THE SOLAR SYSTEM

• The Solar system is in The Milky Way galaxy.• It is formed by The Sun together with the

eight planets and all other celestial bodies that orbit The Sun.

The Sun is A STAR. It’s an enormous ball of hot glowing gases.

Our Sun is not unique in the universe. It is a common middle-sized yellow star which scientists have named Sol. This is why our system of planets is called the Solar System.

It looks bigger than other stars just because it’s much closer to us. There are trillions of other stars in the universe just like it further away. Many of these stars have their own systems of planets, moons, asteroids, and comets.

THE SUN

http://www.kidsastronomy.com/solar_system.htm

• A planet is and object that orbits the Sun• There are eight planets orbiting the Sun due to

gravity forces.• These planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars,

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.• Some years ago Pluto was considered a planet tow

but in 2006 scientists named it as a dwarf planet.

THE PLANETS

SATELLITES• A satellite is an object in space that orbits a bigger object.

There are two kinds of satellites: natural (such as the moon orbiting the Earth) or artificial (such as the International Space Station orbiting the Earth).

• There are lots of natural satellites in the solar system, with almost every planet having at least one moon. Saturn, for example, has 53 natural satellites.

THE MOON

• The Moon is the Earth’s satellite. It orbits around it.

• It takes 28 days to orbit the Earth.• People went to the Moon first in 1969.• It has no light. It reflects the Sunlight. • The Moon looks as if it’s changing shape and

we call them the Phases of the Moon

An asteroid is a large rock in outer space that orbit the Sun. Some can be very large, while others are as small as a grain of sand. Asteroids are left over materials from the formation of the Solar System. They usually orbit between Mars and Jupiter.

ASTEROIDS

A comet is an object in outer space that develops a long, bright tail when it passes near the sun. They are made out of dust and ice. They are a kind of dusty balls which orbit the Sun.

COMETS

• You have probably heard of a shooting or falling star, but have you ever seen one? If you have ever spent any amount of time looking up at the night sky, then you probably have a flash of light streaking high above through the darkness for just a moment, disappearing just as quickly as it appeared. Your parents may have told you to quickly make a wish on a shooting star before it vanishes

• Shooting stars or meteorites are just tiny bits of dust entering the Earth’s atmosphere from space. Tiny particles, like grains of sand, like to crash into the atmosphere at amazingly fast speeds - But don’t worry - they are not big enough to harm you! If you pick up a stone from the beach.

METEORITES