Name:__________________________________________________ Date:_____________

Planet Webquest

Solar System Overview http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/

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.)

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/whatisaplanet.cfm

Mercury http://www.nineplanets.org/mercury.html

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 http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Venus&Display=Overview

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?

http://earthsky.org/space/brightest-planet-brightest-mirrors-venus

8. What are some of the surface features on Venus that are similar to the Earth? ?
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/venus/surface.html
Mars http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/missions/index.html#.UnfaBhBKaHg

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? http://www.space.com/20133-olympus-mons-giant-mountain-of-mars.html

What is Valles Marineris? http://www.universetoday.com/98122/

12. Look at the best Mars Images. Which one is your favorite? Why?
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/images/#.UnfZ1hBKaHi

Jupiter http://www.nineplanets.org/jupiter.html

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?
http://www.space.com/19855-shoemaker-levy-9.html

Saturn http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/science/index.cfm

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

19. What is the Cassini Solstice Mission? http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/introduction/

20. Explain two things that have been learned from this mission.
Uranus
21. Who discovered Uranus? http://www.nineplanets.org/uranus.html
How was it found?

22. Look at the pictures of Uranus. What is unusual about its rings?
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Uranus&Display=Gallery

Neptune

23. Why is Neptune blue? http://www.nineplanets.org/neptune.html

24. What planets did the Voyager Spacecraft study? When did they leave? When did they arrive at these
planets? Where are they now? http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html

Pluto

Why is Pluto not considered a planet anymore? What is it now? http://www.universetoday.com/2008/04/10/why-

pluto-is-no-longer-a-planet/