Name _____________________________________________________________

Comparison of Rocky Planets and Gas Giants (modified from a graphic organizer found at Amazing Space)

Using the Solar System Fact Sheet, compare and contrast rocky planets and the gas giants.

Rocky Planets Gas GiantsComposition (of what are the rocky planets made)

Composition (of what are gas giants made)

List the rocky planets

a. c. b. d.

List the gas giants

a. c. b. d.

Can a spacecraft land on the rocky planets? Can a spacecraft land on the gas giants?

Type of atmosphere (thick, thin, thick to very thick, etc.)

Type of atmosphere (thick, thin, thick to very thick, etc.)

Where found in Solar System (near to Sun or far away)

Where found in Solar System (near to Sun, or far away)

Temperature range of planets (lowest to highest)

Temperatures of range planets (lowest to highest)

Are the rocky planets larger or smaller compared to gas giants?

Are the gas giants larger or smaller compared to rocky planets?

Number of moons (many or from few to none)

Number of moons (many or from few to none)

Comparing Reflecting and Refracting Telescopes

Refracting Telescopes

The purpose of a refracting telescope is to collect light from distant objects. All refracting telescopes are the same. It works just like a magnifying glass. It is made up of lenses. As light passes through the lens, it is refracted (this means the light is bent). It has two lenses. The first is the primary lens. This is located in the front of the telescope. The light is refracted until it hits the second lens. This is the eyepiece. This is where you look. You can see the object at which your telescope is pointed. The light waves travel they hit the primary lens. The primary lens refracts the light to the eyepiece. If someone looks into the eyepiece, a lens magnifies the image.

History of the Refracting Telescope Hans Lippershey, designed the lens for the first refracting telescope in 1608. Galileo Galilee made the first refracting telescope used to study space in 1609. He used it to discover four of the moons orbiting Jupiter. He used it draw a map the surface of the Moon. He could see objects 20 times smaller than the human eye could using his telescope. A problem with refractors is chromatic aberration (the image has a rainbow around the edges of an object). Using the proper lenses take care of the problem. Another problem is that the size of the lens. It can’t be very large. This limits the power of the telescope. Reflector Telescopes

A reflector use curved mirrors instead of lenses. A large curved mirror reflects the light to make an image. Light travels into the telescope’s tube. It reflects off the large mirror. The light hits a secondary mirror. It reflects the light into the eyepiece. The lens in the eyepiece magnifies the image. It is easier to see dim objects with a reflecting telescope. Large reflectors can see objects that are more than a million time fainter that what you can see with just your eye. Because the reflector uses mirrors, the images are sharp and clear.

History of the Reflecting Telescope Isaac Newton made the first reflector in 1688. Scientists soon learned that reflectors give them the best images. This is because mirrors could be made larger than lenses. The reflecting telescope is still used today. There are many different types of reflecting telescopes. The key difference between the different designs is the location of the secondary mirror.

Cassegrain Reflector Schmidt-Cassegrain Reflector With this information, complete the graphic organizer on the next page.

Comparing Reflecting and Refracting Telescopes Using the information about refracting and reflecting telescopes, complete the chart below.

Refractors Reflectors

Lens or mirror? Lens or mirror?

What happens to light in telescope. What happens to light in telescope.

Who made the first refractor? Who made the first reflector?

Who first used the refractor to study space?

Are mirrors better than lenses?

List two problems with refractors. a. b.

List to different types of reflecting telescopes. a. b.

Asteroid, Comet, or Meteor? Place an “X” in the appropriate boxes to indicate characteristics of asteroids, comets, and meteors.

Asteroid

Comet

Meteor

Made of ice, dust, and gas.

Appears as a streak in the sky.

Made of rock and/or metal.

Orbits the Sun.

Often called “shooting stars.”

Sometimes called a “dirty

snowball.”

Orbits between Mars and Jupiter.

Found in the Oort Cloud or Kuiper Belt.

Comparison of Comets and Asteroids (modified from a graphic organizer found at Amazing Space)

Using the Solar System Fact Sheet, compare and contrast comets and asteroids.

Comets Asteroids

(Source: Astronomy Picture of the Day, March 30, 2007)

Source: Astronomy Picture of the Day,

December 28, 2005

Composition (What it’s made of)

Composition (What it’s made of)

Where are they found in the Solar System?

Where are they found in the Solar System?

Can it be seen without a telescope? Can it be seen without a telescope?

Distance from Sun Average distance from Sun

Estimated number Estimated number

What Comets Are Made Of Emily Sohn Science News for Kids July 25, 2007 Astronomers are watching a comet break into pieces, practically before their eyes. Their observations, reported by scientists at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., are giving surprising insight into the structure of these space objects. Comets are fairly small (about 12 miles across or less) balls of ice, rock, and dust that make long, noncircular orbits around the Sun. When a comet gets near the Sun, the star's heat melts some of it, creating what looks like a tail. At this stage, it looks somewhat like a tadpole.

