Kn 6 Lesson 9 The Solar System Part 2 First Grade

all right boys and girls today is your

very last lesson in our astronomy series

so here we go we are going to learn the

rest of the planets in our solar system

here are some words we need to know

before we get started as always let's go

over them first word to listen for in

our story is categorized categorized

means to sort put into a group with

other similar objects an example of this

is my teacher asked me to categorize the

stack of books as fiction or nonfiction

for our classroom library our next word

to listen for in our story is outer

outer means far from the center outside

an example of this is the outer part of

the Earth's surface is the part we live

on the next word we're going to listen

for or in our story is probes probes are

tools for exploring things that cannot

be seen easily an example of this is

probes have collected a lot of

information about the surface of Mars

and the last word we're going to listen

for in our story is violent violent

means dangerously rough an example of

this is when I was wrestling with my

brother and he got hurt my mom said we

were being too violent here we go boys

and girls let's get started with our

story today while I'm reading to you the

information on our outer planets I want

you to listen carefully to learn the

name of each planet and what makes it

unique in the last read aloud you

learned about the four inner planets of

our solar system Mercury Venus Earth and

Mars now you will learn about the outer

planets Jupiter Saturn Uranus and

Neptune as well as the

is dwarf planet Pluto these planets are

furthest from the Sun on the outside

part of our solar system

the first important difference between

the inner planets and the outer planets

is that the inner planets are all made

up of rocks and metals whereas the outer

planets are made up of different types

of gases the planet Jupiter is the fifth

planet from the Sun in Roman mythology

Jupiter was the king of the gods the

strongest and most powerful of all the

largest planet in our solar system is

named after him being the largest planet

makes Jupiter unique Jupiter is so big

that you could stuff about 1,300 planet

Earth's inside of it it takes Jupiter

nearly 12 earth years to make one

revolution around the Sun however

Jupiter rotates on its axis faster than

any other planet in the solar system

this massive planet rotates all the way

around on its axis in less than 10 hours

Jupiter is made mostly of hydrogen and

other gases because of its fast rotation

and the mixing of its gases Jupiter is

an extremely violent or dangerously

rough stormy place the best-known

feature on Jupiter is its large red spot

this spot is actually a massive storm

this stormy red spot makes Jupiter

unique and it helps us remember what the

planet looks like this storm is so big

that you could fit three planet Earth's

inside of it Jupiter can be seen with

the naked eye from Earth and sometimes

you can see it's red spot with

an ordinary telescope there are at least

63 moons in orbit around Jupiter most of

them are very small however four of

these moons are well known they were all

discovered first by the famous

astronomer Galileo these are easily

visible with a pair of binoculars each

is interesting in its own way

particularly Europa the small one in the

upper right

Europa is slightly smaller than our own

moon and yet for many astronomers it is

one of the most fascinating celestial

bodies in the solar system

Europa's surface is covered in ice and

its atmosphere contains a lot of oxygen

many astronomers believe that beneath

Europa's ice there is an ocean of liquid

water

this means that maybe just maybe there

is some form of life on this distant

little moon so far the only place in the

solar system that we know has life is

our own planet Earth the next planet in

the solar system is Saturn the sixth

planet from the Sun it is the second

largest planet in the Solar System

although it is much smaller than Jupiter

Saturn is famous for its rings it is not

the only planet with rings but no other

planet has rings like Saturn's it's

rings make Saturn unique and easy to

recognize this incredible photo was

taken by an unmanned orbiter in 2004

Saturn has several layers with different

types of clouds and it is quite stormy

though not as stormy as its neighbor

Jupiter these layers and clouds are part

of the planet remember outer planets are

made of gases because it is so far from

the Sun it takes Saturn you

30 earth years to make one complete

orbit different parts of Saturn rotate

at different speeds but for the most

part Saturn rotates on its axis very

quickly taking a little over 10 hours to

complete one rotation the rings of

Saturn are always moving around the

planet they are made up mainly of ice

and a few other types of materials the

Rings are basically huge collections of

dust with some large chunks here and

there nobody is sure how the Rings got

there some astronomers believe the Rings

formed when one of Saturn's moons

exploded and some debris or broken

pieces became trapped in the orbit

others say the material in the Rings is

leftover from the time when Saturn was

formed billions of years ago you can see

Saturn from Earth during certain time of

our year and with an ordinary telescope

you can see the Rings the seventh planet

Uranus has the coldest atmosphere of any

planet in the solar system it's cold

atmosphere makes Uranus unique because

it is so far from the Sun it takes

Uranus 84 earth years to make one

complete orbit Uranus is mostly made up

of hydrogen but its atmosphere also

contains a lot of ice and other

substances not found on Jupiter or

Saturn Uranus is named after a Greek god

of the sky making it the only planet

other than Earth that is not named after

a Roman god although it is possible to

see Uranus from Earth with a naked eye

you really have to know where and when

to look for it because it appears very

dim and not very bright from here on

earth Uranus has one very special

characteristic it rotates on its side

you

can't see it in this image but in

comparison to earth and the other

planets Uranus is access is sideways as

though someone turned the planet on its

side lying on its side makes Uranus

unique the planet Neptune is the eighth

and final planet in the solar system in

Roman mythology Neptune was the god of

the sea so this is a fitting name given

the planets beautiful blue color it's

blue color and its distance from the Sun

make Neptune unique astronomers still do

not know exactly why Neptune is blue and

it will probably be a while before they

figure it out that is because Neptune is

nearly three billion miles from the Sun

making it very difficult and expensive

to send unmanned probes to explore it it

takes Neptune nearly a hundred and

sixty-five Earth years to orbit the Sun

the planet is never visible to the naked

eye from Earth and you will need a

fairly powerful telescope to get a good

view of its beautiful color not so very

long ago students in school were taught

that there were nine planets in the

solar system including Pluto in fact

ever since Pluto was discovered in 1930

it has been considered a planet however

in 2006 astronomers decided to

categorize Pluto as a dwarf planet one

of several such bodies in our solar

system they decided to sort planets into

two categories dwarf meaning little and

regular categorizing Pluto as a dwarf

planet means they put Pluto in the dwarf

planet group in Roman mythology Pluto

was the god of the underworld a dark and

dreary place

this is a good name for such a cold and

distant dwarf planet Pluto is about 4

billion miles from the Sun so it is

extremely cold and dark out there the

planet is made almost entirely of frozen

nitrogen most nitrogen found on earth is

a gas but out in the depths of space it

is frozen it takes Pluto about 243 earth

years to orbit the Sun we have a lot to

learn about Pluto and other celestial

bodies in the outer reaches of the solar

system but it is not easy to explore

this area for now this is about the best

photo we have of Pluto and it was taken

from 3 billion miles away by a special

spacecraft called the Hubble Space

Telescope so far pluto remains

unexplored a special probe was launched

toward Pluto in the year 2003 it took 12

years for that probe to reach Pluto boys

and girls just like you did yesterday

today you get to write an opinion

statement about which outer planet you

would want to visit would you want to

visit Jupiter Saturn Uranus or Neptune

you may use the sentence starter on your

Google document when you open it up I

would like to visit the outer planet

because my example says I would like to

visit the outer planet Saturn because I

want to be able to see its rings up

close remember you need to add on and

provide details and information you've

heard from the story you will be

provided with a planet chart that has

facts on it you can use or you can

always go back and listen to the story

again have fun and we can't wait to hear

your opinions on why you want to visit a

specific outer planet

great day