By Nicole Mauro
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Sun- The sun is a big yellow star that is at the center of the solar system. This star gives light
and energy to all the planets in the solar system. The sun is x1000 bigger than the earth. MAKE
SURE YOU DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT IT. The sun can hurt your eyes.
Temperature- A measurement that tells you if it is hot or cold
(http://www.kidsastronomy.com/dictionary.htm).
Orbit- An orbit is a path that goes around all bodies in the solar system in an egg shape (also
known as an ellipse).
Planets- Round bodies in the solar system that orbit around the sun! (Mercury, Venus, Earth,
Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune are all planets).
Solar system- The collection of planets and their moons in orbit around a sun, together with
smaller bodies such as asteroids, meteoroids, and comets (www.dictionary.com).
Celsius- A measurement unit used in the metric system used for temperature.
“Sun Spots”: The dark spots on the sun that are 3000 degrees Celsius (the areas surrounding
these spots are 6000 degrees Celsius) .
Atmosphere- A giant gaseous mass that surrounds a large body (planet in this book).
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Carbon dioxide- Carbon dioxide is made of one carbon
atom and two oxygen atoms. Carbon dioxide causes the
temperatures in Venus, Earth, and Mars to go up.
Green House Effect- On page 12, an example is used to
explain this process. In general, this process causes planets
to heat up such as Venus, Earth, and Mars.
Polar Caps- They are made of ice and are located on the
North and South poles of Mars and Earth. On Mars, Polar
Caps are made of Carbon Dioxide .
“Spinning on its side”- Uranus’s axis is tilted (that’s why
unlike earth), it looks like it is spinning on a side angle.
Asteroids- They are rocky bodies. Asteroids can be very big
and very tiny (Range can be 100 km to the size of pebbles).
Terrestrial planets- Planets with rocky surfaces.
Gaseous planets- Planets with gaseous surfaces.
Today was THE day. Finally, Billy was able
to go to the Liberty Science Center in New
Jersey. He had been waiting years to be in
the 5th grade, so he could go on this trip.
Billy and his classmates got on the bus that
morning and got to the Science Center by the
afternoon. When they arrived their teacher, Miss
Amy said, “No one must wander away from the
group. PLEASE ALL STAY TOGETHER!”
Billy knew he should listen to his teacher, but
once he saw the model space ships… he
could not resist! He left the class for a minute
to check them out.
Billy went inside the space
craft because he was
curious to see what was
inside.
The door slammed
shut and he was locked
in. The space ship
began to rumble . Soon
enough he was lifted
into the air!
Billy was no longer in New Jersey
anymore….or even AMERICA! He looked out
the window of his space ship and saw he was
in space.
Billy’s Space Ship
started heading
towards the sun.
As he got closer to the
sun, he felt the sweat
dripping down his
face because the
temperature of the
sun is about 6000
Celsius!!!
When Billy passed the sun, he noticed there were dark spots on it. He
remembered in class, Miss Amy said they were called “sun spots”. She
also, told their class that these spots were the cooler areas on the sun and
the number of spots vary over around an 11 year cycle. Billy also noticed
that the sun was SO BIG, that you could probably fit a million earths in
it!
. Billy’s soared away from the yellow star also known as the Sun, and
moved to the closest planet, Mercury. When the space ship was
soaring past the side of Mercury that was closest to the Sun, Billy
was sweating, but he began to shiver once he approached the planet
Mercury. He remembered that Miss Amy said, “Mercury has no
atmosphere and that is why the temperature is so different from
Earth, because it depends if you are in direct sunlight or in the
shadows on the planet.” Also, Billy noticed that Mercury looked a
lot like the moon
Suddenly, the space ship rumbled and took Billy to the next
planet, VENUS. Billy almost thought he was back home on
earth, since on Venus he saw volcanos, mountains, and sand.
.
Furthermore,
he saw that Venus was covered with clouds.
Also, saw that Venus was about the same size of the earth.
However, it is very hot because it is about 600 Celsius. Venus
is so hot because of the Green House Effect!
Remember: The
Green House Effect
causes planets to get
warmer!!!
Example: Think of a car on a hot
day! When the windows are closed,
the car becomes hot. But why does
the car get hot? The car gets hot
because the light from the sun goes
through the car windows, but the
light cannot go back out of the car.
So, the heat from the light of the sun
is trapped in the car and causes the
car to warm up.
So why is there a Green House Effect on
Venus?
With planets like Venus , the presence of gases like Carbon Dioxide,
cause heat to be trapped. Just like in the car, Carbon Dioxide and these
other gases act like a window. They can take light in, but cannot let it
leave. This is why on planets like Venus the green house effect happens
because heat is being trapped on the planet due to gases like Carbon
Dioxide.
