Space
and
its
planets
What is Space?
There are many features which go
together to form what we know as
space. These include meteorites,
stars, comets, the sun, moons and
the planets.
In space there are lots of different
sizes of rocks falling off planets. We
call these meteorites. That is not the
only thing we call them, when we see
a shooting star that is a meteorite.
More things on Space
Different planets have got a different amounts of
moons. Uranus has 27 moons - 5 big moons and
22 little moons! Amazing!
Ten of Uranus’s moons
The Sun
The sun is the nearest star to us and it is the centre of our
solar system. It is a huge ball of incredibly hot gas and is 1.4
million kilometres wide, also it weighs as much as 330 000
Earths.
Although the sun seems small to us, this is because it lies 150
million kilometres away. Yet it is so hot it provides us with
heat and gives off ultraviolet light, which causes sun burn.
The Solar System
There are 9 planets which form the solar system. They
are named after some of the Greek Gods and all orbit
the sun. The nearest to the sun is called Mercury. This
is followed by Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, Neptune and Pluto being the furthest distance
from the sun.
The Planet I Researched
My favourite planet is
Uranus, this is because it
is the third biggest
planet in the solar
system and I like the
colour which is caused by
frozen ammonia crystals
and methane.
It is a giant gas planet
with a centre core of
minus 220 Degrees
Celsius, 32 times colder
than the average on
Earth!
Uranus
Uranus is the seventh planet
from the sun, it was found by Sir
William Herschel, and he found it
on 13th March 1981. It is the
seventh planet in the Solar
System.
Unlike other planets, Uranus
spins on it’s side. One theory is
that it was hit by a large object
whilst others believe that the
gravitational pull of a moon tilted
it on its side.
Fascinating facts
There are 13 rings around Uranus
which are named using Greek
symbols and numerical values.
A year on
Uranus is
equal to
84.01 earth
year. One day
is just over 17
earth hours!
In 1986 Voyager
2 became the
only spacecraft
to have visited
Uranus and
collected most
of the images
and information
we have on the
planet.
The moons of Uranus are named after
characters in Shakespeare’s plays and a
poem by Alexander Pope.
Uranus in Films
There was a film called “Uranus”
made in 1990 starring a French actor
Philippe Noiret. In it he has a
persistent dream where he wakes
every night feeling the weight of
Uranus bearing down on him,
carrying despair.
In the 1962 film Journey to the Seventh Planet,
astronauts on Uranus meet a strange intelligence that
projects illusions of a beautiful woman.
Uranus in Fiction
• In the Buck Rogers series Uranus had biodomes and
robots!
• In “Doctor Who” Uranus is described as the only
place in the universe that the mineral Taranium can
be found.
Fun Space Quiz
• What is another word for the solar system?
The Universe
• How many planets are in the solar system?
Nine Planets
• Uranus is what type of planet?
A Gas Planet
• What is another name for a shooting star?
A Meteorite