Our Solar System

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Looking for some extra information? The scale of the planets can be quite deceiving and many people think that the Earth and Mars are similar in size, but Mars is actually much smaller and Jupiter is much MUCH larger!

Check out the diagram below to find out more about the scale of the planets. Do any of them surprise you?

Image credit: Mercury: NASA // Venus: NASA/ JPL Caltech // Earth: NASA Goddard // Moon: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University // Mars: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems // Jupiter: NASA, ESA, and J. Nichols (University of Leicester) // Saturn: NASA/JPL // Uranus: NASA/JPL // Neptune: NASA.

The Terrestrial Planets

Your task is to fill in the names of each of the planets on your Solar System worksheet.

Watch the videos and read through all the information below in order to colour and complete the worksheet. If you are using plain paper and a pen then draw each of the planets labelling each one.

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Source: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

This mosaic of NAC images shows the impact crater Hokusai, located on Mercury at a latitude of 58°N.

Mercury

Mercury’s surface is heavily cratered. The bright spots and pits that you can see litter the planet’s surface making it look similar to the Earth’s moon in many ways.

Craters are formed when an asteroid or comet collides with the planet’s surface.

Mercury’s craters vary in size with some very large impact basins. Caloris basin is 1550 km in diameter!

 

VENUS

Venus is similar in size to the Earth.

Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system. It has a thick atmosphere which traps heat creating a surface so hot it could melt lead! In fact the temperature of Venus is over 470 degrees.

As well as being the hottest planet, Venus has over 1600 major volcanic features.

Source: NASA/JPL

Maat Mons is displayed in this computer generated three-dimensional perspective of the surface of Venus. The viewpoint is located 634 kilometers (393 miles) north of Maat Mons at an elevation of 3 kilometers (2 miles) above the terrain.
Lava flows extend for hundreds of kilometers across the fractured plains shown in the foreground, to the base of Maat Mons.

 
 

Earth

The Earth is sometimes referred to as the blue planet, which isn’t surprising considering that oceans cover over 71% of the Earth’s surface.

This meteorite is roughly 4cm wide and entirely made of metals called iron and nickel. It is very dense and heavy. Iron meteorites are thought to be fragments of a core (the centre) of a big asteroid, similar to the Earth’s metallic core. It is shiny because it has been polished through handling, and is a favourite for its distinctly metallic smell!

Features such as the craters that can be seen on the surface of the Moon and Mercury can also be found on Earth.

Compared to the Moon we find less craters on Earth, but why? Most craters on Earth have been destroyed over time by wind, rain, ice, and because the crust of the Earth is slowly destroyed by plate tectonics. One of the best preserved craters is Barringer Crater in Arizona, America which is nearly a mile wide! You can take an aerial view of Barringer Crater here. New craters are still being found, you can learn about one in Greenland here.

Meteorites are solid rock-like fragments that have landed on Earth. They can come from asteroids, comets, meteoroids, the Moon or even Mars. Meteorites are extremely interesting to study because they can help scientists understand more about the origins of our Solar System and how the Earth formed.

 
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NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Mars

Mars, commonly referred to as the red planet, has all kinds of fascinating features from volcanoes to polar ice caps, weather and even large canyons.

Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system, can be found on the surface of Mars. Olympus Mons stretches 25 km into the Martian sky (over 2.5x the height of Mount Everest) and spans 624 km in diameter.