Inner Planets

Imagine you are an astronaut studying the solar system. The four small, dense, rocky planets that orbit closest to the sun are referred to as what?

• terrestrial planets

• gas giants

• asteroids

• solar system

Imagine you are on a spaceship traveling from the sun, in which order would you encounter these planets?

• Mars, Earth, Venus, Mercury

• Venus, Mercury, Earth, Mars

• Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars

• Mars, Venus, Earth, Mercury

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-3

You are an astronaut preparing for a mission to Mercury. Which of the following facts should you keep in mind?

• There are no rings around Mercury.

• It has a massive iron core.

• Mercury has no moons.

• All of the above.

Imagine you are an astronaut on Mercury. You would experience almost ___ Earth days in a single day there.

• 39

• 49

• 69

• 59

You are a space explorer and you come across a planet which is the smallest in our solar system with an equatorial diameter of 4,879 km. What is the name of this planet?

• Mars

• Venus

• Earth

• Mercury

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-3

Imagine you are an astronaut exploring the solar system. You come across a planet that is often referred to as the "Earth's twin". Which planet is this?

• Mercury

• Venus

• Mars

• Uranus

When Earth spins on its axis in a counterclockwise direction, this motion is referred to as ___

• prograde rotation

• retrograde rotation

• revolution

• orbit

Imagine you are an astronaut studying a distant planet. You notice that the planet is rotating in the opposite direction to most other planets. This phenomenon is known as ___.

• prograde rotation

• retrograde rotation

• revolution

• orbit

Imagine you're an astronaut studying Venus. You notice that it takes more time for Venus to complete one rotation on its axis than it does for the planet to complete one revolution around the sun.

• True

• False

• Maybe

• I'm not sure.

____ rains down onto Venus’s surface, and the atmospheric pressure is at least 90 times that of Earth.

• Carbon dioxide

• Sulfuric acid

• Nitrogen

• Helium

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-1