Created By Emily.M, Maccy, Jordan.G, Meltem. Earth Jupiter Saturn Pluto Sun Mercury Venus Mars Uranus Neptune

Lying in our solar system there are nine planets that include Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. All the planets orbit around a huge star known as the Sun. The term ‘solar system’ takes its name from the object at the centre of it all- the Sun.

The Sun is the largest object in our solar system and is actually a star. The Sun’s surface is far too hot for the human body and no one would ever be able to get near the Sun. Without the Sun we wouldn’t have light to grow food and people and other animals could not survive. Sunspots are depressions on the Sun’s surface that appear darker because they are not as hot as the surrounding gas. The number of sunspots that can be seen follows an 11-year cycle. The number varies from zero to about 200 in a single year.

Mercury Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun but isn’t the hottest planet! Mercury and Venus orbit closer to the Sun so Mercury and Venus get more warmth than any of the other planets. Mercury is in many ways similar to Earth’s Moon. It has no atmosphere of its own and its surface has craters and plains. The Mariner 10 space probe flew past Mercury three times in 1974 and 1975, photographing more than half of its surface. The Messenger space probe was launched in 2004 and will be the first spacecraft to orbit the planet when it gets there in 2011.The Messenger will investigate Mercury’s atmosphere and magnetic field.

Venus Venus is the 2 nd planet closest to the Sun and is the hottest planet. It is a similar size to the Earth but would be very hard for humans to live there because of its acidic and it’s high-pressure atmosphere. When visible from Earth, Venus is the brightest object in the night sky after the Sun and the Moon.

Earth is the 3 rd planet closest to the Sun. Earth is just right for us because if Earth was much closer to the Sun it would be to hot for living things and if Earth was farther away from the Sun it would be too cold for living things. Earth is commenly known as the blue or water planet and is the only planet currently known to support life.

The moon is about one-quarter of Earth. If you walked on the moon you would weigh six times less, that means you could jump six times higher! The moon has absolutely no air so you would have to be wearing a specially designed spacesuit. Also the moon has no oxygen, no liquid water and no life of any kind.

Mars Mars is the 4 th planet from the Sun. Although Mars is called the ‘red planet’, a better name for Mars would be the ‘rusty planet’ because its red appearance is due to rust in its surface, soil and rocks.

Jupiter Visiting Jupiter would be a very difficult thing to do because Jupiter is a huge ball of hydrogen and helium gases. These same gases make up the Sun but, Jupiter would need to contain 80 times more gas before it could shine like a star. Jupiter spins faster than any other planet in the solar system- a day on Jupiter is less than 10 hours long! In 1995 the Galileo spacecraft started to orbit around Jupiter taking hundreds of pictures of Jupiter moons, storms and its faint, dusty ring.

Saturn has one ring but it is made up of 2 different smaller rings. Saturn is also made up of two gases- hydrogen and helium. In some places, Saturn has winds of up to 800 miles per hour which is 11 times faster than a hurricane on Earth! Saturn is the second-largest planet in the solar system. The rings are also thought to be composed of particles of ice and ice-covered rock, ranging in size from tiny particles to large rocks.

For thousands of years people thought the most distant planet from the Sun was Saturn. But in 1781, a man saw what he called a blue comet. He then realized that it was the 7 th planet, Uranus. Uranus also led other astronomers to the 8 th, Neptune.

If you visited Neptune and Uranus you would find that they are like twins. Both planets are 4 times bigger than Earth and each planet is circled by dark, thin rings and their atmosphere is filled with poisonous methane gas. The dark spot visible on Neptune is actually a storm that moves around the planet at over 1000 kilometers per hour!

Pluto At the edge of the solar system lies Pluto. Pluto isn’t actually classified as a planet, it is a dwarf planet. Pluto is mostly made up of rock-hard ice. Pluto is very cold and can reach temperatures of minus 238 degrees Celsius! Beyond Pluto there is a region called the Kuiper belt. Astronomers think that maybe Pluto is part of the Kuiper belt. Instead of being the smallest planet Pluto might be the largest object in the Kuiper belt.

Comets Most comets stay in a deep freeze in space, some orbit in the Kuiper belt. Others are farther out in space. Sometimes after colliding with another comet, a comet falls out of the deep freeze and is taken to the Sun. In the deep freeze a comet is like a dirty snowball. As it nears the Suns warmth the comet begins to vaporize.

Orbiting between Mars and Jupiter there is an asteroid belt, composed mainly of small rocks and dust. The largest asteroid in the belt is Ceres, having a diameter of about 1000 kilometres. Another asteroid, Vesta, is visible from Earth with the naked eye. The space probe Dawn was launched in 2006 to investigate Vesta and Ceres.

The larger outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, are known as the gas giants because their outer layers are composed of gases such as hydrogen and helium. And they all have rings.

Stars During the daytime you can see one star, the Sun and at nightime you can see hundreds of stars. Stars are mostly made up of hydrogen gas. A star is a ball of gas that shines extremely brightly in the sky.

Constellations Constellations are groups of stars joined near each other to form a picture. Constellations once helped people sail ships and to make calendars! Nowadays finding star patterns help you to find your way around the sky.

Between Mars and Jupiter there lies an asteroid belt. It contains tens of thousands of asteroids they are so far apart from each other that you could fly through it without your spacecraft getting hit. Astronomers think that asteroids are made out of rock and metal left over from the earlier days of the solar system.

On Earth daytime is when the Sun is facing one side of the Earth and on the other side the moon is facing the other side to make nightime. Earth spins around on its axis and one full spin around is one day. When Earth is spinning around on its axis Earth is also turning around the Sun.