Planets of our

Solar System

Gas
Giants

8.
4.
2.
6.
1.
Sun 3. 5. 7.

Terrestrial
Ice
Planets
Giants

1. Mercury 5. Jupiter
2. Venus 6. Saturn
3. Earth 7. Uranus
4. Mars 8. Neptune
Planets of our
Solar System

Gas
Giants

8.
4.
2.
6.
1.
Sun 3. 5. 7.

Terrestrial
Ice
Planets
Giants

1. Mercury 5. Jupiter
2. Venus 6. Saturn
3. Earth 7. Uranus
4. Mars 8. Neptune

Chickie&Roo
 Types of
Planets
Draw your own planets!
You may choose to label
the differences between
each classification of
planet in our solar
system.

Terrestrial

Gas Giant

Ice Giant

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Chickie & Roo
What is a Planet?
NASA defines a planet as: a celestial body that orbits the
Sun, has sufficient mass for self-gravity to maintain hydrostatic
equilibrium in a round shape, has cleared the neighborhood
around its orbit. Planets that do not meet these guidelines are
considered dwarf planets. Planets that meet these guidelines
but are outside of our solar system are referred to as
exoplanets.

Planets can be categorized into 3 types: Terrestrial, Gas

Giants, and Ice Giants. Terrestrial planets are: Mercury,
Venus, Earth, and Mars. They are rocky and contain a heavy-
metal core. Gas Giants are larger in size and are composed of
mostly hydrogen or helium atmospheres. Ice Giants are a
combination of heavier elements such as: sulfur, nitrogen,
carbon, and oxygen with a small rocky core. Earth

All planets in our solar systems have moons except for

Mercury and Venus. Moons are natural satellites; small bodies
that orbit a planet locked in a gravitational pull. Moon

Types of Exoplanets

Gas Giant Terrestrial Neptunian Super-Earth

• Composed of • Rocky planet made • Rocky planets with a • Can consist of rock,
swirling gases around of silicate or metals. heavy-metal core. gas, or a combination
a solid core. • Contain a liquid • Hydrogen or helium of both.
• Can orbit much heavy-metal core. atmosphere. • Contains liquid water
closer to their stars • Have topological • Similar in size to the and habitable
than the planets in terrain features. planet Neptune in temperature.
our solar system. our solar system. • Larger in size than
Earth, but lighter
than our solar
system’s ice giants.
Planet vs Exoplanet
Planet

What’s
the
same?

What’s
different?
Exoplanet
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Chickie & Roo
What is an
An atmosphere is an envelope of gases surrounding a
planet. Earth’s atmosphere is comprised of about 78%
nitrogen and 21% oxygen, as well as smaller trace amounts
of other gases such as: carbon dioxide, neon, argon, and

Atmosphere? hydrogen. Air holds water, so there is moisture in layers of

the atmosphere.

The Earth’s atmosphere is divided up into 5 main layers with 3 small sublayers. The Troposphere is the lowest
layer of our atmosphere and extends 3.7-6.2 miles upward from the Earth’s surface. This is where almost all of our
weather takes place. This layer is where clouds form and where rain condenses and falls. The Stratosphere is the
second layer and extends 8-30 miles above Earth’s surface. This region contains the Ozone layer. The Mesosphere is
the third layer and extends 31-53 above Earth’s surface. Within the Mesosphere, the temperature decreases rapidly
as altitude increases. The Thermosphere is the fourth layer and largest layer extending 56-621 miles above the
planet’s surface. Here, large amounts of ultraviolet radiation is present and solar activity strongly affects
temperature. The Exosphere is the uppermost layer and gradually becomes outer space. It is believed that the
outermost boundary of this region is 120,000 miles from Earth’s surface (halfway to the moon).

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Chickie&Ro
What is Orbit?
An orbit is a regular and repeating path that one object, natural or manmade, takes
around another object or center of gravity. Planets can orbit stars or other planets,
moons and satellites can orbit planets, and some stars can orbit each other!

The object being orbited must have a stronger gravitational pull than the satellite
can escape. The larger the mass of the object being orbited, the large the gravitational
pull. The Sun is the most massive object in our solar system, so it has the largest
gravitational pull, which is why all planets in our solar system orbit the Sun.

