Identify the major components of the solar system, i.e., sun, planets and moons SPI 0307.6.1
Links verified 12/26/2014
- An animation of a comet's passage through the solar system - Compared to the planets, most comets have highly elliptical orbits and widely varying orbital speeds. Comet Halley's next passage through the inner solar system will occur in the year 2061.
- Earth, Sun and Moon - interactive lesson from BBC followed by a quiz
- Examine the vast distances between planets in the solar system - This animation simulates a voyage from the sun past all nine planets. In this animation, the apparent speed of the viewer is over 300 times the speed of light.
- Exploring Planets in the Classroom - Hands-on Activities for Science Classes. More than 25 hands-on science activities are provided in classroom-ready pages for both teachers and students for exploring Earth, the planets, geology, and space sciences.
- Field Guide to the Universe - Solar System [this expired page is from the Internet Archive known as the Wayback Machine]
- Learn about the Planets - from KidsAstronomy
- The
NineEight Planets: A Multimedia Tour of the Solar System- One Page Solar System - print the sheet, cut out planets and lay them to scale [most of them anyway]
- Order it up - Measures of size and scale help us understand the magnitude of objects. Play with scales while trying to arrange planets by magnitude of mass, size, temperature, density, distance, gravity or magnetic field. Correctly order the planets and you unscramble a mystery picture! To play, click on the blue link; Play Order it Up: Solar System Edition
- Planetary Orbits - an excellent animation of planetary orbits.
- Planets of the solar system - Click on a planet to get a short bit of information about each one. Caution, relative sizes are not accurate.
- Pluto demoted to dwarf planet
- See Earth from Eight Different Perspectives - a fantastic series of animations showing our dynamic atmosphere, seasonal variation in vegetation, and six others.
- Size Comparison - a sequence of models compares larger and larger objects - great pictures
- Solar System Image Archive - from Windows to the Universe
- Solar System Shuffle - At the bottom of this web page you will find a shuffled solar system deck of cards laid out for you. You will also find a description of each object in the deck. Your job is to match the card with the correct description.
- Space Sense - How much do you know about planets, galaxies and the universe? Play Space Sense and test your knowledge of space trivia. To play, click on the blue link; Space Sense for Kids: Easy, Medium or Hard
- Views of the Solar System - This site presents a vivid multimedia adventure unfolding the splendor of the Sun, planets, moons, comets, asteroids, and more. Discover the latest scientific information, or study the history of space exploration, rocketry, early astronauts, space missions, spacecraft through a vast archive of photographs, scientific facts, text, graphics and videos. Views of the Solar System offers enhanced exploration and educational enjoyment of the solar system and beyond.
- Virtual Solar System by National Geographic - your chance to discover the wonders of our solar system in a spectacular 3-D environment. Take a fly-by tour of the sun and each planet in its orbit, observe close-up views of the planets, extraterrestrial weather patterns, and more.
- Welcome to the Planets - This is a collection of many of the best images from NASA's planetary exploration program.
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