The Solar System

1. The Solar System Unit 5E, Earth, Sun and Moon

2. The Sun’s Story

3. I am a star and the big boss of the Solar System. Therefore I keep still and make everyone else do the work. I am really a big ball of fire and gases. I have nine known planets which travel round me. They orbit me. The nearest planet to me is Mercury. The one furthest away is called Pluto. The further away the planet is, the longer it takes to orbit me. It takes a year for a planet to orbit me, but remember that a year is a different measurement of time on each planet.

4. The planet called Earth takes three hundred and sixty five and a quarter days to orbit me and is ninety three million miles a way. My light takes almost nine minutes to reach Earth. Without my light and warmth, everyone on Earth would die.

5. The Earth’s Story

6. I am a planet, the third one from the sun. I am one of nine in the Solar System. • It takes me three hundred and sixty five and a quarter days, or one earth year, to orbit the Sun. • While I am orbiting the Sun I also spin on my own axis. This takes me twenty four hours or one day and is why you have day and night.

7. A satellite called the Moon orbits me. The Moon takes twenty eight and a quarter days or one lunar month to orbit me completely. • The Moon is a quarter of a million miles from me. • I can only see the Moon because the Sun’s light shines on it.

8. I depend on the Sun for warmth and light. • The Sun’s light takes almost nine minutes to reach me.

9. The Moon’s Story

10. I orbit the Earth. It takes me twenty eight and a quarter days to do it. This is known as a lunar month. • I am two hundred and fifty thousand miles from Earth. • People on Earth can only see me in their sky because the Sun shines on me.

11. About twenty five years ago some strange beings landed on my surface in a funny machine. They collected some of my rocks which they took away but they left a flag behind covered in stars and stripes.

13. Very occasionally, I get in the way of the Sun’s light shining on the Earth. When this happens it becomes dark on Earth during the daytime. Although it only remains dark for a short while, this used to frighten people in the olden days who wondered where the Sun had gone. When I block the Sun’s light, people on Earth call this an eclipse.

14. People on Earth do not always see all of me. This is because as I orbit the Earth, the people can not always see all of the sunlit part of me. • In one lunar month they see me as a new moon, a crescent moon, a half moon, a full moon and a crescent moon again.

15. Quiz Time Who am I ? I orbit the earth. Click on the correct answer.

16. Quiz Time Hard luck. Click on the sun to try again.

17. Quiz Time Well done! The Moon orbits the Earth.

18. Quiz Time Who am I ? The Earth orbits me. Click on the correct answer.

19. Quiz Time Hard luck! Click on the sun to try again.

20. Quiz Time Well done! The Earth orbits the Sun.

21. Quiz Time Who am I ? The Moon orbits me. Click on the correct answer.

22. Quiz Time Hard luck! Try again by clicking on the sun

23. Quiz Time Well done! The Moon orbits the Earth.

24. Quiz Time I take 28 and a quarter days to complete my orbit. Click on the correct answer.

25. Quiz Time Hard luck! Try again by clicking on the sun.

26. Quiz Time Well done! I am the Moon.

27. Quiz Time I take three hundred and sixty five and a quarter days to complete my orbit. Click on the correct answer.

28. Quiz Time Hard luck! Try again by clicking on the sun.

29. Quiz Time Well done! I am the Earth.

30. Quiz Time Who am I ? It takes me twenty four hours to do one complete spin on my axis. Click on the correct answer.

31. Quiz Time Hard luck! Try again by clicking on the sun.

32. Quiz Time Well done! I am the Earth.

33. Investigation . Try to find out some facts about the other planets which orbit the Sun.

34. The End