The space ship zoomed right past Billy’s home
planet, Earth and went right to Mars. At Mars,
Billy saw polar caps on the top and bottom of
the planet!!! He saw they are just like the North
and South Pole of the Earth except the ice is not
made of water, but out of carbon dioxide.
Billy breezed past Mars right to the largest planet
in the solar system, Jupiter. Also, Billy was
shivering because little did he know the
temperature by Jupiter was -110 Celsius!
As Billy went past Saturn, he felt colder, because Saturn was even colder
than Jupiter!! As his ship quickly zoomed by, he admired the four rings
surrounding the planet.
To Billy’s surprise, when he passed the planet Uranus, he
noticed it was spinning on its’ side!!! As his ship came closer
to the planet, he also saw rocks made of ice. He could see
how cold the planet was! Then his ship began to shake...
After passing the other seven planets, Billy finally
came to the eighth and final planet, Neptune. When
passing Neptune, Billy’s ship started shaking and
going out of control because it was so windy in
Neptune’s atmosphere !!! He felt colder in Neptune
than any other planet, because its temperature is
about -200 Celsius.
After passing all of the
planets Billy realized
something…..
Billy realized that the farther
away from the sun he was, the
colder the planets were and the
less energy they had.
He also realized there
were two types of planets:
terrestrial (rocky) planets
and gaseous planets.
Terrestrial
planets
He saw the closer the planets to the sun like Mercury, Venus,
Earth, and Mars had rocky surfaces.
Gaseous
Planets
Then he noticed farther planets from the sun, like Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, and Neptune had gaseous surfaces.
Billy realized he just saw all the planets
and now knew some cool facts he could
share with his class! After this realization,
he wanted to go back to the Liberty
Science Center. So, he looked around the
ship and saw a larger red button and
pressed it. Suddenly, Billy’s space ship
started shaking and went backwards past
all the planets and asteroids. He noticed
the asteroids look like large rocks and
was afraid they were going to break his
ship! Then he covered his eyes!!
Billy opened his eyes and saw the Earth! He was relieved to know
the ship was heading towards the Earth.
His space ship when in high speed zooming right down towards
the Earth. Closing his eyes in fear, he then heard
a loud thump and found himself back at the
Liberty Science Center.
Billy ran out of the space ship and to his
classmates yelling and trying to tell them
what just happened! None of them believed
him, nor did they notice he left.
Even though no one
believed him, Billy did
not care because he
just had the best day of
his life and knew he
would always
remember this day!
Did Billy’s trip help you see how the planets are similar and different?
Here are some questions to help you remember what Billy taught you!
1.
2.
3.
As you move farther from the sun, do the
planets get hotter or colder?
Which planets are Terrestrial planets? (Hint: 4)
Which planets are Gaseous planets? (Hint: 4)
1.
2.
3.
The temperature of the planets gets much
colder the farther away you are from the sun.
Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.
Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune.
Parents after your kids do that activity, make sure
they understand the main concepts/ themes of
this book. Which are…
 The farther you go away from the sun, the
colder the planets are.
 There are two types of planets: Terrestrial and
Gaseous (4 planets in each type).
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http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/segwayed/lessons
/BOSS/lessonplan2.htm
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/
http://www.kidsastronomy.com/solar_syste
m.htm
Washington, D.C.
5th Grade:
Standard 4: Space and Science
Students will be able to have an appreciation for our solar system and the concept that there are similar and
dissimilar systems in space.
Standard 5: Describe the Earth as a planet in our solar system.
6th Grade:
Standard 6.3: The understanding of astronomy and planetary exploration of the solar system.
National Standards
5th grade- Earth and its place in the universe
Standard 5.7.2- Distinguishing among the planets according to specific characteristics.
6th grade- Earth and its place in the universe
Standard 6.7.3- Differentiate between planets according to specific characteristics.
Standard 6.7.4- Categorize the components of the universe.
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http://www.google.com/imgres?q=liberty+science+center&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=oyK2fjZEkgwFM:&imgrefurl=http://thejaguars.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/jaguars-to-present-at-liberty-sciencecenter/&docid=JLEmsZPsTGnchM&imgurl=http://www.libertystatepark.com/_borders/libert3.jpg&w=480&h=320&ei=PClET6vsJcrt0gHvoYGLDA&zoom=1&iact
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BEK0DMA8
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24&ved=0CGwQrQMwCg
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p=26&ved=0CCUQrQMwCDgV&tx=165&ty=142
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ndsp=21&ved=0CGsQrQMwCA
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