A satellite is any object that is orbiting another. Although the orbit is a repeating
path, it is not always circular. Sometimes, a planet will follow an elliptical orbit where it
comes quite close to the Sun, then swings out farther. Planets also have orbits that can
cross. The imaginary path each planet takes overlaps, but the planets are not moving at
the same rate, so they do not collide.

Sun

Earth

Earth’s orbit
around the Sun

Moon’s orbit Moon

around the Earth
 Position from Sun:

Terrestrial Planet
1

Distance from Sun:

Planets
35.89 million miles

Distance from Earth:

of our 107.11 million miles

Rotational Period (Length of Day):

Solar System 56 Earth days

Cards Orbital Period (Length of Year):

88 Earth days

Chickie&Roo Radius:
1,516 miles

Mercury

Position from Sun: Position from Sun:

Terrestrial Planet

Terrestrial Planet

2 3

Distance from Sun: Distance from Sun:

67.67 million miles 91.49 million miles

Distance from Earth:

153 million miles Rotational Period (Length of Day):
24 hours
Rotational Period (Length of Day):
116 Earth days Orbital Period (Length of Year):
365 days
Orbital Period (Length of Year):
225 Earth days Radius:
3,963 (equatorial), 3,950 (polar)
Radius:
3,760 miles

Venus Earth
 Position from Sun: Position from Sun:
Terrestrial Planet

4 5

Distance from Sun: Distance from Sun:

Gas Giant
144.27 million miles 460.31 million miles

Distance from Earth: Distance from Earth:

53.24 million miles 107.11 million miles

Rotational Period (Length of Day): Rotational Period (Length of Day):

1 Earth day (+ 37 minutes) 9 hours 56 minutes

Orbital Period (Length of Year): Orbital Period (Length of Year):

687 Earth days 12 Earth years

Radius: Radius:
2,106 miles 43,441 miles

Mars Jupiter

Position from Sun: Position from Sun:

6 7
Gas Giant

Ice Giant

Distance from Sun: Distance from Sun:

913.44 million miles 1.82 billion miles

Distance from Earth: Distance from Earth:

958.57 million miles 1.75 billion miles

Rotational Period (Length of Day): Rotational Period (Length of Day):

10 hours 34 minutes 17 hours 14 minutes

Orbital Period (Length of Year): Orbital Period (Length of Year):

29 Earth years 84 Earth years

Radius: Radius:
36,184 miles 15,759 miles

Saturn Uranus
 Terrestrial Exoplanet
Position from Sun: Host Star:
8 TRAPPIST-1 (ultracool dwarf star)

Distance from Sun: Distance to Star:

Ice Giant

2.77 billion miles 2.72 million miles

Distance from Earth: Nearest Constellation:

2.77 billion miles Aquarius

Rotational Period (Length of Day): Distance from Earth:

16 hours 6 minutes 34.96 light years

Orbital Period (Length of Year): Orbital Period (Length of Year):

165 Earth years 6.10 days

Radius: Number of Neighboring Exoplanets:

15,299 miles 6

Neptune TRAPPIST-1 e
Gas Giant Exoplanet

Neptunian Exoplanet

Host Star: Host Star:

Kepler-16A/Kepler-16B Unknown
(binary star system)
Distance to Star:
Distance to Star: 241.68 billion miles
65.44 billion miles
Nearest Constellation:
Nearest Constellation: Scorpius
Cygnus
Distance from Earth:
Distance from Earth: 21,530 light years
245 light years
Orbital Period (Length of Year):
Orbital Period (Length of Year): 9 years
228.8 days
Mercury Mercury
Number of Neighboring Exoplanets:
Number of Neighboring Exoplanets: Unknown
0

Kepler-16 b OGLE-2005-BLG-390L-b
Super Earth Exoplanet

Host Star:
Kepler-186 (M-type dwarf star)

Distance to Star:
36.59 million miles

Nearest Constellation:
Cygnus

Distance from Earth:

500 light years

Orbital Period (Length of Year):

130 days

Number of Neighboring Exoplanets:

