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SPACE

The Solar System Visualizer This is a great website to help you understand how the different objects in the Solar System orbit each other. A tip for using this site is to zoom in as you see more and more detail as you do. If you click on the planets in the side menu, you can see just how many objects are orbiting around large planets like Jupiter and Saturn. You will need to zoom right in before you see any of the moons you will have heard of.

Tim Peake: Ask an astronaut On 15 December, British astronaut, Tim Peake, left Earth to spend 173 days on the International Space Station. Click on the questions to ask Tim some questions about his mission.

Key Points

The words 'solar system' refer to the Sun and all of the objects that travel around it.
Our solar system is made up of a star – the Sun – eight planets, 162 moons, dwarf planets and a bunch of comets, asteroids and other space rocks.
The eight planets that make up our solar system are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Our solar system is part of a galaxy known as the Milky Way.
The study of objects in the night sky (stars, galaxies and other things) is called astronomy.

About the Solar System

The Hubble telescope has been used to study the planets in our solar system. This has led to new information about Pluto.
All planets have different moons. Mercury and Venus have none, Earth has one and Mars has two.
The sun is a star not a planet.
A solar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes through the Moon's shadow.
Find out about asteroids and comets.
Astronomy has been practised since ancient times before telescopes

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