Planets

Planets worksheet A

Exercise 1
Quickly read the following andlabel the picture of the eight planets.


Sun

Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the fifth largest in the solar system. It’s the only planet whose name is not taken from Greek or Romanmythology.

Neptune is named after the Roman god of the sea because of its blue colour. It is the fourth largest planet and is the eighth planet from the Sun.

Mercury is the closest planet tothe Sun and nearly the smallest. It was named after the Roman god of commerce and travel, whose Greek counterpart was Hermes, the winged messenger.

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and theseventh largest planet. It’s named after the Roman god of war and is sometimes called ‘The Red Planet’.

Venus is named after the goddess of love and beauty and is the second closest planet to theSun.

Jupiter’s name is taken from the king of the Roman gods and it’s the fifth planet from the Sun.

At 1,429 million kilometres from the Sun, Saturn is the sixth closest and the second largestplanet. It’s named after the Roman god of agriculture.

Uranus is the third largest planet and seventh from the Sun. It was named after the Roman god who was Saturn’s father.

Planetsworksheet B

Exercise 2
Write the name of the planet each paragraphdescribes.

(1) __Jupiter______ is the largest planet: 318 times the size of Earth and twice the size of all the other planets put together. Of its 39 satellites, the most famous are the four large moonsIo, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, which were discovered by Galileo in 1610. It is famous for its Great Red Spot, which is about the size of two Earths.

(2) The average temperature on _Mars...