Sun
Sun
Average Distance from Earth: 150 million km
Diameter: 1,390,000 km
Mass: 333,000 Earth Masses
Age: ~ 4.6 billion years
Temperature: 5,505°C
The Sun is a star at the center of our Solar
System. It provides Earth with the energy
needed to sustain life.
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Mercury
Mercury
Average Distance from Earth: 91.7 million km
Average Distance from Sun: 58 million km
Diameter: 4,878 km
Mass: 0.055 Earth Masses
Orbital Velocity: 47.4 km/s
Gravity: 0.38 g
Temperature Range: -173 to 427 ℃
Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar
system, and it is the closest planet to the
Sun.
Length of orbit: 88 Earth days
Length of one day: 58 days and 15 hours
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Number of moons: 0
Venus
Venus
Average Distance from Earth: 41.4 million km
Average Distance from Sun: 108 million km
Diameter: 12,102 km
Mass: 0.815 Earth Masses
Orbital Velocity: 35.0 km/s
Gravity: 0.904 g
Average Temperature: 462 ℃
Venus is a rocky planet with volcanoes and
a very thick atmosphere.
Length of orbit: 224.7 Earth days
Length of one day: 116 days and 18 hours
Number of moons: 0
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Earth
Earth
Average Distance from Sun: 150 million km
Diameter: 12,658 km
Mass: 1 Earth Mass
Age: 4.5 - 4.6 billion years old
Orbital Velocity: 29.8 km/s
Gravity: 1 g
Average Temperature: 7.2℃
Earth is our home planet! It is very special
because of its ability to support life.
Length of Orbit: 365.24 days
Number of moons: 1
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Moon
Moon
Average Distance from Earth: 384,400 km
Diameter: 3,476 km
Mass: 0.0123 Earth masses
Orbital Velocity (Around Earth): 1.0 km/s
Gravity: 0.165 g
Length of one day: 27.3 Earth days
Time to orbit Earth: 27.3 Earth days
The Moon, called Luna, is the only natural
satellite Earth has. The first Humans landed
on the moon on July 20th, 1969.
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The moon is the only world beyond Earth
visited by Humans. Six missions have landed
astronauts on the surface.
Many unmanned rovers and robots have
visited, and remain on the Moon today.
Mars
Mars
Average Distance from Earth: 78.3 million km
Average Distance from Sun: 228 million km
Diameter: 6,786 km
Mass: 0.107 Earth Masses
Orbital Velocity: 24.1 km/s
Gravity: 0.376 g
Average Temperature: -63 ℃
Length of orbit: 686.9 Earth days
Mars is a cold and dusty desert world. It
has the nickname “The Red Planet”
because iron in its soil rusts and turns red.
Length of one day: 1 day and 40 minutes
Number of moons: 2
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Asteroid Belt
Asteroid Belt
Average Distance from Sun: 330 million km
Belt Span: 150 million km
Average Orbit: 4.4 Earth Years
Composition: Most asteroids in the belt are
made of rock and stone, however some are
made of metals such as iron or nickel
The asteroid belt is the region of space
located between Mars and Jupiter. The
asteroid belt contains billions of rocky
bodies called asteroids.
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Jupiter
Jupiter
Average Distance from Earth: 628 million km
Average Distance from Sun: 778 million km
Diameter: 142,984 km
Mass: 317.83 Earth Masses
Orbital Velocity: 13.1 km/s
Gravity: 2.53 g
Average Temperature: -108 ℃
Jupiter is a type of planet called a gasgiant, and it does not have a solid surface.
Length of orbit: 11.86 Earth years
Length of one day: 9 hours and 56 minutes
Number of moons: 67
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Saturn
Saturn
Average Distance from Earth: 1.2 billion km
Average Distance from Sun: 1.4 billion km
Diameter: 120,536 km
Mass: 95.16 Earth Masses
Orbital Velocity: 9.7 km/s
Saturn is a type of planet called a gas-giant.
It is not the only planet with rings, but its
rings are by far the biggest.
Gravity: 0.916 g
Average Temperature: -139 ℃
Length of orbit: 29.5 Earth years
Length of one day: 10 hours and 39 minutes
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Number of moons: 62
Uranus
Uranus
Average Distance from Earth: 2.7 billion km
Average Distance from Sun: 2.9 billion km
Diameter: 51180 km
Mass: 14.536 Earth Masses
Orbital Velocity: 6.8 km/s
Gravity: 0.889 g
Average Temperature: -197 ℃
Uranus is a type of planet called an icegiant. It has faint rings and its axis of
rotation is tilted sideways.
