Created by Jasmin BM, Nathan, Jordan W and Alicia! The Sun Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter SaturnUranus Neptune Pluto The Moon

The surface of Mercury consists of cratered grounds, smooth plains and many deep craters similar to those on the moon. The craters formed when meteors or small comets crashed into the planet. Like the first four planets from the Sun (Venus, Earth and Mars) Mercury is made mostly of rock and metal. Mercury's surface appears to be much the surface of the Moon. Life Life The plant and animal life of the Earth could not live on Mercury because of the lack of oxygen and the intense heat. Scientists don’t think that the planet has any sign of life on it. The plant and animal life of the Earth could not live on Mercury because of the lack of oxygen and the intense heat. Scientists don’t think that the planet has any sign of life on it.

Venus Venus is the brightest object in the sky besides our Sun and the Moon. It is also known as the morning star because at sunrise it appears in the east and it is also called the evening star as it appears at sunset when it is in the west but it can’t be seen in the middle of the night. A Venusian day is 243 Earth days and is longer than its year of 225 days. Oddly, Venus rotates from east to west instead of west to east like all the other planets! If you were on Venus, the Sun would rise in the west and set in the east.

Earth is a rocky world that is still very much alive and active. Volcanic activity continually creates new land and Earthquakes often reshape the landscape. Earth's surface is constantly changing. The crust is divided up into several "plates" (like a cracked eggshell) that float on a sea of rock. Where these plates collide, the land is pushed upwards to create enormous mountains. The tallest of these mountains, Mt. Everest, rises 29,028 feet (8850 m) above sea level. In some places, one plate sinks underneath another, forming deep valleys and trenches. Even though the planet was bombarded by asteroids and meteors throughout its early history, erosion has wiped out most of the craters. Some can still be found, however, it is believed that large meteors may have caused extinctions throughout Earth's history. One of these may have been responsible for wiping out the largest animals that ever lived - the dinosaurs.

The fourth planet from the Sun, Mars is also commonly referred to as the red planet. It is interesting to note that in Roman mythology, Mars was the god of war. In astronomy mythology, Mars was the Roman god of war and agriculture. It may not seem like these two things go together, but they do. Mars protected those who fought for their communities, and stayed home to raise crops for food. If you weighed 70 pounds on the Earth, you would weigh about 27 pounds on Mars. Nicknamed the 'Red' planet, Mars is the fourth planet out in distance from the Sun. Mars is a middle-sized terrestrial planet. Coming in at about half the diameter of the Earth and Venus, and twice the diameter of Mercury.

Jupiter In astronomy mythology, Jupiter known as Zeus in Greece over threw his father Saturn to become king of the gods. He then split the Universe with his brothers Neptune and Pluto. If you travelled to Jupiter on vacation you would be very heavy. If you weigh 70 pounds on the Earth, on Jupiter you would weigh 185 pounds. A jewel in the night sky, Jupiter is one of the brightest objects that you can see with the unaided eye. From our perspective, it shines brighter than any star, other than of course the Sun. Venus is the only planet that shines brighter. However Venus is not often visible, except in the early evening, and early morning. For this reason, the ancients viewed Jupiter as the king of the stars. Jupiter is one of four large planets in the Solar System which are made up of a large amount of gas. It is notable that the Solar System consists of four small and rocky inner plants, while the outer Solar System contains four large gaseous planets.

Saturn In astronomy mythology, Saturn was the god of agriculture, he was called Cronus by the Greeks. He is the son of Uranus, and father of Jupiter. Saturn over threw his father to become king of the gods, but was then over thrown himself by his son Jupiter.

Uranus In astronomy mythology, Uranus was the lord of the skies and husband of Earth. He was also the king of the gods until his son Saturn overthrew him. It would take you many years to fly a rocket to Uranus. When you arrived you would weigh more because Uranus is bigger than the Earth. If you weigh 70 pounds on the Earth you would weigh 82 pounds on Uranus.

Neptune In astronomy mythology, Neptune was originally only the god of water, but was later extended to the ocean when he became associated with the Greek god Poseidon. The planet Neptune was discovered by John Couch Adams, Urbain Jean Laverrie, and Johann Gale in With the discovery of Uranus in 1781 scientists had a difficult mystery to solve. The planet Uranus did not obey Newton's laws of motion. Its observed orbit did not follow the path that it should have.

Eclipse Watching a total solar eclipse through special darkened lenses or with the Sun projected on a screen can be a marvellous experience. During a total solar eclipse astronomers can study the outer layers of the Sun’s atmosphere. These layers, called the chromosphere and corona, become easy to observe when the bright disc of the Sun, known as the photosphere, is covered. Usually they are lost in its glare. Astronomers often pack equipment into an aeroplane and fly along the path of totality, to spend as much time as possible studying the Sun. For many years, this was the only time they could study the corona. Now they have instruments and telescopes in space to make observations at other times. We do not usually look directly at the Sun because of the brightness of its glare. During an eclipse, it is very tempting to do just that. You should never look directly at the Sun with the naked eye, or with a telescope or binoculars. It could damage or even destroy your sight. ending of a 1991, in La Paz, Baja California, in Mexico. The Moon's shadow on the Earth traced out a narrow

Galaxy's The Virgo Cluster is a group of galaxies some 50 million light years from us. It is the nearest galaxy cluster to the Local Group of galaxies, in which our own Milky Way galaxy is located. The Virgo Cluster is moving away from the Local Group at several hundred kilometres per second. The two largest galaxies in this image of the centre of the Virgo Cluster are the bright elliptical galaxies.

The surface of the sun is shown here in false colours. Sunspots appear yellow, although they would normally appear as dark spots. Sunspots are often larger than 30,000 km (20,000 mi) and appear in cycles of 11 years. Solar activity, including the development of sunspots, is associated with the sun’s changing magnetic fields.