Chapter 16: The Universe
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1. Which celestial bodies form the solar system?
2. What is the difference between stars and planets?
3. How many planets are there in our solar system?
4. What is to be found between Mars and Jupiter?
5. Why do we see only one side of the moon?
6. Which planet has a day longer than its year?
1. Name these –
(a) Birth place of stars
(b) Biggest planet in the solar system
(c) The galaxy which is our neighbour.
(d) Brightest planet in the solar system
(e) Planet with largest number of satellites
(f) Planets without a single satellite
(g) Planet with a rotation different from other planets.
(h) A celestial body that carries a tail along.
2. Fill in the blanks.
(a) The group of galaxies of which our Milky Way is a part is called …………. .
(b) Comets are made of …………. .
(c) The planet …………. appears as if it is rolling along its orbit.
(d) …………. is a stormy planet.
(e) The Pole Star is the best example of a …………. type of star.
3. Say if the statements given below are right or wrong. Rewrite the statements after correcting them.
(a) Venus is the planet closest to the sun.
(b) Mercury is called a stormy planet.
(c) Jupiter is the biggest planet.
4. Answer the following.
(a) What is a special characteristic of the planet Mars ?
(b) What are the types of galaxies ?
(c) Which celestial bodies does a galaxy include ?
(d) Name the different types of stars.
(e) What are the types of comets and on what basis are they classified?
(f) What is the difference between meteors and meteorites ?
(g) What are the characteristics of the planet Neptune ?
5. Match the following.
Group A Group B
(1) Galaxy (a) From east to west
(2) Comet (b) 33 satellites
(3) Sun-like star (c) Spiral
(4) Saturn (d) Sirius
(5) Venus (e) Halley
Fill in the blanks:
1. A smoky white band full of stars spreading north-south in the sky, is called the _____________________.
2. The Milky Way is also known as _____________________.
3. A group of innumerable stars and their planetary systems are together known as a _____________________.
4. The _____________________ is the galaxy in which our solar system is located.
5. The Milky Way is a part of the _____________________of galaxies.
6. The galaxy that is closest to our Milky Way is called _____________________.
7. The _____________________ includes innumerable galaxies, the space between them and also energy.
8. The scientist _____________________ showed that there exist many galaxies beyond our Milky Way.
9. In 1990, NASA, the American space agency launched the _____________________ Telescope in the orbit of the earth.
10. The _____________________ telescope has made it easier to look for stars, to take photographs and to obtain spectrums.
11. The thousands of twinkling stars that we observe in the clear night sky are part of our _____________________.
12. The birth place of stars are the huge _____________________.
13. Nebulae are made of dust particles and _____________________.
14. Generally, the surface temperature of stars ranges from _____________________.
15. The colour of stars changes according to their _____________________.
16. _____________________ stars can be slightly smaller or bigger than the sun.
17. The temperature of red giant stars ranges between _____________________.
18. _____________________ stars are even brighter and larger than the red giant stars.
19. The temperature of super nova stars is between _____________________.
20. More than half of the stars in sky are _____________________ stars.
21. _____________________ stars consist of two stars that revolve around each other.
22. The _____________________ and shape of variable stars is not stable.
23. When a star expands, it emits _______ energy and at such times its brightness _____________________.
24. When a star contracts, its surface temperature ____________ and the star emits _____________________ energy and appears _____________________.
25. The _____________________ consists of the sun, the planets, asteroids, comets and meteors.
26. The planets _____________, ___________, __________, ___________ and ______________ can be easily seen.
27. The Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are the ____________ planets.
28. The Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are ____________ planets.
29. ___________ planets have rings around them.
30. The crust of all the inner planets is ____________.
31. The outer planets have _______________ outer cover.
32. The _________ which is at the centre of the solar system
33. The Sun is a ____________ coloured star.
34. The surface temperature of the sun is around _____________.
35. The size of the sun is so huge that around _______ lakh planets of the size of the earth can be easily placed within it.
36. Due to the _____________________ force of the sun, the celestial bodies in the solar system revolve around it.
37. The diameter of the sun is approximately _____________________km.
38. The sun rotates around its axis and while doing so, it revolves around the centre of the _____________________ taking the solar system along with it.
39. Planet _____________________ is closest to the sun.
40. The planet _____________________ is visible in the morning and the evening if it is away from the sun.
41. _____________________ is the fastest moving planet.
42. _______________ is the brightest planet in the solar system.
43. Planet _____________ is seen in the sky in the east before the sunrise and in the west after the sunset.
44. Venus rotates around itself from _____________________.
45. ___________ is the hottest planet.
