VLearning A VLearning Special Intellectual output Our Solar System The Moon Lesson Plan Thanks to Anica Trickovic NOT FOR SALE Constellation A Guide to Guide Small Bodies This website was produced by funding from the European Commission's Horizon 2020 Programme under grant agreement nº 638653 IThanks to E Twinning Scientix and Space Awareness/ LEARNING OUTCOMES Connection The Solar System, consists of the Sun as its central star, eight planets and During this activity, students play a game and learn the properties of different their moons plus dwarf planets. planets and their relative position in the Solar System. There are countless small bodies. (further information about these can be from the Visnjan Observatory, contact “Podrute” ). Small bodies can be anything from LEARNING OBJECTIVES something the size of a pebbles to the size of a dwarf planet like Pluto) and comets. • Students will be able to describe what the Solar System is. Planets, small bodies, asteroids, dwarf planets and comets all orbit the sun • Students will be able to describe the properties of different planets and The Earth is a very special planet because it is our home! The Earth is located classify them into rocky and gassy. about 150 million kilometres from the Sun, giving a temperature that is exactly right for liquid water to be present on the surface, This is called being located • Students will be able to name the planets and place them in order. in the “Goldilocks zone” and earth is the only planet which can have liquid water present on the surface. This proved crucial for the development of life! The Solar System is part of the Milky Way. The milky way is galaxy which is a PLENARY collection of about 200 billion stars arranged in a spiral, along with gas and dust. • On completion discuss with students which colour they used for which Many of these stars have planets and possibly moons. So we are probably not planet. alone in the Milky Way, but the distances between the stars are so big that a visit to another world would be very difficult. Recently scientists have found • Students describe how the colours they used represent a planets’ other planets in other galaxies but we don’t know what these will look like. characteristics. eg Earth has a lot of water so it could be coloured blue . • Students should name the planets in the so lar system. RESOURCES • Set of Cards PDF (one set per group) • Planets and Sun model • Coloured pencils • Scissors • Photos of the Solar System PDF (one set per group) Credit: Wikimedia Common / Nick Risinger / NASA / JPL LEARNING OUTCOMES Connection The Solar System, consists of the Sun as its central star, eight planets and During this activity, students play a game and learn the properties of different their moons plus dwarf planets. planets and their relative position in the Solar System. There are countless small bodies. (further information about these can be from the Visnjan Observatory, contact “Podrute” ). Small bodies can be anything from LEARNING OBJECTIVES something the size of a pebbles to the size of a dwarf planet like Pluto) and comets. • Students will be able to describe what the Solar System is. Planets, small bodies, asteroids, dwarf planets and comets all orbit the sun • Students will be able to describe the properties of different planets and The Earth is a very special planet because it is our home! The Earth is located classify them into rocky and gassy. about 150 million kilometres from the Sun, giving a temperature that is exactly right for liquid water to be present on the surface, This is called being located • Students will be able to name the planets and place them in order. in the “Goldilocks zone” and earth is the only planet which can have liquid water present on the surface. This proved crucial for the development of life! The Solar System is part of the Milky Way. The milky way is galaxy which is a PLENARY collection of about 200 billion stars arranged in a spiral, along with gas and dust. • On completion discuss with students which colour they used for which Many of these stars have planets and possibly moons. So we are probably not planet. alone in the Milky Way, but the distances between the stars are so big that a visit to another world would be very difficult. Recently scientists have found • Students describe how the colours they used represent a planets’ other planets in other galaxies but we don’t know what these will look like. characteristics. eg Earth has a lot of water so it could be coloured blue . • Students should name the planets in the so lar system. RESOURCES • Set of Cards PDF (one set per group) • Planets and Sun model • Coloured pencils • Scissors • Photos of the Solar System PDF (one set per group) Credit: Wikimedia Common / Nick Risinger / NASA / JPL Rocky Planets The four rocky planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) are very dense and comparatively small. Their atmospheres are very thin or non -existent, with the exception of that of Venus. Mercury Mercury is the planet nearest to the Sun. It has no atmosphere and its surface, is covered with craters. Mercury orbits the Sun once in just 88 days and has no moons. There are severe temperature differences on its surface: 380° C on the side facing the Sun, and -180° C on the night side! This is because day and night shift very slowly on Mercury, because of its slow spin. Also, there is no atmosphere to trap the heat at night. These planets that orbit other stars are called extrasolar planets. In recent years, astronomers have found thousands of these and regularly discover more. However we know very little about them but it seems likely that every star has its own planet system. There are two types of planets in our Solar System: rocky planets, which are generally near the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Then there are gas giants, which are more massive and mainly composed of gas. These are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune make up the latter. Pluto is considered a dwarf planets since 2006. Between Mars and Jupiter is the asteroid belt, which circles the Sun like a ring. It consists of tho usands of smaller and larger rocks. The largest of these have their own names, just like the planets. One of them, Ceres, is so lar ge that it is considered a dwarf planet. The planets Planets and dwarf planets are spherical and orbit a star. Currently (in 2017) five dwarf planets have been identified: Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake and Eris. Moons are often spherical as well, depen ding on their size, but they orbit planets. Each of the planets in our Solar System has its own features. We have summarised them in the fact files below. Rocky Planets The four rocky planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) are very dense and comparatively small. Their atmospheres are very thin or non -existent, with the exception of that of Venus. Mercury Mercury is the planet nearest to the Sun. It has no atmosphere and its surface, is covered with craters. Mercury orbits the Sun once in just 88 days and has no moons. There are severe temperature differences on its surface: 380° C on the side facing the Sun, and -180° C on the night side! This is because day and night shift very slowly on Mercury, because of its slow spin. Also, there is no atmosphere to trap the heat at night. These planets that orbit other stars are called extrasolar planets. In recent years, astronomers have found thousands of these and regularly discover more. However we know very little about them but it seems likely that every star has its own planet system. There are two types of planets in our Solar System: rocky planets, which are generally near the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Then there are gas giants, which are more massive and mainly composed of gas. These are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune make up the latter. Pluto is considered a dwarf planets since 2006. Between Mars and Jupiter is the asteroid belt, which circles the Sun like a ring. It consists of tho usands of smaller and larger rocks. The largest of these have their own names, just like the planets. One of them, Ceres, is so lar ge that it is considered a dwarf planet. The planets Planets and dwarf planets are spherical and orbit a star. Currently (in 2017) five dwarf planets have been identified: Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake and Eris. Moons are often spherical as well, depen ding on their size, but they orbit planets. Each of the planets in our Solar System has its own features. We have summarised them in the fact files below. Earth Venus Earth is the only planet in the Solar System that has liquid water on its surface, significant amounts of oxygen in the air and moderate temperatures. It Venus is the earths sister planet, it is about as large as the Earth. But it is not orbits the Sun once a year. Its stable axis (inclined 23 degrees) results in a heaven, Carbon dioxide makes up 99% of its atmosphere, which causes seasons. Furthermore, it is the only celestial body on which we have found life sunlight to get trapped. This is a runaway greenhouse effect. so far. It is always very hot on Venus: almost 500° C! While the other Solar System planets rotate in the same direction, anticlockwise, Venus rotates backwards, clockwise. Earth Venus Earth is the only planet in the Solar System that has liquid water on its surface, significant amounts of oxygen in the air and moderate temperatures.