THE SOLAR SYSTEM

By Level Two

The SunThe sun is 864,000 miles in diameterThe sun is a starThe temperature on the sun’s surface is

10,500 degrees FahrenheitThe sun is the brightest object in the skyThe sun is made of hydrogen and helium

The Milky Way is made out of light The Milky Way is 100,000 light years across

from end to end The Milky Way is a galaxy- a huge ground of

stars and other objects in space The best time to see the Milky Way is during

winter The Milky Way does not orbit the sun

because it is a galaxy

The Milky Way

MERCURY

Mercury is 3,031 miles in diameter

Mercury is made up of rocks and iron

Mercury is covered in a thin layer of minerals.

It takes Mercury two years to orbit the sun

Mercury is 36 million miles from the sun

The diameter of Venus is 7,521 miles Venus is made out of rocks It takes 225 days for Venus to orbit the sun Venus and Earth are the same size Venus does not have any moons

Venus

EARTHEarth is 7,927 miles in diameterEarth is made out of rocksEarth is one of the rockiest planetsEarth is sometimes called the “blue

planet”People once thought that the Earth

was the center of the solar system

Mars

Mars is 4,292 miles in diameter Mars is made out of gas People can see Mars in the night sky

during certain times of the year Mars is smaller than the Earth From Earth, Mars looks like a bright

red star

JupiterJupiter is 88,850 miles in diameterJupiter is made out of gasIt takes Jupiter 9 hours and 55 minutes to

rotate Jupiter has three ringsJupiter has 16 moons

Saturn The diameter of Saturn is 74,899 miles It takes Saturn 29 years and 6 months to

orbit the sun Titan is Saturn’s largest moon Saturn is not heavy compared to its size Five of Saturn’s moons are less than 20

miles long Saturn is made out of gas

Uranus The diameter of Uranus is 31,764 miles It takes 84 years for Uranus to orbit the

sun Uranus has 18 moons In 1977 Uranus passed in front of a star People knew very little about Uranus

before 1977 Uranus was the first planet discovered

since ancient times

NeptuneThe diameter of Neptune is 30,776 milesNeptune is made out of gasThe great dark spot has disappeared from

Neptune’s atmosphereBright blue clouds surround NeptuneNeptune’s air has no oxygen

PlutoThe dwarf planet Pluto was discovered in

1930The diameter of Pluto is 1,422 milesPluto is made from rocksIt takes Pluto 248 years to orbit the sunPluto is a far-off icy body in our solar systemPluto comes closer to the sun than the planet

Neptune

AsteroidsAsteroids are made out of rocksSome asteroids follow the planet Jupiter

around the sunAsteroids are found between Mars and

JupiterAsteroids are less than 18 miles in diameter The best time to view an asteroid is at night

with a telescope

CometsA comet can move up to one million miles per

hourThe path of a comet is a flatten circleWhen the comet is towards the sun, the tail is

behind the headA comet moves fast in its trip around the sunA comet is made out of gases and dust