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Length of orbit: 84 Earth years
Length of one day: 17 hours and 14 minutes
Number of moons: 27
Neptune
Neptune
Average Distance from Earth: 4.4 billion km
Average Distance from Sun: 4.5 billion km
Diameter: 49,528 km
Mass: 17.15 Earth Masses
Orbital Velocity: 5.4 km/s
Gravity: 1.12 g
Average Temperature: -201 ℃
Neptune is a type of planet called an icegiant. It has the highest known wind speeds
in our solar system, with a record of 2,100
km per hour.
Length of orbit: 164.8 Earth years
Length of one day: 16 hours and 6 minutes
Number of moons: 14
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Pluto
Pluto
Average Distance from Sun: 5.9 billion km
Diameter: 2,300 km
Mass: 0.00218 Earth Masses
Orbital Velocity: 4.7 km/s
Gravity: 0.071 g
Average Temperature: -229 ℃
Length of orbit: 247.7 Earth years
Pluto is the second most massive dwarf
planet in our solar system. It is too small to
be considered a major planet.
Length of one day: 6.39 Earth days
Number of moons: 5
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Kuiper Belt
Kuiper Belt
Average Distance from Sun: 6 billion km
Width of Belt: 3 billion km
Average Temperature: -223 ℃
Average Length of orbit: 253 Earth years
The first mission to the Kuiper Belt took place
in July 2015 when New Horizons flew past
pluto.
The Kuiper Belt is the region of space
beyond the orbit of Neptune that contains
many asteroids, comets, and other icy
bodies.
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Oort Cloud
Oort Cloud
Distance from Sun: 2 light years
Composition: Small icy bodies and particles
thought to be remnants of the disc of material
that formed the sun
Nobody knows for sure how many objects are
in the Oort Cloud, but some estimate that it is
approximately 2 trillion.
The Oort Cloud is a shell of small icy bodies
that exists on the outermost boundary of
our solar system.
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Ceres
Ceres
Average Distance from Sun: 413.7 million km
Diameter: 950 km
Mass: 0.00015 Earth Masses
Orbital Velocity: 17.9 km/s
Gravity: 0.029 g
Average Temperature: -105 ℃
Ceres is the closest dwarf planet to the
Sun. It is part of the Asteroid Belt and was
classified as an asteroid for over a century.
Length of orbit: 4.6 Earth years
Length of one day: 9 hours and 4 minutes
Number of moons: 0
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Eris
Eris
Average Distance from Sun: 10.12 billion km
Diameter: 2,326 km
Mass: 0.0028 Earth Masses
Orbital Velocity: 3.4 km/s
Gravity: 0.083 g
Average Temperature: -231 ℃
Eris is the furthest dwarf planet from the
sun. It is the most massive dwarf planet
and is (with its moon) the most distantly
known natural object in the Solar System.
Length of orbit: 560.9 Earth years
Length of one day: 16 Earth Days
Number of moons: 1
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Pleiades (Seven Sisters)
Pleiades (Seven Sisters)
Age: 100 million years old
Radius: 43 Light years
As it is an open cluster, it will disperse in
approximately 250 million years.
Pleiades, commonly known as the Seven
Sisters, is a constellation made up of 9
main stars. It was used to determine the
sailing season of the Mediterranean Sea in
Ancient Greece.
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Comet
Comet
Age: 4.6 billion years
Number of known comets: 5,253
Temperatures range from -73°C to 77°C
Why do you think there is such a range of
temperatures?
Comets are cosmic snowballs made of
frozen gases, rock, and dust. In late 2014,
the Rosetta spacecraft became the first to
land on a comet.
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The Universe
The Universe
Age: 13.8 billion years old
Diameter: 91 billion light-years
Average Temperature: -270.2 °C
Mass: 1053 kg
The Universe is what holds everything.
There are still parts of the Universe that we
don’t understand.
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The United States
The United States
Age: 239 years old
Coast to Coast: 4800 km
Average Temperature: 14°C
Total Mass of Population: 20 billion kg
The United States of America: founded in
1776 after declaring its independence from
Britain. Hawaii, the last state to enter the
union, was added in 1959.
