Make a set of Top Trump cards that describe

these objects from the solar system and the

Universe:
The 8 planets in our solar system
The Sun
Asteroids
A comet
Our moon
Ganymede (one of Jupiters moons)
Galaxy
Universe

Your Top Trump cards need to have this information:

What it is:
a planet,
a moon,
a star,
mini-planets that orbit in a belt
between Mars and Jupiter,
everything everywhere,
a group of stars and planets
a chunk of ice filled with dust and rock

What it is made from:

rock,
gas,
stars and planets,
Galaxies
ice, dust and rock

How big it is (diameter)

How far it is from the Sun (not for the Milky Way or the Universe)
How long it takes to go round the Sun (or its planet if it is a moon)
The temperature on the surface
A picture

You can get the information from this PowerPoint

Glossary
asteroids - mini-planets that orbit in a belt between Mars
and Jupiter,
atmosphere a layer of gas around a planet etc. On Earth
we call it the air around us
comet - a chunk of ice filled with dust and rock
diameter from one side of a sphere or a circle to the other
galaxy - a group of stars and planets
orbit go round something
moon a natural satelitte that orbits a planet
planet a large object that orbits a star
star a huge ball of burning gas
Universe - everything everywhere,

Planet

Mercury

Diameter
(km)

Average
distance
Time to orbit
from the Sun
the Sun
(in millions
(years)
of km)

4800

57

0.25

Venus

12,200

108

0.6

Earth

12,800

150

Mars

6,800

228

1.9

Jupiter

143,000

778

11.9

Saturn

120,000

1,429

29.5

Uranus

51,000

2,870

84

Neptune

50,000

4,500

165

The closest planet to the

Sun.
The temperature on the
surface of Mercury is about
170C
Its solid surface is covered
with craters and it has
almost no atmosphere.
It is made of rock.

Same size as
Earth.
It is made of rock.
The atmosphere
of Venus is mostly
carbon dioxide,
which traps heat,
so the surface
temperature is
about 460C.

Earth is the only

planet to have liquid
water on its surface.
The average
temperature on Earth
is 15C
Its atmosphere is
77% nitrogen and
21% oxygen.
The Earth is made of
rock.

Mars is known as the Red

Planet. The colour comes
from iron oxide.
Mars is made of rock.
The temperature on Mars
is about - 50C
There is evidence that
liquid water flowed on the
surface long ago. Now it is
frozen in the polar ice caps
or beneath the surface.

Jupiter is made of gas.

The Great Red Spot is
a huge storm that has
lasted for hundreds of
years. 3 Earths would
fit inside it.
The temperature on the
surface of Jupiter is
- 45C

Ganymede is one of Jupiters

moons.
Ganymede is the largest moon
in our solar system even
bigger than the planet Mercury.
Its diameter is 5260km.
It takes 7 days to orbit Jupiter.
It is made of rock and ice.
The temperature on Ganymede
is about 230C

We call our moon the Moon. It

is made of rock and is about
3400km in diameter.
The Moon is a natural satellite
of the Earth. It takes about 28
days to orbit the Earth.
The temperature on the Moon is
about 50C

Saturn has thousands of rings that orbit the planet. The

rings are made of particles of rock and ice.
Saturn is less dense than water: if you could fit Saturn
in a bath, it would float.
Saturn is made of gas. The temperature on its surface
is about - 195C

Uranus is tilted so
far over it looks like
a top spinning on its
side.
It is made of gas.
The temperature on
Uranus is - 201C

All the planets in our solar

system orbit the Sun.
The Sun is a ball of burning
gas. Its temperature is about
5500C.
The diameter of the Sun is
1,391,000km.

The Universe is the whole of space all the

galaxies, stars, planets, moons, the space in
between and everything else.
The Universe is about 100,000 million million
million km across!

Our galaxy is called the Milky

Way.
A galaxy is a group of stars and
planets.
The Milky Way is about 1 million
million million km across!

Asteroids are mini-planets that

orbit the Sun in a belt
between Mars and Jupiter.
They are lumps of rock.
The smallest asteroids are
about 0.5km across and the
biggest ones are about 952km
across.
The average temperature of
an asteroid is -150C.

Comets are chunks of ice filled with

dust and rock.
When a comet gets close to the Sun
the ice warms up and forms a tail.
Halleys Comet can be seen from
Earth every 76 years because it
takes 76 years to orbit the Sun.
The furthest that it gets from the Sun
is about 5300 million km.
It is about 15km long but the tail is
about 50 million km long.

Neptune is smaller than

Uranus, but it is heavier.
Neptune is made of gas.
The temperature on
Neptune is - 220C
Pluto's orbit crosses
Neptunes orbit so
sometimes Neptune is
further from the Sun than
Pluto.