Contents
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.
About The Solar System
- The Solar System includes all the planets, dwarf planets, moons, asteroids and comets.