The Solar System
Key Stage 2
Meaning
The Solar System is made of The Sun and all the Planets that go around The Sun.
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About The Solar System
- The Solar System is what we call our Solar System but there are many others.
- The Sun is at the centre of The Solar System.
- The Solar System has 8 confirmed Planets and many Dwarf Planets.
The 8 Planets are:
Geocentric Model
- 1900 years ago an astronomer named Ptolemy made careful observations of the 5 known planets and all the Stars in the night's sky.
- Ptolemy used these observations to claim that the Earth was at the centre of the Universe and The Solar System and that everything in the Universe orbits the Earth.
- This was known as the Geocentric Model of The Solar System.
- Many people believed Ptolemy because it fit well with their religious beliefs that a god created the Earth before the Sun, stars and planets.
Heliocentric Model
- 400 years ago an astronomer named Galileo made observations of the planet Jupiter using a new invention called a telescope.
- Galileo noticed in the observations that there were 4 moons that seemed to orbit Jupiter which proved Ptolemy's Geocentric Model of The Solar System was not true because not everything orbitted the Earth.
- Galileo then went on to claim that the Earth was not the centre of The Solar System but the Sun was the centre and the planets orbitted the Sun.
- This was called the Heliocentric Model of The Solar System.
- Unfortunately many religious people did not like this idea and Galileo was put under house arrest for heresy until he died several years later.
Key Stage 3
Meaning
The Solar System is The Sun and all the objects which orbit The Sun.
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About The Solar System
- The Solar System includes all the planets, dwarf planets, moons, asteroids and comets that we can see.
- The Solar System is what we call our Solar System but there are many others.
- The Sun is at the centre of The Solar System.
- The Solar System has 8 confirmed Planets and many Dwarf Planets.
The 8 Planets are:
Extra Information
Key Stage 4
Meaning
The Solar System is The Sun and all the objects which orbit The Sun.
|
About The Solar System
- The Solar System includes all the planets, dwarf planets, moons, asteroids and comets that we can see.
- The Solar System is what we call our Solar System but there are many others.
- The Sun is at the centre of The Solar System.
- The Solar System has 8 confirmed Planets and many Dwarf Planets.
The 8 Planets are:
Formation of The Solar Systems
- A large cloud of gas] and dust called a nebula collapsed due to gravity to form a The Sun.
- Some of the leftover gas and dust formed a spinning disk held in orbit around the newly formed Sun by gravity.
- The Suns radiation caused the gas to spread further away from the centre of the disk leaving behind the dust.
- Gravity between the particles of dust caused them to clump together to form asteroids.
- Over millions of years gravity caused the asteroids to collide to form bigger and bigger asteroids until they were so large that they had enough gravity to pull their matter in to a spherical shape and become dwarf planets.
- Eventually the some of the dwarf planets swept enough material out of their orbital paths that they became planets.
- The planets closest to The Sun collected very little gas and became rocky planets.
- The planets furthest from The Sun collected a large amount of gas and became gas giants.