the sun

.The sun is a big star located at the middle of the solar system.

.One million Earths could fit inside the sun.

.The sun travles at 220km per second.

.The sun is 4.6 billion years old.

.The surface temperature of the sun is 5,5oo °c, thats hot!

.At the centre of the sun it can reach up t.o 15million °c!

.The sun is almost perfect sphere.

.Light from the sun takes 8mins to reach the Earth.

.The sun makes up around 99.86 percent of the solar system's mass.

.The suns diameter is about 110 x wider than the Earths.

.The sun has a very strong magnetic field.

.Around 74 percent of the suns mass is made up of hydrogen.

.The sun generates huge amounts of energy by combing hydrogen nuclei into helium.

.This process is called nuclear fusion.

. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon is between the sun and the Earth.

SUN FACTS

Mercury

Mercury facts

.Mercury is the closest planet to the sun and also the smallest of the eight planets in our sollar system.

.Mercury has no moons.

.A year on Mercury is 88 days long.

.Only 2 spacecrafts has visited Mercury.

.The surface on Murcury is very simular to the surface to our moon.

.Mercury has a very low surface of gravity.

.Mercury has no wind because of the atmosphere.

.Mercury is mostly made out of iron and it is a giant metal ball.

Venus

.Venus is named after the romen goddess of love and beuaty

.Venus is sometimes called Earths sister planet

.Venus is the second brightest natural object in the sky

.Venus is sometimes referred to as the morning star and evening star

.Billions of years ago, the climate of venus may have been similar to that of Earth

.Venus rotate in the opposite direction to other planets

.Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system

.It can get as hot as 462°c

.The temperatureon of Venus doesn't vary much between the night and day

Earth

.Earth is the only planet that has an atmosphere containing 21 percent oxygen.

.Earth is the only planet that has liquid water on its surface.

.Earth is the only planet in the solar system that has life.

.The Earth is the only inner planet (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) to have one large satellite, the Moon.

.Earth is the third planet from the Sun and is the largest of the terrestrial planets.

.The Earth is the only planet in our solar system not to be named after a Greek or Roman deity. .The Earth was formed approximately 4.54 billion years ago and is the only known planet to support life.

.This phenomenon is caused by the nickel-iron core of the planet, coupled with its rapid rotation. .This field protects the Earth from the effects of solar wind.

Earth facts

Mars

.Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and last of the terrestrial planets and is around 227,940,000 km from the Sun.

.Only 16 of the 39 Mars missions have been successful.

.Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and is the second smallest planet in the solar system.

.Named after the Roman god of war, Mars is also often described as the “Red Planet” due to its reddish appearance.

.Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere composed primarily of carbon dioxide.

.The seasons are extreme because its elliptical (oval-shaped) orbital path around the Sun is more elongated than most other planets in the solar system.

Mars facts

Jupiter

.The planet Jupiter is the fifth planet out from the Sun, and is two and a half times more massive than all the other planets in the solar system combined.

. It is made mainly of gases and is therefore known as a “gas giant”.

.Jupiter is the fourth brightest object in the solar system,

only the Sun, Moon and Venus are brighter.

.It is one of five planets visible to the naked eye from Earth.

.Jupiters spot is so large that three Earths could fit inside it.

.Jupiter’s moons are sometimes called the Jovian satellites, the largest of these are Ganymeade, Callisto Io and Europa. .Ganymeade measures 5,268 km across, making it larger than the planet Mercury.

Jupiter facts

Saturn

.Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the most distant that can be seen with the naked eye.

.Saturn is the second largest planet and is best known for its fabulous ring system that was first observed in 1610 by the astronomer Galileo Galilei.

.Like Jupiter, Saturn is a gas giant and is composed of similar gasses including hydrogen, helium and methane.

.Its slow movement against the backdrop of stars earned it the nickname of “Lubadsagush” from the ancient Assyrians.

.It exists in layers that get denser further into the planet.

.Eventually, deep inside, the hydrogen becomes metallic.

Saturn facts

Uranus

.Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun.

. It’s not visible to the naked eye, and became the first planet discovered with the use of a telescope.

.Uranus is tipped over on its side with an axial tilt of 98 degrees.

.It is often described as “rolling around the Sun on its side.

.”Uranus turns on its axis once every 17 hours, 14 minutes.

.The planet rotates in a retrograde direction, opposite to the way Earth and most other planets turn.

.In 1986, the Voyager 2 spacecraft swept past the planet at a distance of 81,500 km. It returned the first close-up images of the planet, its moons, and rings.

Uranus facts

.Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun making it the most distant in the solar system.

.This gas giant planet may have formed much closer to the Sun in early solar system history before migrating to its present position.

.Neptune has a very thin collection of rings.They are likely made up of ice particles mixed with dust grains and possibly coated with a carbon-based substance.

.Neptune has a very active climate.Large storms whirl through its upper atmosphere, and high-speed winds track around the planet at up 600 meters per second.

.One of the largest storms ever seen was recorded in 1989. It was called the Great Dark Spot. It lasted about five years.

Neptune facts

Neptune

.Discovered in 1930, Pluto is the second closest dwarf planet to the Sun and was at one point classified as the ninth planet.

. Pluto is the largest dwarf planet but only the second most massive, with Eris being the most massive.

.Pluto was discovered on February 18th, 1930 by the Lowell Observatory.

.For the 76 years between Pluto being discovered and the time it was reclassified as a dwarf .planet it completed under a third of its orbit around the Sun.

.Pluto’s location was predicted by Percival Lowell in 1915.

.The prediction came from deviations he initially observed in 1905 in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune.

Pluto facts

Pluto

Moons

moon facts

.The Moon (or Luna) is the Earth's only natural satellite and was formed 4.6 billion years ago around some 30–50 million years after the formation of the solar system.

.The Moon is in synchronous rotation with Earth meaning the same side is always facing the Earth.

.The first unmanned mission to the Moon was in 1959 by the Soviet Lunar Program with the first manned landing being Apollo 11 in 1969.

.The Moon takes about 27 days (27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes, 11.6 seconds) to go all the way around the Earth and return to its starting position.

.The Moon is 4.5 billion years old.

Comets and asteroids

Comets and asteroids facts

.Asteroids and comets are considered remnants from the giant cloud of gas and dust that condensed to create the sun, planets, and moons some 4.5 billion years ago.

.Today, most asteroids orbit the sun in a tightly packed belt located between Mars and Jupiter.

.Asteroids are essentially chunks of rock that measure in size from a few feet to several miles in diameter. (Small asteroids are called meteoroids.)

.The largest asteroid, Ceres, is about 590 miles (950 kilometers) wide.

. Like most asteroids, it lies in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

.Many astronomers believe the belt is primordial material that never glommed into a planet because of Jupiter's gravitational pull.

. Other astronomers say the belt is a planet that was broken apart during a collision.Asteroids can have ring systems (though they aren’t quite as glorious as Saturn’s).

. One asteroid, named Chariklo, is known to have two dense and narrow rings.