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SOLAR SYSTEM
IN A ROLL
A POCKET SOLAR SYSTEM
Ron Thompson
Our Solar System
Our Solar System
A Pocket Solar System
1. Cut a 4 foot piece of 2” wide register tape
2. Write “SUN” at one end and “PLUTO/KUIPER BELT”
on the other end
3. This is the point where “things” get interesting
A Pocket Solar System
1. Fold the strip in half
2. Which Planet do you think is halfway between the
SUN and PLUTO?
3. Hold the strip at arms length with your back facing
the group…what body part is near the fold?
4. Older folks may feel embarrassed but the kids will
giggle !
A Pocket Solar System
URANUS
1. Pronounced: YUR an us
1. Write URANUS on the first fold
2. Are you SURPRISED? Most times, the Planets are
depicted being close together but they certainly
are NOT!
3. Fold the SUN to PLUTO again…(in half)
4. Fold the strip in half again…(in quarters)
A Pocket Solar System
1. At this point, it’s easy to figure where NEPTUNE
goes…between URANUS and PLUTO
2. Which Planet do you think is halfway between
the SUN and URANUS?
3. Is it JUPITER or SATURN?
Our Solar System
A Pocket Solar System
SATURN
1. Fold the SUN to SATURN
2. This next fold is
GIANT JUPITER
A Pocket Solar System
1. Fold the SUN to JUPITER
2. Which do you think is halfway between the SUN
and JUPITER?
3. Is it MARS?
A Pocket Solar System
1. The ASTEROID BELT…write this on the fold.
2. Fold the SUN to the ASTEROID BELT…
3. What Planet falls on this fold?
4. Is it MARS?
5. You guessed right BUT…now we need to get the
last three planets between MARS and the SUN
A Pocket Solar System
1. Fold the SUN to MARS
2. Fold it in half again
3. Write the last three Planets on their respective
lines, from the SUN: (OK to use Initial)
1. MERCURY = M
2. VENUS = V
3. EARTH = E
See next slide
A Pocket Solar System
Use the following chart and write the AU, Astronomical
Unit, next to each Planet
Note the average distance from the SUN to EARTH is 93
million miles or, 1 AU.
The inferior “rock” Planets are less than 1 AU and the
superior “Gas Giants” are more than 1AU
PLUTO is now around 40 AU but circles the SUN
between 30 and 50 AU in its’ 248 year orbit
A Pocket Solar System
A Pocket Solar System
At this scale, our 4 foot SOLAR SYSTEM would be 6
MILES from the next closest STAR, Alpha Centauri, 4.2
Light Years from our SUN or almost 64,000 AU’s.
One LIGHT YEAR is approx. 6,000,000,000,000 miles (Tr.)
Our SUN would be a tiny speck in space…the size of
the period at the end of this sentence.
Our planets wouldn’t even be visible from this distance
Now you know why SPACE is called “SPACE”
SOLAR SYSTEM
IN A ROLL
A POCKET SOLAR SYSTEM
Ron Thompson