The Earth and Beyond Welcome to The Earth and Beyond Hello, my name is Tim O'Brien. I'm an astronomer working at The University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Observatory. As an astronomer my job is to try and understand how the universe works and my main interest is why some stars explode - more about this later! Exploding stars You may know the names of some patterns of stars (called constellations) such as Orion or the Great Bear. This picture shows Orion the Hunter and Taurus the Bull with the position of an exploded star known as the Crab Nebula. We're all made of stars Understanding why stars explode is very important because most of the chemical elements (carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and so on) were made inside stars and are spread out into space when they explode. Billions of years ago the Sun, Earth and the other planets formed out of the leftovers from one of these gigantic explosions. Learn about astronomy Exploding stars is just one example of why astronomy is important and fun.
Britannica School Pluto’s Secret BBC Space – Explore the planets, black holes, stars and more solarsystem.nasa There are more planets than stars in our galaxy. The current count orbiting our star: eight. The inner, rocky planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. NASA's newest rover — Perseverance — landed on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021. The outer planets are gas giants Jupiter and Saturn and ice giants Uranus and Neptune. Beyond Neptune, a newer class of smaller worlds called dwarf planets reign, including longtime favorite Pluto. Planets of our Solar System Mercury Mercury—the smallest planet in our solar system and closest to the Sun—is only slightly larger than Earth's Moon. Venus Venus spins slowly in the opposite direction from most planets. Earth Earth—our home planet—is the only place we know of so far that’s inhabited by living things. Mars Mars is a dusty, cold, desert world with a very thin atmosphere. Jupiter Jupiter is more than twice as massive than the other planets of our solar system combined. Saturn Uranus Neptune What is a Dwarf Planet? Real-Time, Interactive Solar System
Planet Earth/Inside Out by Gail Gibbons Astronomy For Kids - KidsAstronomy.com Planet Facts Read some really neat facts about the planets in our solar system! © Contributed by Leanne Guenther Note: The fast facts on this page are appropriate for grades 1 to 3 while the "more about" links are appropriate for grades 4+. I've listed them in order from closest to furthest from the sun: Mercury Venus Earth Mars Ceres (dwarf planet found in the asteroid belt) Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto (Note: Pluto is considered a dwarf planet now) Eris, Makemake, Haumea, Sedna (also dwarf planets -- found past Pluto) Mercury takes 59 days to make a rotation but only 88 days to circle the Sun. Many astronomers believe that Mercury might be the core of what was once a much larger planet -- it appears to be a huge ball of iron covered by a thin layer of rock. Venus is the brightest planet in our sky and can sometimes be seen with the naked eye if you know where to look. Earth has more exposed water than land. On-Line Jigsaw Puzzles: Between Mars and Jupiter, is a Dwarf Planet known as Ceres.
-This game is great for learning about the earth, sun, and moon's orbits.
-It allows students to experiment with different dates and times and how that affects the orbits. It dives into the numbers of hours, and seasons and how that relates to our calendar
-This game also talks about the size of the planets and moons and their speeds, lots of fun facts that match the standards to learn!
-You can bring all students to the carpet or have them stay at their desks. Then create two teams and have Popsicle sticks to draw random names for whose turn it is to come to the smart board. After each game, teams can win points from their representative playing the game. by ajosephik Apr 26