Galaxy and Earth
Young Discoverer Series
UNIVERSE
NICKNAMES OF PLANETS:
Mercury – Speedy Messenger.
Venus – Morning or Evening Star.
Earth – The Blue Planet.
Mars – The Red Planet.
Jupiter – Jove or the Galilean System.
Saturn – The Ringed Planet.
Uranus – Father Sky.
Neptune – The Windy Planet.
Pluto – The Ice Planet.
DEFINITIONS:
STAR: A huge body made of hot luminous gas that is held together by its own gravity. Compared to other stars, our Sun is a star of average size and energy.
PLANET: A large body that orbits a star. Terrestrial (land) planets have rocky cores and are much smaller than gas giants, which have thick, gassy atmosphere.
ASTEROID (OR MINOR PLANET): A body smaller than a planet and made of rock, metal, or other minerals. There is a large belt of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter.
MOON (OR SATELLITE): A body that orbits a planet or an asteroid. Most moons are much smaller than their planet or asteroid.
COMET: An object composed of frozen gases and dust particles that was formed on the outskirts of the solar system and orbits the Sun. Most comets have long, skinny orbits that take them beyond the planets.
ELLIPSE: An elongated circle, the shape of a closed orbit, the path that one celestial body makes around another.
METEOR (OR SHOOTING STARS): A chunk of coal or metal that enters Earth’s atmosphere and burns up in a fiery show.
METEORITE: A chunk of rock or metal that has fallen to Earth beyond its atmosphere.
METEOROID: A chunk of rock or metal moving through space.
GRAVITY: The force that keeps celestial bodies in place. The Sun’s gravity keeps the planet in orbit.
AVERAGE DISTANCE FROM THE SUN
PLANETS DISTANCE MERCURY | 36 million miles (58 million km) | VENUS | 67 million miles (107 million km) | EARTH | 93 million miles (149 million km) | MARS | 140 million miles (224 million km) | JUPITER | 480 million miles (768 million km) | SATURN | 890 million miles (1424 million km) | URANUS | 1790 million miles
UNIVERSE
NICKNAMES OF PLANETS:
Mercury – Speedy Messenger.
Venus – Morning or Evening Star.
Earth – The Blue Planet.
Mars – The Red Planet.
Jupiter – Jove or the Galilean System.
Saturn – The Ringed Planet.
Uranus – Father Sky.
Neptune – The Windy Planet.
Pluto – The Ice Planet.
DEFINITIONS:
STAR: A huge body made of hot luminous gas that is held together by its own gravity. Compared to other stars, our Sun is a star of average size and energy.
PLANET: A large body that orbits a star. Terrestrial (land) planets have rocky cores and are much smaller than gas giants, which have thick, gassy atmosphere.
ASTEROID (OR MINOR PLANET): A body smaller than a planet and made of rock, metal, or other minerals. There is a large belt of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter.
MOON (OR SATELLITE): A body that orbits a planet or an asteroid. Most moons are much smaller than their planet or asteroid.
COMET: An object composed of frozen gases and dust particles that was formed on the outskirts of the solar system and orbits the Sun. Most comets have long, skinny orbits that take them beyond the planets.
ELLIPSE: An elongated circle, the shape of a closed orbit, the path that one celestial body makes around another.
METEOR (OR SHOOTING STARS): A chunk of coal or metal that enters Earth’s atmosphere and burns up in a fiery show.
METEORITE: A chunk of rock or metal that has fallen to Earth beyond its atmosphere.
METEOROID: A chunk of rock or metal moving through space.
GRAVITY: The force that keeps celestial bodies in place. The Sun’s gravity keeps the planet in orbit.
AVERAGE DISTANCE FROM THE SUN
PLANETS DISTANCE MERCURY | 36 million miles (58 million km) | VENUS | 67 million miles (107 million km) | EARTH | 93 million miles (149 million km) | MARS | 140 million miles (224 million km) | JUPITER | 480 million miles (768 million km) | SATURN | 890 million miles (1424 million km) | URANUS | 1790 million miles