Stars and The Solar System Class Notes

1.
Phases of the moon occur because ___________’
Answer: We can see only that part of the moon which reflects light towards us.
2. The planet which is farthest from the sun is _________.
Answer: Neptune
3. The planet which appears reddish in colour is _________.
Answer: Mars
4. A group of stars that appear to form a pattern in the sky is known as a __ _________.
Answer: Constellation
5. A celestial body that revolves around a planet is known as a_________.
Answer: Satellite
6. Shooting stars are actually not _________.
Answer: Stars
7. Asteroids are found between the orbits of __________ and _________.
Answer: Mars and Jupiter
8. Mercury is the ____________ planet of the solar system.
Answer: smallest
9. In which part of the sky can you find Venus if it is visible as an evening star?
Answer
Venus appears in the western sky after sunset and is called the evening star.
10. Name the largest planet of the solar system.

Answer: Jupiter
11. What is a constellation?
Answer
A constellation is a group of stars that form a recognisable pattern in the sky.
12. Do all the stars in the sky move? Explain.
Answer
No, Stars do not move they actually appear to move from east to west due to rotation of earth
on its axis from west to east.
14. Why is the distance between stars expressed in light years? What do you understand by
the statement that a star is eight light years away from the Earth?
Answer
The distance of the stars from the Earth and the distance between the stars are very large. It
is inconvenient to express these distances in miles or kilometers. Thus, these large distances
are expressed in light years. One light year is the distance travelled by light in one year. A
star is located eight light years away from the Earth. This means that the distance between
the star and the Earth is equivalent to the distance travelled by light in eight years.
• The stars, the planets, the moon and many other objects in the sky are called celestial
objects.
• The study of celestial objects and associated phenomena is called astronomy.
• The moon is a natural satellite of the earth.
→ When the moon is positioned between the sun and the earth, the illuminated portion of the
moon is away from the earth, and we are not able to see the moon. We call this day as the
'new moon day'.
→ With time, the position of the moon changes and the illuminated portion of the moon
exposed to the earth gradually increases. Thus, the size of the apparent disc of the moon
increases gradually from a crescent to a full round when the earth lies between the moon and
the sun. We call this day the 'full moon day'.
→ The various shapes of the bright part of the moon as seen during a month are called
phases of the moon.
→ The moon has no atmosphere. It has no water.
• The stars emit light of their own. The Sun is also a star.
→ The stars are millions of times farther away than the Sun. Therefore, the stars appear to us
like points.
→ Large distances are expressed in another unit known as light year. It is the distance
travelled by light in one year. The speed of light is about 300,000 km per second. The Sun is
nearly 150,000,000 kilometres (150 million km) away from the Earth.
• The stars forming a group that has a recognisable shape is called a constellation.
→ One of the most famous constellations which you can see during summer time in the early
part of the
night is Ursa Major. It is also known as the Big Dipper, the Great Bear or the Saptarshi. There
are seven prominent stars in this constellation. It appears like a big ladle or a question mark.
→ Orion is another well-known constellation that can be seen during winter in the late
evenings.
→ Cassiopeia is another prominent constellation in the northern sky. It is visible during winter
in the early part of the night. It looks like a distorted letter W or M.
• The Sun and the celestial bodies which revolve around it form the solar system. It consists
of large number of bodies such as planets, comets, asteroids and meteors.
→ The eight planets in their order of distance from the Sun are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
→ The Sun is the nearest star from us. It is continuously emitting huge amounts of heat and
light. The Sun is the source of almost all energy on the Earth.
→ A planet has a definite path in which it revolves around the Sun. This path is called an
orbit. The time taken by a planet to complete one revolution is called its period of revolution.
→ The planet mercury is nearest to the Sun. It is the smallest planet of our solar system.
→ Venus is earth’s nearest planetary neighbour. It is the brightest planet in the night sky.
→ The Earth is the only planet in the solar system on which life is known to exist. From
space, the Earth appears blue-green due to the reflection of light from water and landmass on
its surface.
→ The Mars slightly reddish and, therefore, it is also called the red planet. It has two small
natural satellites.
→ Jupiter is the largest planet of the solar system. Jupiter has a large number of satellites. It
also has faint rings around it.
→ Saturn appears yellowish in colour and has beautiful rings. These rings are not visible with
the naked eye. It also has a large number of satellites.
→ Uranus and Neptune are the outermost planets of the solar system. They can be seen only
with the help of large telescopes.
→ The first four planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are called the inner planets while
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are called the outer planets. They have a ring system
around them.
• The large gap in between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter is occupied by a large number of
small objects that revolve around the Sun which are called asteroids.
• Comets revolve around the Sun in highly elliptical orbits. However, their period of revolution
round the Sun is usually very long.
• A meteor is usually a small object that occasionally enters the earth’s atmosphere. Some
meteors are large and so they can reach the Earth before they evaporate completely. The
body that reaches the Earth is called a meteorite.
• Artificial satellites are man-made. They are launched from the Earth. They revolve around
the Earth much closer than earth’s natural satellite, the moon.
→ Aryabhata was the first Indian satellite. Some other Indian satellites are INSAT, IRS,
Kalpana-1, EDUSAT, etc.
→ These satellites are used for forecasting weather, transmitting television, radio signals,
telecommunication and remote sensing.

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1.

Phases of the moon occur because ___________’

2. The planet which is farthest from the sun is _________.

3. The planet which appears reddish in colour is _________.

5. A celestial body that revolves around a planet is known as a_________.

6. Shooting stars are actually not _________.

7. Asteroids are found between the orbits of __ and _.

Answer: Mars and Jupiter

8. Mercury is the ____________ planet of the solar system.

10. Name the largest planet of the solar system.

11. What is a constellation?

A constellation is a group of stars that form a recognisable pattern in the sky.

12. Do all the stars in the sky move? Explain.

• The study of celestial objects and associated phenomena is called astronomy.

• The moon is a natural satellite of the earth.

→ The moon has no atmosphere. It has no water.

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