Neptune: the Eighth Planet

Questions

1. Details How long is one year on Neptune?

   about 165 Earth years about 12 Earth years 88 Earth days 365 days
2. Details What is Neptune known for?

   thick clouds that trap heat the Great Red Spot, a giant storm the fastest winds in the solar system red, rusty dust
3. Cause and effect Why does Neptune have the fastest winds in the solar system?

   Its winds can blow at about 2,000 kilometers an hour, faster than the speed of sound on Earth. Its air is mostly carbon dioxide, which holds heat in like a blanket. It is the right distance from the Sun for water to stay liquid, not frozen or boiled away. Scientists think a huge object crashed into it long ago and knocked it over.
4. Vocabulary What does "ice giant" mean in the passage?

   an opening in a planet's surface where melted rock comes out the path a planet takes around the Sun a large planet made mostly of icy materials like water, ammonia and methane a bowl-shaped hole made when a space rock hits a surface
5. Details Where is Neptune in order from the Sun?

   the second planet the third planet the eighth planet the fifth planet
6. Main idea What is this passage mostly about?

   what the planet Mercury is like why the Moon changes shape what the planet Neptune is like what the planet Earth is like
7. Inference Based on the passage, why is a year on Neptune longer than a year on Earth?

   It has more clouds. It spins faster. It is farther from the Sun, so its orbit is longer. It is closer to the Sun, so its orbit is shorter.
8. Evidence Which sentence best explains why Neptune has the fastest winds in the solar system?

   The temperature on Neptune is about minus 200 degrees Celsius at the cloud tops. Neptune was found in 1846 by using mathematics before anyone saw it through a telescope. Its winds can blow at about 2,000 kilometers an hour, faster than the speed of sound on Earth. One year on Neptune, the time it takes to travel once around the Sun, lasts about 165 Earth years.

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