Comets sometimes burst into pieces when the Sun's heat turns their ice into water vapor. By studying these chunks, astronomers can compare the material at the center of a comet with material at its surface. The scientists expected that a comet's center would look different from its surface. That's because comets probably formed at the same time as the solar system, so the material at the center has probably remained unchanged for just as long. The surface material, on the other hand, is changed by the Sun's radiation. For the new study, the Johns Hopkins team observed the breakup of a comet called 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 (SW3). The comet orbits the Sun every 5.34 years.

When the comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 broke apart in June 2006, it produced at least 68 chunks, including this large piece, called Fragment B. H. Weaver/JHUAPL, M. Mutchler and Z. Levay/STScI, NASA, ESA

In 1995, SW3 split into at least five chunks. In June 2006, it passed within a relatively close 11.7 million kilometers (7.3 million miles) of Earth. Around that time, it disintegrated even more. Scientists counted 68 fragments. The two largest chunks are called B and C. Each is several hundred meters wide. The scientists studied both chunks using NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility and the Keck II telescope, both on Hawaii's Mauna Kea. The researchers found that B and C have nearly identical compositions, with the same proportions of substances such as water and carbon dioxide. Those results suggest that comets have maintained more of their original form than scientists had expected. "We were really lucky" that the comet came close enough for astronomers to make observations soon after a breakup, says lead researcher Neil Dello Russo. Because this was the first study of its kind, the scientists don't yet know whether all comets are the same, inside and out.—Emily Sohn Describe comets (of what are they made, size, etc.) __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

Solar System Fact Sheet

The Rocky Planets

Planet Rocky or Gas

Distance from Sun

(millions of mi)

Revolution (year)

(Earth days or years)

Rotation (day)

(Earth hours or

days)

Diameter (mi)

Moons Rings Temperature Atmosphere

Mercury Rocky 36 88 days 59 days 3,100 0 No -300o F. to 800 o F.

Very, very thin

Venus Rocky 67 225 days 243 Days 7,500 0 No 900 o F. CO2

Very thick

Earth Rocky 93 365 days (1 year)

23 hrs 56 min

7,900 1 No -125o F. to 125o F.

Nitrogen Oxygen Thick

Mars Rocky 141 687 Days 24 hrs 40 min

4,300 2 No -125o F. to 32o F.

CO2

Very thin

The Gas Giants

Planet Rocky or Gas

Distance from Sun

(millions of mi)

Revolution (year)

(Earth days or years)

Rotation (day)

(Earth hours or

days)

Diameter (mi)

Moons Rings Temperature Atmosphere

Jupiter Gas Giant

484 12 years 9 hrs 50 min

88,500 63+ Yes faint

-235o F. Hydrogen Helium

Very Thick

Saturn Gas Giant

886 29 years 9 hrs 40 min

65,000 63+ Yes -288o F. Hydrogen Helium

Very Thick

Uranus Gas Giant

1,800 84 years 17 hrs 34 min

31,000 27 Yes faint

-360o F. Hydrogen Helium

Methane Very Thick

Neptune Gas Giant

2,800 165 years 15 hrs 10 min

30,000 13 Yes faint

-360o F. Hydrogen Helium

Methane Very Thick

Asteroids Composition (what they’re

made of)

Locations Distance from Sun (millions of

miles)

Number Size Range Two Largest

Irregular rocky bodies

Most found between orbit of Mars & Jupiter

167,000,000 to 418,000,000

Over 150,000 330 mi to around 100 yards

Vesta – 330 mi Pallas – 300 mi

(Note – Asteroids cannot be seen without a telescope.)

Meteoroids/Meteors/Meteorites Where They Come

From Size Range Definition of a

Meteoroid Definition of a Meteor Definition of a

Meteorite Most come from the

Asteroid Belt. Few come from particles

left from comets when Earth crosses their path.

Grain of sand to less than 100

meters. Can be iron or rocky.

Grain or rock that is travelling in

space.

Grain or rock that has entered the atmosphere

(sometimes called “shooting” or “falling”

star.)

A meteor that is large enough to survive the

trip through the atmosphere and hit the Earth’s surface.

Comets Composition (what

they’re made of) Location of Comets Distance from Sun

(miles) Number Parts of a Comet

Water ice, dry ice, ammonia ice, dirt, and rocks. Sometimes called “dirty snowballs” or “icy mudballs.”

Found in the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud. (Oort Cloud named after Jan Oort who proposed its existence [hasn’t been confirmed].)

4,000,000,000 to 6,000,000,000,000

(one light year)

Over 1,000,000,000,000

Nucleus – The “dirty snowball.” Coma – Dense cloud of vaporized ices and dirt that surrounds Nucleus. Tail – Gases and other particles blown off the comet by the Solar Wind (particles from the Sun). Always points away from the Sun.

(Note – Some comets can be seen without a telescope; a telescope is needed to see most comets.)