Apart from the Sun, the largest members of the Solar System are the eight major planets. Nearest the Sun are four fairly small, rocky planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars
On the far side of the asteroid belt are the four gas giants - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. They are mostly made of hydrogen and helium
https://www.esa.int/kids/en/learn/Our_Universe/Planets_and_moons/The_Solar_System_and_its_planets
Lesson plan:
we will.. study the different planets by looking at what makes them unique !
we will... pass out and work on the worksheets as a group
we will... end class by making hats and writing down what our favorite planet is and a fun fact !
Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to undertsand the solar system
Students will be able to identify and place the planets in order
Students will be able to understand the importance of the solar system
speeds around the Sun once every 88 days.
spins on its axis very slowly – once every 58.6 days. This is exactly two thirds of its orbital period.
Its surface is covered with impact craters. It has no atmosphere and no water. The noon temperature at the equator can soar to 450°C but the nights are extremely cold, below -180°C. There may be some water ice in the deep, dark craters near the poles.
the brightest object in the night sky apart from the Moon--Venus is so bright because it is covered by clouds that reflect much of the incoming sunlight. The yellowish clouds are made of sulphur and sulphuric acid.
it is blanketed with a thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide – the gas that we breathe out. This atmosphere is so dense that walking through would be like wading through water.
The Earth zooms around the Sun at a speed of 30 km/s – 45 times faster than Concorde. It takes 365 days (one year) to complete one orbit of the Sun.
1.Mars is often called the 'Red Planet' because it appears in the sky as an orange-red star.2.
2.It orbits the Sun at an average distance of 228 million km, half as far again as the Earth, so human visitors would find it very cold
3.Violent storms can whip up clouds of dust. Sometimes these spread rapidly around the entire planet, hiding the surface from view.
weighs more than twice as much as all the other planets.
Despite its huge size, Jupiter is the fastest-spinning planet, rotating once in less than 10 hours.Jupiter is five times as far from the Sun as the Earth, so its surface temperature is low, around –145°C
Jupiter is a giant ball of gas, with no solid surface. It is mainly made of the very light gases, hydrogen and helium. Telescopes show a cloudy atmosphere with colourful belts and spots. The largest feature – called the Great Red Spot – is a giant storm, several times the size of the Earth. It has been blowing non-stop for more than 300 years.
Second only in size to Jupiter, Saturn is made mainly of the light gases hydrogen and helium. 764 Earths would fit inside Saturn, but the gas giant weighs only 95 times as much as our rocky world. If you could put all of the planets in a pool of water, Saturn is the only one that would float.
In a telescope, Saturn appears a pale yellow colour. It has no solid surface, so what we are seeing are clouds that appear as light and dark bands. These clouds are blown along by very strong winds. Much of the heat that drives these winds comes from inside the planet. Above the cloud tops is a flat, disk-shaped system of rings.
Uranus lies more than 2,800 million km from the Sun. At this distance, the temperature of its cloud tops is -214 degrees C. It moves quite slowly and has a long way to travel, so each orbit lasts 84 years.
Despite its size, it spins rapidly. A day on Uranus lasts only 17 hours 14 minutes.
Uranus spins like a top knocked over on its side. This means that the Sun is sometimes directly overhead at the poles. Each pole has a summer and a winter lasting 21 years, making them the hottest and coldest places on the planet!
Neptune is almost an identical twin of Uranus. It is 57 times bigger than the Earth, but spins quite rapidly – one day lasts only 16 hours 7 minutes
Like Uranus, it has an atmosphere of hydrogen, helium and methane. Its interior is made of ices, with a possible rocky core. Although the atmosphere is very cold (-220 degrees C), the blue planet has some very strong winds and violent storms.
Neptune has at least five dark, narrow rings (named after Galle, Le Verrier, Adams and others who worked to discover the planet).
It has 13 known moons.