Science Station Earth Systems, Structures, and Processes 3

Earth Systems Welcome! Today we will: Learn about more things found in the solar system. See where the planets are in the solar system.

Earth Systems Each planet has its own place in the solar system. All the planets in our solar system orbit around the sun. Let’s look at the order the planets are in.

Order in the Sky

What Else is in the Solar System? If we went into outer-space, we would find a lot of different things. Let’s look at just a few things we would find.

In the Solar System The SunThe Moon

In the Solar System Planets

Asteroids Asteroids are rocks in the solar system that float in space. They were extra parts of creations in our solar system, like planets. There have only been 26 large asteroids discovered but there are millions of small asteroids that can be as small as a grain of sand. Most asteroids stay in a certain area called asteroid belts but others are miles and miles away from those belts.

Asteroids

Meteors Have you ever seen a shooting star? A shooting star is not a star at all! It is a piece of grain or rock that is falling from the sky and coming into the Earth’s atmosphere. It is falling at such a fast rate that it creates light from heat. We actually call these shooting stars,or meteors.

Meteoroids and Meteorites However, when the meteors are still in space, not falling into Earth’s atmosphere we call them meteoroids. Finally, when they hit Earth they are called Meteorites!! I know that is a lot of different names. Don’t worry, you don’t have to remember them all for this course!

Meteor Shower

Comets Comets are like giant dirty snowballs orbiting around our solar system. Comets get hot and cold. When they travel near the sun, the ice on the comets start to break off which makes it looks like it has a tail. Comets can be several miles wide, which is HUGE!! Let’s watch a quick video so you can see what comets look like!

Comets

Next Time Great job today learning about a few more things you might see in our solar system. During our next lesson we will start to learn about the seasons!!