Across
- 3. Named for the Roman goddess of beauty and love, rotates in the opposite direction of other planets (retrograde motion).
- 5. The first asteroid to be discovered and the largest object in the asteroid between Mars and Jupiter
- 8. Made up of 70% water and 30% land, atmosphere is 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.9% argon, and 0.1% other gases.
- 9. Has record wind speeds approaching 2400 kilometers (1500 miles) per hour encircle the planet, making this one of the windiest places in the solar system.
- 11. Dry, desert world, with a reddish color due to iron oxide (rust).
Down
- 1. about two thirds the diameter of Earth’s moon and has evidence of a rocky core surrounded by a mantle of water and ice.
- 2. the innermost and smallest planet, revolves around the sun quickly but rotates so slowly on its axis that a day-night cycle lasts 176 Earth days.
- 4. The giant among planets, has a mass 2.5 times greater than the combined mass of all other planets, satellites, and asteroids in the solar system.
- 6. Known as the “elegant planet”, has ring system like a large rotating disk of varying density and brightness.
- 7. The orientation of its axis of rotation is sideways rather than right side up.
- 10. Has the largest orbital period (the time it takes to go around the Sun once). Its orbit is very elliptical and has a tilted axis. Passes through the Kuiper Belt.