The Solar System

Lesson 1
Name: ____________________
An Overview

What is the solar system?
The universe is huge! It contains billions of galaxies which each contain billions of
stars. Many stars have planets and other objects that orbit around them. The sun is
one such star. The solar system contains everything that orbits around the sun.

Location
The solar system is located in the Orion Arm of
the Milky Way Galaxy. Just as the planets orbit
the sun, the entire solar system orbits a massive
black hole located at the center of the Milky Way.

Formation
All the matter of the solar system started as a gas
cloud in space. Under the right conditions gravity
made the cloud collapse upon itself. This collapse
led to nuclear reactions that created the sun.
The Milky Way Galaxy
Some smaller pieces of matter did not get
captured in the sun. Anything not captured
became the planets and other objects in the solar system.

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Size
The solar system stretches out from the sun 11,346,000,000 miles. (122AU,
“Astronomical Units”). The dwarf planet Pluto is 40AU from the sun, meaning two
thirds of the solar system is beyond what humans have explored so far. The sun
contains 99.85% of all matter in the solar system. All other matter is contained in the
other objects of the solar system.

Sun and Planets

The object we call the “sun” is actually one of the billions of stars in the galaxy. The
sun is a yellow dwarf star, a common type found throughout the universe. The sun has
planets that orbit around it. The first four planets from the sun are Mercury, Venus,
Earth, and Mars. They are known as the “Terrestrial Planets” because their surfaces
are made of rock. Well beyond Mars are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. They
are known as the “Giant Planets”. Jupiter and Saturn are gas giants and Uranus and
Neptune are ice giants.

Belts/Clouds
Between Mars and Jupiter is a region called the asteroid belt. The asteroid belt
contains many small terrestrial items made of rock and metal. Beyond Neptune is a
region called the Kuiper belt. The Kuiper belt has many objects in it, including dwarf
planets. The most famous dwarf planet is Pluto. Most objects in the Kuiper belt are
composed of ice. The Oort cloud is a theoretical cloud of asteroids and other objects
that lie beyond the Kuiper belt. The Oort cloud represents the outer edge of the solar
system.

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 While You Read Name: ____________________
Lesson 1
Answer the following questions that are based on the reading.

1. Many stars have _____________ and other _____________ that _____________ around
them.

2. The solar system contains:

a. All the stars in the universe c. Everything that orbits the sun
b. Everything that orbits the Milky Way d. Billions of galaxies

3. Where is the solar system located?

4. Uranus, Neptune, Earth, and Mars are considered “Terrestrial Planets”.

True or False

5. What are the names of the two “belts” in the solar system?

Think It Through // Lesson 1

1. The picture on the first page is an accurate scale/size representation of the sun
and planets. Use this picture and your knowledge from the reading to make 3
observations about the Sun and Planets.

2. It is about 25,000 miles to drive around the earth. How many times would you
have to drive around the earth to equal driving from the sun to the outer edge of
the solar system?

3. Why do you think astronomers and scientists created “Astronomical Units”?

4. Pluto was once considered a planet but was downgraded to a “dwarf planet”,
along with Eris and Ceres (see image on page 2). Do you agree with this
downgrading? Make a case for why or why not with at least two points.

5. What is the primary difference between asteroids in the asteroid belt and
asteroids in the Kuiper belt?

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 Vocabulary // Lesson 1 Name: ____________________

Galaxy (plural, –ies) - A system of millions or billions of stars, together with gas and dust, held
together by gravitational attraction.

Stars - An object in the sky that sends out its own light, generated by nuclear reactions in its
center.

Planets - A body that orbits the Sun and is massive enough for its own gravity to make it round.

Orbit - A regular, repeating path that one object in space takes around another one.

The Sun - The star around which the Earth and other planets and objects orbit.

The Solar System - Everything that orbits around the sun.

Milky Way Galaxy - The galaxy of which the sun and the solar system are a part.

Black Hole - A place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light can not get out.

Astronomical Units - a unit of measurement equal to 92.96 million miles (149.6 million
kilometers), the mean distance from the center of the earth to the center of the sun.

Terrestrial Planets - A terrestrial planet is a planet that is composed primarily of rocks or metals.
Within the Solar System they are the inner planets closest to the Sun, i.e. Mercury, Venus, Earth,
and Mars.

Giant Planets - Any of the planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, characterized by large
mass, low density, and an extensive atmosphere.

Dwarf Planets – Any celestial body that orbits the sun, has enough mass to assume a nearly round
shape, has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and is not a moon. Pluto, Ceres, and Eris
are examples.

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Vocabulary Challenge
1) Create a poem that uses at least FIVE vocab words in the correct context. You may use as
many vocab words as you want, but you must use at least five.

2) For any unused words, write a sentence for each word demonstrating its correct usage.

pg. 4