Similarities and differences
About the Earth
• The Earth is the only planet that has water, air
and living things.
• The Earth is a ‘Terrestrial Planet’. This
means it is dense enough to stand on.
• Earth supports life with its mild
temperature, weather and
atmosphere.
About the sun
• The sun is our nearest star
• The sun is not solid like the Earth – it is a huge
ball of spinning gas.
• The sun’s name is Sol. This is why the galaxy
we live in is called The Solar system .
• The sun has sunspots (darker patches) on its
surface. They are made of cooler gas.
About the moon
• The moon is a spherical rock that orbits Earth. It
is a satellite
• The moon has craters from meteorites crashing
into it.
• The moon has no atmosphere.
• There may be water ice in craters near the south
pole.
• The first person to stand on the moon was Neil
Armstrong from Apollo 11, but another astronaut
visited the moon but never stood on it. He was
from Apollo 9.
gases
• The sun is made up of
, but the moon and the Earth
are solid and dense. You can walk on the Earth and
on the moon (but not very well). You can’t walk on the sun
because you would burn up or sink.
• The sun, moon and Earth have all got a core that attracts
other objects. This is called gravity. It is like they are
‘sucking’ things in towards them.
• The sun’s core is 15 million degrees Celsius while the
earth’s is 100,000 and the moon’s is only 830 degrees!
•
• We have an ‘oxygen- rich’ atmosphere on
the Earth.
• The moon doesn’t have oxygen so astronauts
have to wear suits with oxygen in them so
they can breath on the moon.
• If the sun was a large beach ball, the Earth
would be a pea and the moon would look like
a pinhead.
• The sun is the largest object in the solar
system, while the Earth is only the fifth largest
• The Earth could fit inside the sun one million
times.
• The moon and the Earth both orbit objects larger
than themselves. For example, the moon orbits
the Earth, while the Earth orbits the sun.
• The sun makes light and heat. Life on Earth uses
the sun’s light. We couldn’t live on Earth without
it.
• The moon has an effect on the ocean. It creates
the tides, where the water rises and falls at the
beach.
Earth &Moon. (Unknown). Retrieved from The
Nine Planets: http://kids.nineplanets.org/earth.htm
KidsKnowIt.com. (2012). Kids Astronomy. Retrieved from
http://www.kidsastronomy.com/solar_system.htm
Miles Kelly . (2008). World of Science. Essex: Miles Kelly
Publishing .
Mugford, S. (Ed.). (2002). 1001 Facts About Space. London:
Dorling Kindersley .
Made by Heather