The Solar System
Our planet, Earth, is part of the SOLAR SYSTEM.
The Solar System contains the Sun and 9 planets.
Several of the planets have moons.
The planets are in orbit around the sun.
This means that they travel in a curved path around the sun
The Moon goes around the Earth and the Earth goes around the Sun
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The curved path taken by a planet as it moves is called its orbit The blue line shows the orbit of the moon around the Earth The red line shows the orbit of the Earth as it travels around the Sun The Earth takes 365 days to travel around the Sun (1 year) The Moon takes 28 days to travel around the Earth (1 lunar month) |
The Year
The length of time it takes a planet to go around the Sun is called a YEAR.
On Earth a year = 365 days, but it is not the same for all the planets.
Usually the further a planet is away from the sun the longer the year is.
Diagram of our Solar System with the planets arranged in order
The Earth spins on an imaginary line called its axis.
The spin of the Earth causes day and night as only one side of the Earth can be lit at once.
The length of time to spin once on its axis is called a day.
On Earth 1 day = 24 hours
 As the Earth spins different parts of it get lit up by the Sun |
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As the Sun moves across the sky it causes shadows
Diagram showing shadows produced by the sun shining on a stick in the ground.
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The Sun rises in the East
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At mid-day, when the Sun is highest, the shadow is shortest Shadows are shorter in summer than in winter because the sun is higher in the sky |
The sun sets in the west.
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Looking south
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Moon Fact File The Moon is smaller than the Earth (about 6 times smaller) The Moon is a natural satellite of the Earth The Moon is is in orbit around the Earth The Moon takes 28 days to complete one orbit We see the moon because it reflects light from the Sun
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We see the moon different shapes depanding on which side is lit.
The different shapes are called the phases of the moon
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This is a photograph of the moon with the sun shining from the right |
Further research
The solar system :NASA guide to the Solar System
The Planets : NASA guide to the Planets
Visit The National Schools Observatory website.
This is a really interesting website offering lots of information and things to do.
Powers of Ten – Soar through space starting at 10 million light years away from the Milky Way down through to a single proton in Florida. Give it a few seconds to load.
Cut out and make a scale solar system!
Double click on the image to load it full size.
It will print out A4 size so may take a few moments to download
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