that have been learned from this mission.

Uranus

21. Who discovered Uranus?

How was it found?

22. Look at the pictures of Uranus. What is unusual about its rings?

Neptune

23. Why is Neptune blue?

24. What planets did the Voyager Spacecraft study? When did they leave? When did they arrive at these planets? Where are they now?

Pluto

Why is Pluto not considered a planet anymore? What is it now?