46. ___________ is the third planet of the solar system.
47. Only the planet ___________ has life on it.
48. There is a _______________ field around the earth.
49. The magnetic field around the earth diverts the harmful rays from the sun towards the _____________ regions of the earth.
50. As the soil on Mars contains ___________, its colour is reddish.
51. The highest and longest mountain in the solar system _____________________ is located on Mars.
52. ____________ is the largest planet of the solar system.
53. Jupiter is so huge that as many as _____________ planets of the size of the earth can get accommodated in it.
54. Jupiter is also called the _____________________.
55. Though the mass of Saturn is 95 times that of the earth, its _____________ is very low.
56. _____________ appears as if it is rolling along on its orbit.
57. A season on _______________ lasts for about 41 years.
58. The celestial bodies that revolve around a planet without independently revolving around the sun are called _____________.
59. The Moon is the ________________ of the earth.
60. The Moons periods of rotation and revolution are both of __________ days.
61. Except for ______________ and ____________ all other planets have satellites but in varying numbers.
62. _____________ are small sized bodies could not turn into planets when the solar system was formed, but continued to revolve around the sun.
63. A belt of asteroids has formed between the planets ___________ and _____________.
64. A small sized celestial body that revolves independently around the sun is called a ___________ planet.
65. Pluto takes around ___________ years to complete its revolution around the sun whereas it takes around ___________ days for one rotation.
66. ______________ are formed out of ice and dust particles.
67. Since olden times, the appearance of a _____________ has been considered to be an inauspicious event.
68. _______________ are made up of frozen matter and dust particles.
69. When they are close to the sun, this frozen matter gets converted into gas due to the ______________ heat.
70. Certain ____________ appear to have a long feathery tail.
71. Due to their long ______________ orbits, the appearance of comets in the sky is very rare.
72. Comets are classified in two main groups – _______________comets and _______________ comets.
73. Long period comets take more than ___________ years to complete one revolution around the sun.
74. Short period comets take ______________ than 200 years to complete one revolution around the sun.
75. _____________________ appeared in the year 1910 and reappeared in 1986.
76. The central part or nucleus of _____________________ comet was found to be 16 km long and 7.5 km wide.
77. Halley’s comet takes _______ years to complete its revolution around the sun.
78. ________________, an American astronomer, proposed that comets consist of an icy cluster of various constituents.
79. Comets came to be called _____________________.
80. By 1950, Whipple had discovered ______________ comets.
81. ________________ are rocky pieces originating from the asteroid belt.
82. It is believed that the _______________ lake in Maharashtra has been formed by the impact of such a meteorite.
Answer the following:
1. What is a Milky Way?
2. What is Milky way also known as?
3. What is a galaxy?
4. In which galaxy is our Milky Way located?
5. Our Milky Way a part of which galaxy?
6. what does the Milky Way include?
7. Name the galaxy closest to our Milky Way.
8. What does the universe include?
9. Name the various types of galaxies.
10. Name the scientist who showed that there exist many galaxies in our Milky Way.
11. Who launched the Hubble Telescope and in which year?
12. What does the Hubble Telescope do?
13. Name the different colours that the stars radiate.
14. What are nebulae?
15. What is the surface temperature of the stars?
16. Name the different type of stars.
17. Describe Sun-like stars.
18. Name some Sun-like stars
19. Describe Red giant stars.
20. Describe super nova stars.
21. Describe binary stars.
22. Describe variable stars.
23. What does the solar system consists of?
24. Name the planets that can be easily seen.
25. Name the inner and the outer planets.
26. Describe the sun.
27. Describe Mercury.
28. Describe Venus.
29. Describe Earth.
30. Describe Mars.
31. Describe Jupiter
32. Describe Saturn
33. Describe Uranus
34. Describe Neptune.
35. What is a satellite?
36. Describe the moon
37. Name the planets that have satellites.
38. Name the planets that do not have satellites.
39. What are asteroids?
40. Where do you find the asteroids in our solar system
41. What is a dwarf planet?
42. Name a dwarf planet.
43. Describe Pluto.
44. What is a comet?
45. Why to certain comets appear to have a long feathery tail?
46. Why is the appearance of comets very rare?
47. What are long period comets?
48. What are short period comets?
49. In which years did Haley’s comet appear?
50. How long does Halley’s Comet takes to complete its revolution around the sun?
51. What is a meteor fall?
52. What are meteors?
53. What are meteorites?
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