Kn 6 Lesson 8 The Solar System Part 1

hi boys and girls today we get to go

into our astronomy lesson for our

knowledge 6 unit lesson 8 and dive into

the solar system part 1 here we go to

begin we're going to look at some words

we need to listen to as we start our

lesson the first word is abundant

abundant means plentiful more than

enough an example of this is the farmer

celebrated their abundant harvest with a

town fair the word is abundant the next

word is accomplished accomplished means

to achieve something an example of this

is we can accomplish our goal of winning

the game if we work together our next

word to listen for in our story is inner

inner means close to the center or

inside an example of this is the inner

circles of the spider's web were smaller

than the outer circles our next word to

listen for is solar solar means related

to the Sun an example of this is my mom

has a solar-powered wrist watch that

works by using energy from the Sun on

our last word to listen for in the story

is unique unique means one of a kind an

example of this is each person in the

world is different from every other

person so we say that each person is

unique our next two lessons are going to

be teaching us about several planets we

have learned that a planet is different

from a star listen carefully for facts

about each planet especially facts about

how each planet is unique or different

from others for thousands of years

stargazers have known that the Sun Moon

and stars are not the

only celestial bodies in the night skies

above earth ancient stargazers

recognized that there are other planets

up there as well remember that a planet

is a large celestial body that revolves

around a star for light and heat what

they did not know is that these planets

like Earth we evolved around the Sun

astronomers now know of eight major

planets including earth that revolve

around the Sun in addition there are a

number of dwarf planets or little

planets the word solar is used to

describe something that is related to

the Sun for example solar energy refers

to the heat and light that comes from

the Sun planets and other celestial

bodies that orbit the Sun make up what

is known as the solar system this

diagram shows the eight major planets in

our solar system about the only thing

these eight planets have in common is

the fact that they all orbit the same

Sun on their own specific path beyond

that each planet is unique one-of-a-kind

and different from any other the first

four planets you will learn about are

called the inner planets or the ones

near the center of the solar system

Mercury Venus Earth and Mars mercury is

one of the closest planets to the Sun

and the smallest of the eight major

planets in the solar system being the

smallest and closest to the Sun makes

mercury unique mercury can be seen from

Earth but it is hard to spot you can

only see it in the early morning or the

early evening most of the planets in the

solar system are named after Roman gods

and goddesses

the planet Mercury is named after the

Roman god mercury in mythology the god

mercury was very fast so it makes sense

that this planet is named after him

it takes just 88 Earth days for Mercury

to complete a revolution around the Sun

so it is a quick little planet

remember that earth takes 365 days to

orbit the Sun so if Mercury only takes

88 days which planet is faster unlike

Earth mercury does not rotate much it

spins on its axis just one and a half

times during its revolution around the

Sun at first glance you might notice

that mercury looks a lot like our moon

with its rocky heavily cratered surface

mercury has some of the largest known

crater impacts in the solar system

meaning that it has been hit by some

very large rocks in fact some craters

are about 50 miles wide mercury has no

atmosphere to protect it like Earth does

and because it is so close to the Sun

the surface of mercury is very very hot

or very very cold temperatures on the

surface facing the Sun can range

anywhere from 300 degrees to nearly

1,400 degrees Fahrenheit on earth we

consider ninety degrees Fahrenheit to be

hot while the surface facing away from

the Sun can be as low as 350 degrees

below zero 32 degrees Fahrenheit is the

temperature at which water freezes on

earth Venus

the second planet from the Sun it is

named after the Roman goddess of love

aside from the Sun and the moon venus is

the brightest celestial object that you

can see from Earth being the brightest

object in our night sky makes Venus

unique it takes Venus roughly 225 Earth

days to revolve around the Sun however

like Mercury Venus does not rotate on

its axis very fast in fact Venus

actually rotates in the opposite

direction that earth does Venus is

sometimes referred to as the morning

star or the evening star because it

often appears as a bright object in the

evening sky or as bright object in the

morning sky Venus is also known as

Earth's sister planet because it is the

closest planet to earth and the two

planets are roughly the same size being

a sister planet to Earth is another fact

unique to Venus beyond that however

Earth and Venus have very little in

common

Venus's atmosphere consists of a very

thick layer of clouds so it is difficult

for astronomers to study at surface we

do know however that the surface is very

hot and dry Venus is thick cloudy

atmosphere traps much of the sun's

energy meaning temperatures on the

planet can soar to above 800 degrees

Fahrenheit that's really hot you also

learned the word atmosphere when we

first started studying astronomy

remember atmosphere is the bubble of gas

that surrounds a planet you

should recognize the planet in this

photo it's your home planet Earth the

third planet from the Sun Earth is the

only planet that does not take its name

from a Roman or Greek god the word earth

is an ancient word that originally meant

ground when the word earth was invented

the people living here did not even know

that it was a planet this photo was

taken by the astronauts of the Apollo 8

mission they did not get to land on the

moon but they flew around it one of the

most important factors that sets earth

apart from other planets is the abundant

supply of water that means there is more

than enough or plenty of water water is

essential for life without water there

could not be any living things like

people plants or animals although some

other celestial bodies in our solar

system have some water

earth is the only planet whose surface

is mostly liquid water earth is also the

only planet with an abundance of oxygen

in the air and oxygen is also essential

for life its supply of water and oxygen

make Earth unique

so after Mercury and Venus comes planet

Earth where we live

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun

Mars is named after the Roman god of war

Mars is often referred to as the red

planet because of its color it's red

color makes Mars unique you can see Mars

from Earth and even without a telescope

you can identify it by its reddish tint

the further you get from the Sun the

colder it is and the longer it takes to

complete a revolution or make one trip

around the Sun it takes Mars 687 Earth

days to revolve around the Sun it is

interesting though that Mars rotates on

its axis at about this

same speed as Earth Mars has two moons

but they are small and oddly shaped one

of them is pictured here astronomers

believe that these moons are actually

large asteroids or space rocks that

became trapped in orbit as they passed

by Mars billions of years ago because

Mars is relatively close to Earth

astronomers from NASA have been able to

send several spacecraft to explore that

planet nASA has sent several unmanned

spacecraft to orbit Mars nASA has also

managed to send several small robotic

vehicles called Rovers to explore Mars

surface the photo you see here is the

first color photo ever taken on another

planet it was snapped by the Spirit

Exploration Rover most of the rocky

surface of Mars is covered in a layer of

rust which is a reddish brown color the

rust explains why Mars appears to be red

NASA scientists hope to be able to send

astronauts to Mars but it may be many

many years before technology exists that

might allow them to accomplish this or

achieve this goal perhaps if you decide

to be an astronaut when you grow up you

will be the first person to set foot on

Mars it will not be easy to put a person

on Mars but people used to think it was

impossible to go to the moon to Mars is

also unique because it is a celestial

body we might be able to visit one day

boys and girls those are the four inner

planets of our solar system when you're

done with this video the next thing

you're going to do is open up a Google

document and write an opinion statement

about which inner planet would you want

to visit would you want to visit Mercury

Venus Earth

on Mars there will be a sentence starter

to help you get started it will say I

would like to visit the inner planet

because and you can fill it in my

example says I would like to visit the

inner planet Mercury because there are

many craters I want to visit you can

pick any one of the four planets to

visit and give us a reason why you can

use the sentence starter but after that

sentence starter boys and girls you need

to add at least one additional sentence

to give us more details of why you want

to visit that planet if you need to

listen to the story again you can have

fun and share with us your opinion have

a great day