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Solar System SAT Questions 5-7

1. The table below gives information about the planets of the Solar System.
They are listed in alphabetical order.

average time for time for temperature on


planet distance from diameter one orbit one rotation surface of
the Sun in in km round the on its axis planet in °C
million km Sun in hours

Earth 150 13 000 365 days 24 +22

Jupiter 780 140 000 12 years 9.8 –150

Mars 230 6800 687 days 25 –23

Mercury 58 4900 88 days 1400 +350

Neptune 4500 51 000 165 years 16 –220

Pluto 5900 2300 248 years 150 –220

Saturn 1400 120 000 29 years 10.2 –180

Uranus 2900 51 000 84 years 17 –210

Venus 110 12 000 225 days 5800 +480

(Data obtained from The Guinness Book of Astronomy, Patrick Moore; published by Guinness 1992)

(a) Explain why Neptune and Pluto are the coldest planets.

.........................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................
1 mark

(b) Explain why there could be no liquid water on the surface of:

(i) Mars ........................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................
1 mark

(ii) Venus ......................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................
1 mark

(c) On which planet would the time between sunrise and sunset be shortest?

..................................................................……
1 mark

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(d) Which planet has the shortest year?’
1 mark

..................................................................……

(e) Give the name of the force which keeps the planets in their orbits.

..................................................................……
1 mark
Maximum 6 marks

2. Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun.

Sun

M a rs
not to scale

(a) Name one planet which is closer than Mars to the Sun.

.....................................................................
1 mark

(b) A day and night on Mars lasts nearly 25 Earth hours. Explain why there is
daytime and night-time on Mars.

..........................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................
1 mark

(c) Like Earth, Mars has summers and winters.


Suggest why there are seasons on Mars.

..........................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................
1 mark
Maximum 3 marks

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3. The diagram below shows the orbits of Neptune, Pluto and the Earth.

At two points, A and B, the orbits of Neptune and Pluto cross over each other.

Sun
B
E a rth

N e p tu n e

P lu t o

not to scale

(a) What force keeps planets in orbit around the Sun?

...................................................................
1 mark

(b) Give two reasons why it takes Pluto more time than Neptune to orbit the Sun.

1. ................................................................................................................

....................................................................................................................

2. ................................................................................................................

....................................................................................................................
2 marks

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(c) (i) Tom can see the Sun because it is a light source. It gives out its own light.
Neptune and Pluto are not light sources but Tom can see them when he
looks through his telescope.

Explain why Tom can see Neptune and Pluto even though they are not light
sources.

.............................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................
2 marks

(ii) Between points A and B, Pluto is nearer than Neptune to the Earth.
Tom noticed that Pluto is not as bright as Neptune, even when Pluto is
closer than Neptune to the Earth.

Give one reason why Pluto is not as bright as Neptune.

.............................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................
1 mark
Maximum 6 marks

4. The table shows the time taken for the Earth, Mars and Venus to orbit the Sun.

planet time taken to orbit the


Sun, in Earth years

Earth 1.0

Mars 1.9

Venus 0.6

The diagram shows the orbits of the Earth, Mars and Venus round the Sun, at one
particular time. The arrows show the direction in which the planets move.

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Sun

Venus

E a rth

M a rs

not to scale

At the time shown in the diagram, the three planets were lined up with the Sun.

(a) Show the position of the Earth three months after the planets were lined up, by
marking a point on the Earth’s orbit.
Label the point E.
1 mark

(b) (i) Show the approximate position of Mars three Earth months after the planets
were lined up, by marking a point on Mars’s orbit.
Label the point M.
1 mark

(ii) Explain why Mars is in this position.

.............................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................
1 mark

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(c) (i) Show the approximate position of Venus three Earth months after the
planets were lined up, by marking a point on Venus’s orbit.
Label the point V.
1 mark

(ii) Explain why Venus is in this position.

.............................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................
1 mark
Maximum 5 marks

5. In 1610, the Italian scientist, Galileo, observed four bright moons near Jupiter.
Each night the moons moved.

(a) (i) The Sun and stars are light sources, and the planets are seen by reflected
light. Explain how we can see the moons of Jupiter.

.............................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................
2 marks

(ii) The four moons are approximately the same distance from the Earth.
However, they do not have the same brightness.
Suggest one reason for this.

.............................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................
1 mark

(b) The table shows the distances of the four moons from the centre of Jupiter, and
the times of their orbits. Europa’s distance has been left out.

name of distance from time for one


moon Jupiter, in orbit, in
millions of km Earth days

Io 0.42 1.8

Europa 3.6

Ganymede 1.07 7.2

Callisto 1.88 16.7

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The graph was plotted using the information in the table.

C a llis to
16

14

12

t im e f o r o n e 1 0
o r b it o f t h e
m o o n , in 8
E a rth d a y s G anym ede
6

2
Io
0
0 0 .2 0 .4 0 .6 0 .8 1 .0 1 .2 1 .4 1 .6 1 .8 2 .0 2 .2
d is ta n c e fr o m J u p it e r, in m illio n s o f k m

Use the graph to estimate Europa’s distance from Jupiter.

............................................................................................ millions of km
1 mark

(c) Galileo realised that Jupiter and its moons formed a model of our Solar System.
In this model:

what did Jupiter represent? .........................................................................

what did the moons represent? ...................................................................


1 mark
Maximum 5 marks

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