Earth and its neighbours : Earth is one of the the nine planets which circle the Sun in our small part of our galaxy, the Milky Way. All the planets are made up of rocks, metal and gases. Some have their own satellites or moons, like our Moon.
The Sun
The Sun is a star which we see during the day. Without its heat and light, there would be no life on Earth. It is a very hot ball of gas, called hydrogen, which burns with nuclear reactions at is centre.
The Sun uses up about 4 million tonnes of gas every second but it is so huge that it will shine for another 5,000 million years.
The Sun is the only object in the Solar System which gives of light. We see the Moon and other planets because of the light from the Sun.
The Planets
The nine planets that are in our gallaxy, the Milky Way are:
- Mercury - is the nearest planet to the Sun. it is slighty bigger than our moon and has almost no atmosphere to trap the sun's heat. During the day, it is burning hot and night it is freezing cold.
- Venus - lies between the Earth and the sun. It can easily be seen without a telescope. Sometimes it looks so bright, please have thoughht it was a U.F.O.
- Earth - the planet we live on. Earth is the only planet (we think) that contains life because of the ideal climate and water rainfall.
- Mars - is called the Red Planet because its dry, dusty and rocky surface is red. It has huge canyons and extinct volcanoes. Its tallest volcano, Olympus Mons, is nearly three times higher than Mount Everest.
- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptine - these planets are called the "gas giants", and are huge balls of gas with a rocky, ice centre.
- Pluto - is an incy planet with a moon nearly as big as itself It orbit takes it beyond the other plants. If a jet could fly from the Earth or Pluto, it would take 1,000 years to get there!
Rocks and ice
As well as the nine planets circling the Sun, there are also chunks of rock, called asteroids, and lumps of rock and ice called comets. The comets have their own orbits. Some are not seen from the Earth for hundreds of years but others return at fixed times.
Some asteroids stray into orbits nearer the sun. If they fall through the Earth's astmosphere, most of them burn up and we see them as shooting stars. When lumps of rock or metal hit the ground, they are called meteorities.
Did you know?
The planets in the Solar System are named after Greek and Roman gods. Mercury was the messanger of the gods. Mars was the god of war and Neptune was the god of sea.
Light from the Sun takes eight minuts to reach the Earth.
The centre of the Sun is so hot, thatt a piece of the size of a pin head would set fire to everything for 96 kilometers (60 miles) around.
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