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Science Fun:
How Fast Do They Orbit?

After completing Our Planets Orbit the Sun, complete the next in the series. Add some math to your science and a little creative thinking as well!

The game board from Our Planets Orbit the Sun was only a model. The orbits of the real planets are perfectly round circles. They are “ellipse-shaped.” Ellipse is a fancy word for oval. This means that the planets’ orbits are oval shaped, not round.

Here’s how many Earth months it takes each planet to orbit the Sun:

Mercury takes 3 months
Venus takes 7 months
Earth takes 12 months
Mars takes 23 months
Jupiter takes 142 months
Saturn takes 354 months
Uranus takes 1,008 months
Neptune takes 1,978 months
Pluto takes 2,976 months

Figure out how many Earth years each of these planets take to orbit the Sun:

Earth takes 1 Earth year to orbit the sun.
Mars takes ________ Earth years to orbit the sun.
Jupiter takes _________ Earth years to orbit the sun.
Saturn takes ________ Earth years to orbit the sun.
Neptune takes ________ Earth years to orbit the sun.
Pluto takes 248 Earth years to orbit the sun!



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