4

Kepler-186f Mercury

Venus Earth
Mars Jupiter

Saturn Uranus
Neptune
Planets To Scale
The scale of the planets in our solar system is hard to imagine without a visual aid. The
sheer magnitude of their size and vast difference between their mass is greater than
anything we can see here on Earth.
The planet illustrations below and on the following page have been scaled down relative to
their actual sizes.
Cut out the planets on the following two pages for a moveable solar system to interact
with. You may choose to lay the planets out in order from closest to farthest from the sun,
or you may choose to arrange them from smallest to largest. Allow the student time to
interact with these planets in a tactile way in an effort to understand and gain an
appreciation for the size of the planets.
You may also choose to emulate the orbit of each planet around the sun, or, try to
correlate with everyday items (the size of a blade of grass compared to the size of a tree,
etc) to assist the student in comprehension.
You may find it helpful to use materials in the kitchen to provide additional visual aids and

Phases
demonstrations of the vastness of the universe.

Mercury

Venus

Earth

Mars
Jupiter
Uranus

Saturn

Neptune
Solar System
Crossword 4 6

1 2

6 8

DOWN
1. Neptune’s planet classification is ____ giant
2. a celestial body moving in an elliptical orbit around a star
3. relating to the sun
4. curved path of a celestial object
5. all existing matter and space collectively
ACROSS 6. envelope of gases surrounding a planet
1. a planet outside of our solar system
2. movement toward something
3. to emit energy as rays or waves
4. a celestial or artificial body orbiting a planet or moon
5. the center of a planet
6. of or relating to the sky
7. the four inner planets are classified as _____________________
8. all planets orbit a _________

Chickie & Roo

Solar System
Crossword 4
O
6
A
3
R A D I A T E
1
I B M
5
C I C O R E
1 2
E X O P L A N E T S
5
L U P
2
G R A V I T A T I O N H

N I E

E V R
4
S A T E L L I T E E E

O R
6 8
C E L E S T I A L S T A R

A E

7
T E R R E S T R I A L

DOWN
1. Neptune’s planet classification is ____ giant
2. a celestial body moving in an elliptical orbit around a star
3. relating to the sun
4. curved path of a celestial object
5. all existing matter and space collectively
ACROSS 6. envelope of gases surrounding a planet
1. a planet outside of our solar system
2. movement toward something
3. to emit energy as rays or waves
4. a celestial or artificial body orbiting a planet or moon
5. the center of a planet
6. of or relating to the sky
7. the four inner planets are classified as _____________________
8. all planets orbit a _________

Chickie & Roo

 Solar System Vocabulary Words

solar solar
planet planet
exoplanet exoplanet
radiate radiate
satellite satellite
universe universe
gravitation gravitation
atmosphere atmosphere
celestial celestial
orbit orbit
chickieandroo
 Solar System Vocabulary Words and
Definitions

1. solar- relating to or determined by the sun

2. planet- a celestial body moving in an elliptical
orbit around a star
3. exoplanet- a planet that orbits a star outside the
solar system
4. radiate- to emit energy as rays or waves
5. satellite- a celestial or artificial body orbiting a
planet or moon
6. universe- all existing matter and space
collectively
7. gravitation- movement toward something
8.atmosphere- envelope of gases surrounding a
planet
9. celestial- of or relating to the sky
10.orbit- curved path of a celestial object around a
star, planet, or moon
chickieandroo
 Solar System Word Search
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atmosphere planet
celestial radiate
exoplanet satellite
gravitation solar
orbit universe

chickieandroo
 solar planet

exoplanet radiate
 satellite universe

gravitation atmosphere
 celestial orbit

(noun/adjective) (noun)
relating to or a celestial body
determined by the moving in an
sun elliptical orbit
around a star
 (noun)
(verb)
a planet that
to emit energy as
orbits a star
rays or waves
outside the solar
system

(noun) (noun)
a celestial or all existing matter
artificial body and space
orbiting a planet collectively
or moon
 (noun) (noun)
movement toward envelope of gases
something surrounding a
planet

(noun/verb)
(adjective)
curved path of a
of or relating to
celestial object
the sky
around a star,
planet, or moon