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Candle Flame
Candle Flame
Average Temperature: 1,100°C
How hot is the flame of a candle?
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Soup
Soup
Average Temperature: 99°C
How hot is a bowl of soup?
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Blue Whale
Blue Whale
Average Length: 30 m
Average Mass: 190,500 kg
How big is a blue whale?
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Tyrannosaurus Rex
Tyrannosaurus Rex
Temperature: Perhaps around 30°C
Age: 66 Million Years Ago
Mass: 7000 kg
Size: 6 m (height)
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Human
Human
Male Average Height: 1.76 m
Male Average Mass: 88 kg
Female Average Height: 1.62 m
Female Average Mass: 74 kg
Average Internal Temperature: 37°C
How do the characteristics of humans
compare?
Age: 200,000 years (since modern humans
evolved)
Speed: 12.4 m/s (Recorded by Usain Bolt)
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Pleiades
Pleiades
Distance: ~444 light year
Diameter: 15 light years
Mass: 800 solar masses
Number of Stars: ~400
Age: ~100 million years
1/50th the age of our sun
Seven sisters is an open star cluster
containing middle-aged hot B-types
stars located in the constellation of
Taurus.
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Moon Landing
Moon Landing
Date: July 20, 1969 (46 years ago)
The spaceflight that landed the first humans
on the Moon was the Apollo 11. The first
people to step on the moon were Neil
Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
How long ago did man first land on the
moon?
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Ice Cubes
Ice Cubes
Temperature: At most 0°C
What temperature is ice?
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Sirius
Sirius
Distance: 8.6 light years
Sirius A:
Diameter: ~ 2,200,000 km
Mass: ~ 2 times the mass of the Sun
Temperature: ~ 9,680 ℃
Age: ~ 235 million years
Sirius B:
Diameter: ~ 5,600 km
Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky.
It is actually a binary system (made up of
two stars). You can see the second star to
the bottom left of the main star in the
picture above from the Hubble telescope.
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Mass: about the same as the mass of the sun
Temperature: ~ 25,000 ℃
Polaris
Polaris
Distance: ~ 375 light years
Diameter: ~ 68,000,000 km
Mass: ~ 4.5 times the mass of the Sun
Temperature: ~ 5,800 ℃
Age: ~ 70 million years
Polaris (often called the North Star) is a
yellow supergiant star. It is actually a
system of three stars orbiting each other.
Historically it has been an important star in
celestial navigation, as it always sits at the
same spot in the sky.
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Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse
Distance: ~ 650 light years
Diameter: ~ 1,400,000,000 km
Mass: ~ 14 times the mass of the Sun
Temperature: ~ 3300 ℃
Age: ~ 7.3 million years
Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star in the
constellation of Orion. It is the second
brightest star in that constellation and
looks red to the naked eye. It is a huge
star: you could fit about a billion suns in it!
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Milky Way Galaxy
Milky Way Galaxy
Diameter: ~ 110,000 light years
Mass: ~ 800 billion times the mass of the Sun
Number of Stars: ~100-200 billion
Age: 13.6 billion years
The Milky Way over ALMA by Jose Francisco Salgado
Our solar system is located in the Milky
Way Galaxy, at the edge of one of it’s spiral
arms called the Orion Arm. You can look
out at the Milky Way from Earth if the skies
are dark and the season is right.
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Large Magellanic Cloud
Large Magellanic Cloud
Diameter: ~ 14,000 light years
Mass: ~ 10 billion times the mass of the Sun
Number of Stars: ~30 billion
Age: 13.8 billion years
Named after Ferdinand Magellan, the LMC
is considered an irregular type galaxy, but
some astronomers believe that the bar
across the middle indicates that it may
have once been a spiral galaxy like the
Milky Way.
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Small Magellanic Cloud
Small Magellanic Cloud
Diameter: ~ 7,000 light years
Mass: ~ 6.5 billion times the mass of the Sun
Number of Stars: < 1 billion
Age: 13.8 billion years
Named after Ferdinand Magellan, the SMC
is a close neighbor to The Milky Way Galaxy
and it is one of the most distant objects
that can be seen with the naked eye.
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Pyramids
Pyramids
Height: 140 meters
Number of blocks: 2.3 million
Age: 4575 years old
Location: Giza, Egypt
The pyramids of Giza are one of the 7
Wonders of the Ancient world. These
structures served as tombs for fallen
egyptian pharaohs.
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