Uranus
Saturn
Neptune
Jupiter
Space
Mars
Earth
By Hamish mckee,Jude
Jeandet and Seth
Mahoney
Venus
Mercury
SUN
The Sun is a huge, glowing ball at the
center of our solar system. All of the
Planets orbit around it.
MERCURY
Mercury is the planet nearest to the sun. It has a
diameter of 3,032 miles (4,879 kilometers), about
two-fifths of Earth's diameter. Mercury orbits the
sun at an average distance of about 36 million
miles (58 million kilometers), compared with about
93 million miles (150 million kilometers) for Earth.
Venus is known as the Earth's "twin" because the
two planets are so similar in size. The diameter
of Venus is about 7,520 miles (12,100
kilometers), approximately 400 miles (644
kilometers) smaller than that of the Earth. No
other planet comes nearer to the Earth than
Venus. At its closest approach, it is about 23.7
million miles (38.2 million kilometers) away.
EARTH
The planet Earth is only a tiny part of the universe, but it is the
home of human beings and, in fact, all known life in the universe.
Animals, plants, and other organisms live almost everywhere on
Earth's surface. They can live on Earth because it is just the right
distance from the sun. Most living things need the sun's warmth
and light for life. If Earth were too close to the sun, it would be
too hot for living things. If Earth were too far from the sun, it
would be too cold for anything to live. Living things also must
have water to live. Earth has plenty. Water covers most of Earth's
surface.
Mars is the fourth planet from the sun. The planet
is one of Earth's "next-door neighbours" in space.
Earth is the third planet from the sun, and Jupiter
is the fifth. Like Earth, Jupiter, the sun, and the
remainder of the solar system, Mars is about 4.6
billion years old.
Jupiter is the largest planet in the
solar system. When approached from
afar, its fantastic striped atmosphere
gradually reveals intriguing clouds
that move around the planet. Rich in
historical and cultural connections,
Jupiter is the site of recent comet
impacts and continuing scientific
discovery.
Saturn, the sixth planet from the
Sun, has the most spectacular set of
rings in the solar system. We now
know that Saturn has 60 moons in
addition to its complex ring system.
Uranus, the seventh planet from the
Sun, has its spin axis almost in the
plane of its orbit about the Sun. This
produces unusual seasons and also
causes unique magnetic and electric
field structures. Uranus has a faint
ring system and 27 known moons.
Neptune is one of the two planets that cannot
be seen without a telescope. The other is
Pluto. Neptune is about 30 times as far from
the sun as is Earth. Pluto is the only planet
farther from the sun than Neptune. But
every 248 years Pluto moves inside
Neptune's orbit for about a 20-year period,
during which it is closer to the sun than
Neptune. Pluto last crossed Neptune's orbit
on Jan. 23, 1979, and remained within it
until Feb. 11, 1999.
Black holes
After a very heavy star uses up its
hydrogen and explodes as a
supernova, its core becomes
smaller and smaller until it’s finally
smaller than a head of a pin. The
star, however, still has gravity. This
is so strong that even light from a
few kilometres around the star
cannot escape. This is called a
black hole.
A comet is a small solar system body that orbits
the sun. When close enough to the sun, a comet
exhibits a visible coma (fuzzy “atmosphere”), and
sometimes a tail, both because of the effects of
solar radiation upon the comet’s nucleus. Comets
nuclei are themselves loose collections of ice, dust
and small rocky particles, ranging from a few
kilometres to tens of kilometres across.
Asteroids
Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets or
planetoids, are small solar system bodies in orbit
around the Sun, especially in the inner Solar
system; they are smaller than planets but larger
than meteoroids. The term "asteroid” has
historically been applied primarily to bodies in the
inner Solar system was poorly known when it came
into common usage. The distinction between
asteroids and comets is made on visual appearance:
Comets show a perceptible coma while asteroids do
not.
In modern astronomy, constellations
refers to an area of the celestial sphere,
defined by exact boundaries. The term
“constellation” can also be used loosely
to refer to just the more prominent
visible stars that seem to form a pattern
in that area.
The End