UNIT  5  THE  SOLAR SYSTEM

The solar system is made up of the Sun, the 8 planets and 5 dwarf planets and their 174 known moons, asteroids, comets, dust and gas. The planets, asteroids, and comets travel around the Sun, the center of our solar system.

Most of the bodies in the solar system travel around the Sun along nearly circular paths or orbits, and all the planets travel about the Sun in the anticlockwise direction (when viewed from above).

 

 

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THE  SUN
The Sun is our nearest star. The Sun provides us with light and heat. Without the Sun there would be no daylight, and our planet would simply be a dark, frozen world, with no oceans of liquid water and no life.

 

THE  PLANETS

The Solar System is made up of the Sun and all of the smaller objects that move around it. Apart from the Sun, the largest members of the Solar System are the eight major planets. Nearest the Sun are four fairly small, rocky planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.

On the far side of the asteroid belt are the four gas giants - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. These planets are much bigger than Earth, but very lightweight for their size. They are mostly made of hydrogen and helium.

Until recently, the furthest known planet was an icy world called Pluto. However, Pluto is dwarfed by Earth’s Moon and many astronomers think it is too small to be called a true planet.

 

 

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ASTEROIDS

Asteroids are small, rocky bodies that have been left over from the formation of the planets 4.5 billion years ago. They are often known as 'minor planets'.

There are thought to be billions of these chunks of rock. Most of them lie in a doughnut-shaped 'main belt' between the orbits of Mars and Júpiter.

 

METEOROIDS

Grains of dust and small chunks of rock that travel through space are known as meteoroids. If they enter a planet’s atmosphere and burn up, they are known as meteors. Larger pieces of rock which survive long enough to crash into a planet’s surface are known as meteorites.
 

 

 

COMETS

Comets are small ice worlds that have been left over from the formation of the planets. Billions of comets are thought to exist on the edge of the Solar System, beyond the orbit of Pluto.

Most comets are so small and so far away that we cannot see them, even in the biggest telescopes. But we can see them when they head inwards toward the Sun and grow tails of gas and dust. (The word comet means 'hairy star'.)

 

 

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