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

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

Day and Night

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

In this photograph is it day or night in England? Answer

As the Sun moves across the sky it causes shadows

Diagram showing shadows produced by the sun shining on a stick in the ground.

The Sun rises in the East	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.
	Looking south

The Moon

Phases of the Moon

We see the moon different shapes depanding on which side is lit.

The different shapes are called the phases of the moon

This is a photograph of the moon with the sun shining from the right