Final Exam Review

The outer planets are small, rocky planets with iron cores.

• True

• False

A group of stars, gas, and dust held together by gravity is a ________ .

• galaxy

• constellation

• Local Group

• both a and b

Which of the following is a common trait of inner planets?

• They are the same size

• The atmospheres are made up of the same gases.

• They all have water.

• They all have a solid outer layer.

What is the basic shape of every planet's orbit?

• circle

• ellipse

• oval

• egg

A galaxy that has a shape similar to a football is a(n) ______ galaxy.

• normal spiral

• barred spiral

• elliptical

• irregular

Why did the artists for both of these illustrations feel it necessary to represent the inner planets with pulled out pieces?

• They thought it was prettier

• The distances between the planets in the outer part of the solar system are so great that drawing everything on the same scale make it impossible to represent the inner planets.

• The distances between the planets in the inner part of the solar system are so great that drawing everything on the same scale makes it impossible to represent the outer planets.

• It is a more dramatic representation.

Two of the inner planets are ______ .

• Venus and Saturn

• Mars and Venus

• Earth and Saturn

• Mercury and Jupiter

What causes planets and other objects to revolve around the Sun rather than going off in a straight line as indicated by the solid arrow in the picture below?

• inertia - once an object is traveling in a circle it will keep traveling in a circle.

• pressure - the air in space pushes the object toward the Sun

• gravity - the Sun is pulling the object toward it.

• gravity - the object is pulling the Sun toward it.

________ are patterns of stars in the sky.

• Galaxies

• Constellations

• Star Clusters

• Binaries

Small pieces of rock that enter Earth's atmosphere and burn up are called ________ .

• stars

• meteors

• meteorites

• asteroids