The Solar System: Our Closest Neighbors in Space
At the center of the Solar
System is the Sun. The Sun is a star,
just like many of the stars you see at
night when you look up at the sky. It
looks so bright during the day
because it is much closer to Earth
than the other stars.
The first planet is Mercury.
Mercury is the closest planet to the
Sun and the smallest planet in our
Solar System. It is covered in craters.
The side that faces the Sun is very
hot, but the side that faces away
from the Sun is freezing.
The second planet is Venus. It
is the hottest planet in the Solar
System because of its thick and heavy
atmosphere. It is often called Earth’s
sister planet because they are about
the same size.
The third planet is Earth. The
planet we live on is very special
because it receives the perfect
amount of light, heat, and energy
from the Sun for life to exist. The
Moon orbits Earth, and has lots of
dusty craters and dark, smooth areas
called maria.
The fourth planet is Mars, also
called the “Red Planet” because of
the red, rusty dust that covers its
surface. We have sent many rovers,
which are special robots designed to
do science experiments, to study the
surface of Mars.
In between Mars and the next
planet is the Asteroid Belt, where
many large rocks called asteroids
orbit the Sun. Asteroids can be as big
as 300 miles across or as small as a
speck of dust.
The fifth planet is Jupiter.
Jupiter is the biggest planet in our
Solar System. It is covered in storms.
The biggest storm, called the Great
Red Spot, has been raging for 400
years!
The sixth planet, Saturn, is
famous for its beautiful rings. These
rings are made up of small pieces of
rock, dust, and ice. Saturn also has 82
moons, which is more than any other
planet in the Solar System.
The seventh planet is Uranus.
It is the coldest planet in the Solar
System. It also has a beautiful ring.
Scientists think a large asteroid
crashed into Uranus a long time ago
and tipped it on its side!
The eighth planet is Neptune.
Neptune has faster winds than any
other planet. It is almost 3 billion
miles away from the Sun.
Our Solar System is home to
one star, eight planets, hundreds of
moons, and countless asteroids.
