Solar System Overview

At this point in the class, we are beginning to shift our perspective. Rather than view planets and stars as “objects in our sky,” we are going to start to think of them as real physical places - places that can be visited, stood upon, and explored. This is a very exciting way to view the universe. Watch the video Shifting Perspective on the Night Sky to see what I mean.
A fun, free program that you may enjoy using during this portion of our class is Celestia. This program allows you to move through space and explore planets and other star systems up close. Watch this brief Introduction to Celestia to see the basic features of the program.
Explore 7.1 Overview of Our Planetary System to gain an understanding of the composition and diversity of our solar system, including the Sun, planets, dwarf planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and meteorites.
Watch Introduction to Gas Retention to explore why planets in our solar system have such different sizes.
A common project in grade school science classrooms is to create a “scale model” of the solar system. These models often focus on making models of the planets that are scaled to the correct size (so that you can see just how big Jupiter is, for example), but we rarely get to see our models of the solar system scaled to the proper distances (which are enormous). One of my favorite online scale models is a simple website called If the Moon Were Only 1 Pixel. Check out the website and scroll through the page to see our entire solar system - scaled both for planet size and distance. As you scroll, notice the planet symbols that appear at the top of the screen, which allow you to zoom directly to the various planets.