Solar system

For grade 3 There are altogether 9 planets in our solar system. terrestrial or rocky planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. jovian or gas planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Pluto is a dwarf planet.

Solar system
Sun and everything that travel around it is solar system Our solar system is elliptical (i.e. egg shaped) in shape Sun is the biggest object in solar system. Sun is in the center of our solar system

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Comet: a big ball of dirty ice and snow in outer space. Asteroids: a rocky space objectthat can be a few feet wide to several 100miles wide. Most asteroids in our solar system orbit in a belt between mars and Jupiter. This area is also called as asteroid belt.

Few important terms

Orbit: the path followed followed by an object in space as it goes around another object. Axis: an imaginary straight line around which an object spins. Atom: the tiny building block that makes every thing. Crater: a hole caused by an object , hitting the surface of a planet or moon.

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Galaxy: a giant collection of gas, dust and millions or billions of stars. Gravity: the invisible force between objects that makes objects attract each other. nuclear fusion: a process where atoms are joined and tremendous amount of energy is released. Pole: the point at either end of the invisible line known as the axis. planets have a south pole and a north pole.

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Satellite: an object that moves around a larger object. There are natural satellites such as moons and of course man made satellites too. Ultra violet rays: an invisible form of energy which is given of by the sun. UV rays causes sunburn. X-ray: an invisible form of energy which can go through most solid objects.

Few important terms

Centaurs: these are large frozen rocks that behave with characteristics of both asteroids and comets. the largest centaur till date is CHARIKLO which is 140 miles wide. Kuiper belt: the astronomers believe that most of centaurs, comet-like bodies , are also believed to originate there. it is area beyond Neptune.

Few important terms

Oort cloud: large collection of comet beyond Pluto is oort cloud. Meteoroids: chunk of rocks randomly moving through the space. Usually left over comet or asteroids debris. Meteor: meteoroids that enter earths atmosphere, heats up and begin to glow (shooting stars). most of them burn up before reaching earths surface. Meteor shower: many meteor at one time is meteo shower. Meteorites: meteor that does not totally burn up and strikes the earths surface. Its impact is creation of craters.