Junior Scholars (Ages 9-12): The Solar System Trivia Word Search

This is the most common element found anywhere in the universe, and it makes up most of the Sun.

A dark, slightly cooler patch that sometimes appears on the surface of the Sun is called this.

A planet spins around and around on this invisible, imaginary line running through its middle.

This American space agency sent astronauts to the Moon during the historic Apollo missions.

This is the curved path a planet follows as it travels endlessly around the Sun.

This giant, glowing star sits at the center of our solar system and gives us light and heat.

This was the name of the first artificial satellite, launched into space by the Soviet Union in 1957.

This is one of Saturn's larger icy moons, second in size only to Titan.

After hydrogen, this is the second most common gas found inside the Sun and the giant gas planets.

This invisible force pulls objects toward one another and keeps the planets circling the Sun.

Named after a creation god, this dwarf planet orbits far out in the icy Kuiper Belt.

Even though it isn't closest to the Sun, this planet is the hottest one in our solar system.

This icy moon of Saturn shoots tall geysers of water out from cracks near its south pole.

Pluto's biggest moon is so large that the two of them actually orbit a point in space between them.

One of Uranus's darker, dimmer moons was named after a mischievous spirit in an old poem.

This astronaut orbited the Moon alone in the command module while his two crewmates walked on its surface.

One of Saturn's moons is unusual because one side of it is bright and the other side is very dark.

This dwarf planet is the largest object found inside the asteroid belt.

This planet is famous for its wide, beautiful rings made of ice and rock.

This is one of the largest objects in the asteroid belt, almost big enough to be its own dwarf planet.

Iron dust covering its surface gives this planet its famous red color.

Any smaller object that circles around a bigger one in space, like a moon around a planet, is called this.

The largest moon of Uranus shares its name with a fairy queen from a Shakespeare play.

Saturn isn't alone; Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune all have these too, just much fainter ones.

This is the name given to a person who is specially trained to travel and work in outer space.

Saturn's largest moon has a thick, hazy atmosphere, unlike most other moons.

A bowl-shaped dent left behind after a moon or planet gets struck by a space rock is called this.

Every so often, the Sun lets out a sudden, powerful burst of energy called one of these.

One of Saturn's moons looks a bit like a famous fictional space station, because of one giant crater.

Neptune's largest moon is unusual because it orbits backward compared to Neptune's own spin.

This was the name of the NASA program that first landed astronauts on the Moon back in 1969.

'_ _ _ _ Armstrong' became the first person in history to walk on the surface of the Moon.

Our Sun is one of billions of stars in a huge, spiral-shaped _ _ _ _ _ _ called the Milky Way.

Astronauts wear this special protective outfit to safely survive outside their spacecraft.

This heavily cratered moon is one of Jupiter's four largest moons.

Beyond Neptune's orbit lies a ring of icy objects known as the _ _ _ _ _ _ Belt.

This Soviet cosmonaut became the very first human being to travel into outer space, back in 1961.

Our solar system belongs to a huge, spiral-shaped galaxy nicknamed the Milky _ _ _.

Earth makes one full spin on its axis every twenty-four hours, giving us both day and _ _ _ _ _.

Saturn's beautiful rings are made mostly out of countless tiny pieces of ice and _ _ _ _.

This icy space traveler grows a long, glowing tail whenever it swings close to the Sun.

Scientists think an icy moon of Jupiter with this name may hide a hidden ocean underneath.

This is the only planet we know of so far that has living things on it.

Earth's tilted axis is the reason our planet experiences four very different times of year.

During a total solar eclipse, you can briefly see the Sun's glowing outer edge, called this.

The Moon's gravity tugs on Earth's oceans, causing the regular rise and fall known as these.

Far past Pluto, a huge, icy shell surrounds our whole solar system, known as the _ _ _ _ Cloud.

One complete spin of a planet on its axis is what causes day and night to happen there.

This famous space telescope has been snapping amazing pictures of the universe since 1990.

This NASA spacecraft became the first human-made object ever to leave our solar system.

Scientists measure huge distances in space using this unit, the distance light travels in one year.

Earth's magnetic field sometimes creates a colorful, glowing light show in the sky near the poles.

Between Mars and Jupiter lies a wide belt filled with countless rocky chunks called these.

An imaginary line around a planet's middle that splits it into two halves is called this.

Scientists and astronomers use this special tool to see faraway planets, stars, and galaxies up close.

Astronauts live and work for months at a time aboard the International Space _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

A giant, colorful cloud of gas and dust in space, where brand-new stars are often born, is called this.

Because there is so little gravity inside a spacecraft, objects and astronauts tend to _ _ _ _ _ around.

One of Uranus's moons is named after the king of the fairies in a Shakespeare play.

Earth has just one of these, and it is the biggest one of any rocky planet in our solar system.

If a chunk of space rock survives its fiery trip through the sky and lands on the ground, it becomes one.

This is a place in space where gravity is so incredibly strong that not even light can escape it.

This distant dwarf planet is nearly as big as Pluto, and its discovery sparked a big debate.

This is a giant, glowing ball of hot gas that makes its own light and heat, just like our Sun.

This car-sized NASA rover has been exploring the surface of Mars ever since it landed in 2012.

This is the smallest planet in our solar system and also the closest one to the Sun.

This is simply the Russian word used for an astronaut.

This robotic vehicle explores the surface of Mars, snapping photos and gathering rock samples.

This is the biggest planet in our solar system; about a thousand Earths could fit inside it.

A tiny piece of space rock that burns up and streaks across Earth's night sky makes one of these.

This dwarf planet spins so fast that it has been squashed into an odd, stretched, egg-like shape.

Discovered in 1930, this is probably the most famous dwarf planet in our solar system.

This small moon of Jupiter is the most volcanically active place in the whole solar system.

This happens when the Moon passes directly between the Sun and Earth, briefly blocking out sunlight.

This astronaut became the second person ever to walk on the Moon, right after Neil Armstrong.

A giant, swirling weather system on Jupiter is so huge that three whole Earths could fit inside it.

One of Uranus's smaller round moons is famous for having wild, jumbled-up cliffs and canyons.

As the Moon circles Earth, it seems to change shape in our sky; these changing shapes are called this.

Mars's other small moon has a name that comes from an ancient Greek word for dread.

This planet is unusual because it spins on its side instead of standing up straight.