The Super Superb Solar System<3

By: Luis E and Kiera H

Have you ever wanted to learn more about the solar system? Well here's your chance. The solar system is the sun and everything that orbits around it, mostly asteroids, comets and planets. The solar system has been here for about 4.6 billion years and will still be here long after we are gone. The solar system is a very interesting topic and there are many questions about the creation and ending of it and what we are doing to learn more about it.

The creation of our solar system is a very controversial topic among the world because no one knows what actually happened. There are many guesses and hypotheses from different scientists all over the world on what could’ve happened. Some of the theories out there are the Accretion theory, the protoplanet theory, and the capture theory. The most popular theory is called the nebular hypothesis and this theory states that a nebula, big cloud of spinning dust made up of light, was turned into a protoplanetary disc by being flattened and that was the start of our solar system with 8 planets orbiting around a star.

Have you ever wondered, what would happen if the sun died? Well, it’s not a very pretty thing. Though the probability of this happening is billions of years away, it’s important to know. In about 5 billion years the sun will die, and as that happens the sun will expand and slowly vaporize each of the planets one by one.

There have been many missions sent into our solar system, 121 to be exact. These missions have been sent everywhere from each of the planets, to most of their moons. The planet Mars takes the cake for having the most missions sent to it. 26 missions have been sent to explore the face of Mars. But as for moons, our very own moon beats all the others by a landslide. Our moon has had 51 missions sent to it. Of Saturn’s 82 moons only 2 have been explored by missions. And of Jupiter’s 79 moons only 1 had a mission sent to it.

Watch This - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=libKVRa01L8&ab_channel=NationalGeographic

(Hands-on) - Supplies list and steps of the activity

1. You will need 8 plastic cups, the names of each of the planets, Earth, Mars, Saturn, Mercury, Venus, Uranus, Neptune and Jupiter, and their pictures on paper (pictures are optional)

2. Glue or tape each name and their picture on a cup

3. Try placing them in order from the sun

4. HAVE FUN!!

Activity: In person: 8 labeled cups with the names and pictures of each planet, have to put in order. Virtual: Click and drag the names to match the planets

Virtual Activity - https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1mqnQehPnZ5-P7OzVxUxwaEOpk5CRHELITvnnsClND90/edit?usp=sharing

Sites -

https://www.livescience.com/32879-what-happens-to-earth-when-sun-dies.html

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/?order=launch_date+desc&per_page=50&page=2&search=&fs=&fc=&ft=&dp=&category=

Protoplanetary Disk https://www.space.com/26317-star-chemistry-planets-alien-life.html Nebula https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/images/helix-nebula.html