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TEACHER RESOURCE PLANETARIUM STARDOME OBSERVATORY & TIES ON... TIVI FACTS, RESOURCES AND AC E R A S T E N WHY PLA T DIFFEREN SCIEN CONTE CE NT/ CURRIC ULUM L ASTRON INK O MIC PHYSIC AL SYSTEMS, AL IN AND PH QUIRY YS CONCE ICS PTS. ht planets which have Our Solar System has eig h other. s very different from eac environmental condition like; are s told what the planet Often students are just s. ion dit con ent fer ses the dif here we explore what cau tors to discuss: There are four main fac 1. COMPOSITION rocky planets. of planets; gas planets and There are two main types und). distinct surface (the gro • Rocky planets have a e no surface/ hav so entirely of gases • Gas planets are made ead have to inst uld wo but m the ground. You can’t land on the centre of into fall ise you would float in the clouds otherw re. ssu pre the by d the planet and be crushe and the inner planets are rocky the all tem Sys ar • In our Sol t always the case. isn’ t tha but … nts gia outer planets are gas even closer giants have been found In other star systems gas ry is to ours. to their star than Mercu SUN/STAR 2. DISTANCE FROM THE than planets get more heat and light • Planets closer to the Sun good analogy A ter. hot , so tend to be farther away from the Sun to it you can t nex t righ nd sta you when is standing by a heater; walk away you her fart you up but the feel its heat and it warms . warmth the less you can feel the hot and not Zone, where it is not too cks dilo Gol • Earth is in the liquid water , tell er. As far as we can too cold to have liquid wat e a Goldilocks hav also can rs t. Other sta is required for life to exis what the on the star will depend Zone, but its distance from star is like. Solar System comparisons. Credit: NASA There are eight planets orbiting our star, the Sun. Other stars can have planets too - more than 2000 planets have been discovered orbiting other stars! 3. SIZE nt gravity levels. sizes and so have differe Planets come in different Mars you weigh th so has less gravity. On • Mars is smaller than Ear nets are also pla r alle Sm to carry more. less and would be able y not be enough ma re the as e, her osp less likely to have an atm to the surface. gravity to hold the gases times more Jupiter you would feel 2.6 • If you could stand on und. In other aro k wal to e ggl uld stru gravity than Earth, so wo iter so we Jup n tha nets much larger star systems there are pla would be crushed flat! 4. ATMOSPHERE m, a planet and keep it war Atmospheres can insulate Venus is y wh is s Thi t. nke bla a like being wrapped in y n though it is farther awa hotter than Mercury, eve from the sun. es. may not have atmospher • Rocky planets may or e is so thin her osp atm rs’s (Ma ner They can be thin t would just feel like a ligh that cyclone force winds ch mu as has e ’s atmospher breeze) or thicker (Venus . us!) sh cru uld wo it – er pressure as 1km under wat osphere by default. • Gas planets have an atm more pressure and heat the el The deeper you trav there would be. als, de from different chemic • Atmospheres can be ma even if net pla a on e ath bre to so we may not be able it has an atmosphere. Check out this other resource... Build Your Own Solar System: http://janus.astro.umd.edu/orbits/ssbuild.html How would What the conditions on are some other planets affect things that make people? What sort of the planets things would we need to different from bring with us to keep each other? us alive on other How does the distance from the Sun affect a planet? What would happen planets? if Earth were closer or farther from DISCUSSION away the Sun? POINTS STARDOME.ORG.NZ 09 624 1246 ACTIVITY PLANETARIUM STARDOME OBSERVATORY & T E N A L P Y MEET M Objective... s fferent condition what causes di te ra st g on m tin ea de To stem, by cr in our Solar Sy on the planets te planet. ra cu ac ifically their own scient You’ll Need... worksheet Meet My Planet Craft supplies (optional) Internet access Instructions... characteristics ents select the ud st y, all du vi di the Meet My In groups or in udents can use st g in nn gi ch the Be . ents can resear of their planet le advanced stud hi w t, ee sh rk Planet wo e detail. eir planet in mor t conditions of th their planet; wha interpretation of ts e tis th ar te an ra te co de Students crea can be used to These pictures star system! w ne n ow does it look like? ur yo d even make ul co u Yo . om classro ss and explain planet to the cla r ei th t en es pr Students can r planet. like to visit thei what it would be Example... ROOM 19’S SOLAR SYSTEM ZOE ’S PL ANE T ANET PIO’S PL JOE’S YEE’S PL ANET PLANET COLD! AHU’S PLAN ET DEVS PL ANET HOT! send it to us. d an ity tiv ac ur yo of o ot ph a ke Ta ardome.org.nz We’d love to see it! education@st STARDOME.ORG.NZ 09 624 1246 MEET MY PLANET Rock planets are like Earth, with ROCK SUPER EARTH Bigger than Earth. You would feel very heavy on this planet. It would be hard to walk around… and if it’s really big you might be crushed against the ground! STARDOME.ORG.NZ 09 624 1246 FAR AWAY Planets farther away would be cold; water would all be ice. THICK AIR / MEDIUM AIR / ATMOSPHERE ATMOSPHERE Venus has a thick Like on Earth. If it’s atmosphere. The the right kind of air, thick it then there is enough air is so would crush you! air for people to It would also help breathe properly… keep the planet and also get strong much warmer than wind and storms. a planet without an It also keeps the atmosphere. planet warmer than a planet without an atmosphere. EARTH SIZE Similar to Earth; you can move around normally. a proper surface or ground. SMALL About the size of Mars. You would feel light and strong on this planet. THIN AIR / ATMOSPHERE Mars has a thin atmosphere. There is wind, but even very fast winds would feel soft like a breeze. It would also keep the planet a little bit warmer than a planet without an atmosphere. GOLDILOCKS ZONE CLOSE Not too hot and not to These planets would be cold. A planet with an hotter than here on earth; atmosphere here would water would boil away. have liquid water, like rivers Planets without atmospheres and rain. This is a good would be hot on the side place for life. facing the sun and cold on the side facing away. NO AIR / ATMOSPHERE Tiny planets are too small to have an atmosphere. Without an atmosphere you cannot breathe. You also cannot fly in a plane, because planes need air to fly. TINY SUPERGIANT About the size Some gas planets can get so of the Moon. You big they are almost the size of would feel so light stars! These planets would have sh on this planet you lots of gravity and would squi . would have trouble you if you could stand on them walking! FAR AWAY These planets would be cold; definitely too cold for people to go outside. . They so always have an atmosphere Gas planets are made of gas, ms. have lots of wind and big stor es, which make them different Hydrogen = red Ammonia = white Methane = blue CLOSE A gas planet close to a star could heat up so much it would have clouds of hot iron! Not a pleasant place to be at all. or ice orbiting around them. ns and other small bits of rock e moons. Planets often have many moo over 60 moons, including 4 larg e moons it can have. Jupiter has The bigger the planet the mor look like the pretty rings we see. and ice orbiting it, so much they Saturn has lots of little rocks GOLDILOCKS ZONE These planets would similar to Jupiter, but they might have a big moon that could be like Earth. gass They can be made of different colours. Some examples are: GIANT Gas planets are always big. But that doesn’t mean they have lots of gravity. You would be almost the same weight on Saturn as you are on Earth. re isn’t a ground to walk on. Gas planets are like Jupiter. The you floating in the clouds so that Instead, you would have to stay the planet and be crushed! wouldn’t fall into the middle of GAS WORK SHEET CO M P O S I T I O N SIZE AT M O S P H E R E D I STA N C E MOONS + SAT E L L I T E S