Our Solar System By Alyssa Wells q The

Our Solar System By Alyssa Wells q The solar system has planets that go around the sun. q We have 8 planets in our solar system. q In the middle of the solar system is our sun.

THE SUN q The sun is very hot. q The sun makes the Earth shine. q The sun makes sun days.

MERCURY The planet Mercury was named after a Roman god. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. Mercury is sometimes called a morning star.

VENUS q Planet Venus is very big. q Venus is very heavy. q Venus and Earth are almost the same size.

EARTH q Earth is 7, 926 miles wide. q Most of the Earth is covered by oceans. q Earth is the only planet that keeps us alive.

MARS q Mars was named after the Roman god of war. q On the planet Mars there are higher mountains than other planet. q The surface of Mars is red.

THE ASTEROID BELT q The Asteroid Belt has a inner belt and a outer belt. q The outer belt is 250 million miles beyond the sun. q Asteroids are left over materials from the formation of the Solar System.

JUPITER q Jupiter was named after a god. q The largest planet is Jupiter. q Jupiter is a very stormy planet.

SATURN q Saturn was named after a Roman god. q Saturn is not dense. q Saturn is not perfectly round.

URANUS q Like the planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus is a giant gas. q Uranus spins on its sides. q Uranus may have caused it to tilt on its sides.

NEPTUNE q It was discovered by Johann Galle and Heinrich D Arrest in 1846. q Neptune is the smallest of the four gas giant in our Solar System. q Neptune has 13 moons that we know of.

DWARF PLANET PLUTO q Pluto was the only planet to be named by a kid. q Pluto is smaller than 7 of the moons in the Solar System. q On August 24, 2006, Pluto's status was officially changed from planet to dwarf planet.

COMET q A comet is a small world which scientists sometimes call a planetesimal. q Comets come from two places. q The Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud.

The Asteroid q Every 26 years large asteroids have been discovered which is probably most of the big ones. q An asteroid is a large rock in outer space. q Asteroids are left over materials from the formation of the Solar System.

The Moon q When we are asleep the moon shines at night when it gets dark. q The moon is very bright at night when it shines. q And the moon is very large for a moon.

RESOURCES q GOOGLE IMAGES q HTTP: //WWW. KIDZONE. WS/PLANETS q HTTP: //WWW. KIDSASTRONOMY. COM/SOLAR_SYSTEM. HTM q HARCOURT SCIENCE BOOK