SPACE SPACE Lauren Shea Alton Convent School

The Planets AIM: To understand the order of the planets, how our orbits work and be able to recognise a planet based on its features.

Orbits As we know, we live on the Earth. The Moon orbits the Earth. We see the sun during the day and the moon at night. The Earth orbits the sun. This means that we travel around the sun..

Day and Night During Earth’s orbit of the sun it spins on its axis. This means that during the day we are facing the sun, then at night we are facing away from the sun. When we are experiencing daytime, other people on the other side of the world are having night time.

MERCURY Mercury is the smallest planet in the Solar System: One of five planets visible with the naked eye.

VENUS Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system: The average surface temperature is 462 °C. The dense atmosphere of around 96.5 percent carbon dioxide traps heat and causes a greenhouse effect.

EARTH About 71 % of the Earth's surface is water. Water also exists in the air as water vapour, in rivers and lakes, in icecaps and glaciers, in the ground as soil and even in you and your pets.

MARS Mars is known as the 'Red Planet' because it looks like an orange-red star in the sky. Today we know that the planet’s appearance is due to rust in the Martian rocks.

JUPITER Jupiter’s moon (Ganymede) is the largest moon in the solar system: Jupiter’s moons are sometimes called the Jovian satellites. Jupiter’s moon, Ganymede.

SATURN Saturn is made mostly of hydrogen: It exists in layers that get denser farther into the planet. Eventually, deep inside, the hydrogen becomes metallic.

URANUS Uranus was officially discovered by Sir William Herschel in 1781: At first Herschel thought it was a comet, but several years later it was confirmed as a planet.

NEPTUNE Neptune has 14 moons: The most interesting moon is Triton, a frozen world that is spewing nitrogen ice and dust particles out from below its surface

Remembering the order of the planets… My Very Excellent Mother Just Sent Us Nachos Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune

What have you learnt today?  Can you remember who the orbits of the Earth and Moon?  Can you name some of the planets in our solar system?  Can you identify a planet from its feature?  Can you remember the order of the planets?