The solar system
Describe the sun, Earth, and moon as approximately spherical bodies, and describe the movement of the Earth and other planets orbiting the sun in the solar system
What a learner can do afterwards
- State that the sun, Earth, and moon are approximately spherical
- Name the planets in order from the sun and explain they all orbit the sun
- Describe the moon orbiting the Earth while both orbit the sun
1 · Read
The sun, Earth, and the moon are all shaped like a ball. We call that shape a sphere. A sphere looks round from every side, not flat like a circle drawn on paper.
You already know the planets in order from the sun. Each one also moves along a giant curved path around the sun. That path is called an orbit. The Moon orbits Earth while both Earth and the Moon travel around the Sun.
Zara pictures the moon circling Earth. At the same time, Earth is circling the sun, so the moon travels along with Earth on that bigger trip too. Two loops happen at once: the moon around Earth, and Earth around the sun.
The sun, Earth, and moon are all spheres, and while the planets orbit the sun, the moon orbits Earth too.
The rewritten readings were written for this dataset.
More to read
Key points: The solar system
Our solar system is one star plus everything its gravity holds. The sun sits in the middle. Eight planets circle it, each on its own track. Most planets have moons tagging along. Everything formed from the same cloud, so the whole family moves together like dancers in a slow spin. Learn this picture first and every planet fact has a home to slot into.
Earth's place among the stars
Earth belongs to the solar system. Its planets travel around the Sun, from rocky Mercury out to faraway Neptune. Comets and icy worlds belong to this system too. The Sun is one star among hundreds of billions in our galaxy, called the Milky Way. To describe where we live, start small and work outward: Earth, then the solar system, then our galaxy, then the universe.
How Was Our Solar System Formed?
The solar system started as a giant cloud of gas and dust, floating in space. Part of the cloud collapsed under its own weight and squeezed until it ignited. That became the sun. The leftovers flattened into a spinning disc and clumped into planets. This all happened about 4.6 billion years ago. You, your dog, and your dinner are made from that same ancient cloud stuff.
Features of Planets
The eight planets split into two teams. The inner four, Mercury through Mars, are small and rocky, with solid ground you could stand on. The outer four, Jupiter outward, are gas and ice giants with no solid surface, just thicker and thicker atmosphere. Yet the same physics runs everywhere: gravity, orbits, weather. Compare any two planets and ask what is the same and what differs.
Planets with moons and rings
Our Moon travels around Earth about once a month. Earth takes a year to circle the Sun, carrying the Moon along on its looping journey. Other planets also have moons, sometimes dozens. Saturn has bright rings made of icy pieces. Moon systems can resemble small solar systems. Orbiting objects move around a shared centre, usually within the larger object. This pattern appears across space.
Explore more
2 · Watch
به انگلیسیTake it off screen
Where it sits
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.