The Essential Question

 What make a planet…a planet?  Who named the planets?  How do we determine the status of a planet?  What ever happened to Pluto? (Google Images, 2010.)

 Mercury  Venus  Earth  Mars  Jupiter  Neptune  Uranus  Pluto (sometimes!!) (Google Images, 2010.)

 The Romans matched planetary attributes with particular deities and named the known planets accordingly.  First astronomers focused their attention on the sun, the moon, and visible planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.  They believed each of these celestial bodies influenced a particular day of the week. (Google Images, 2010)

 Mercury was named after the messenger to the gods,  Venus, the brightest planet visible to the unaided eye, was named for the goddess of love and beauty.  Jupiter, more than twice as massive as all the other planets combined, earned the name of the superior god. (Google Images, 2010.)

A planet, to be defined as a planet, must: 1. Be massive enough to form itself into a stable, almost spherical shape; 2. Orbit a star; 3. Have cleared its orbit of other bodies; 4. Not have its orbit unduly interfered with by other planets (Google Images, 2010)

 Pluto, is the second- largest known dwarf planet.  Tenth-largest body observed directly orbiting the Sun.  Originally classified as a planet.  Pluto is now considered the largest member of a distinct population called the Kuiper belt.

 Planets are huge round stars.  They must maintain an orbit.  They were named after Roman gods.  Pluto is no longer a planet.  Pluto is a large star.

 If you could, which planet would you visit? Why?

Please visit:  National Aeronautics and Space Administration--  Astronomy for Kids  Kidsites.com -- edu/science.htm edu/science.htm  The Nine Planets Solar System Tour