This book was created and published on StoryJumper™

©2014 StoryJumper, Inc.   All rights reserved.

Publish your own children's book: 

www.storyjumper.com

On clear nights with a telescope, you can 

observe distant objects in the night sky. 

You can see the moon, stars, and even 

planets!

To get the best view of these celestial objects, 

it is better to go out in rural areas where light 

pollution is at it's lowest. If you are in the city, 

you can still view them, but not as clearly.

Now lets look up to night sky!

Before we visit each planet, we must look at 

the map of the Solar System.

The Solar System is a collection of the eight 

major planets, the planets moons, comets, and 

asteroids. These objects then orbit, or circle,  

around a central star - our Sun.

Many people aren't aware that the sun is 

actually a star! 

It is so massive that it takes up most of the 

mass in our solar system. If you wanted to see 

how big it is compared to Earth, all you have 

to do is get a nickle and place it against the 

front door. Now that is huge!

It is so hot, it is about 10,000 °F. All this 

energy is needed in order for life to exist here 

on Earth.

As we look at the planets, which are celestial 

bodies that orbit around the sun, we will break 

them down into two categories: terrestrial 

planets, and gas giants.

The first four planets in the solar system are 

terrestrial planets. This means that they 

have solid rocky surfaces.

Our first, and smallest planet, is Mercury.

A year on Mercury would take about 59 days 

on Earth. Meaning if you were 8 years old on 

Earth, you would be about 34 years old. 

Mercury experiences extreme temperature 

changes as it faces near the sun. The side 

facing the sun is about 800°F, while the darker 

side is about -290°F.

Venus, Earth's wacky twin, is the second 

planet in the Solar System. It is wacky in that 

it is the only planet that spins backwards, 

meaning the sun rises from the west, and sets 

in the east.

It is similar to Earth in size, but it takes 243 

Earth days to orbit around the sun. Meaning 

that you were 8, you would be about 13 years 

old.

The surface of Venus is covered with craters 

and volcanoes, and it's temperature is about 

900°F.

The third planet, Earth, is our home planet. It 

is covered with oceans, valleys, canyons, and 

other land forms. So far it is the only planet 

that contains life as we know. 

It contains one natural satellite, or, moon 

that orbits around the Earth. 

It takes the Earth 365 days to orbit around the 

sun.

Mars, also known as the rusty planet, is our 

fourth planet. It is called the rusty planet due 

to the red hue the planet has from the iron 

oxide that covers the planet. It also has two 

polar icecaps. This leads to scientist believing 

that the planet once contained life.

It contains two moons, they are called Phobos 

and Deimos.

It takes 687 Earth days to orbit around the 

Sun.

Between Mars and Jupiter, there lays the 

asteroid belt. Asteroids are small rocky bodies 

that orbit around. Sometimes they pass by the 

Earth, even closer than the moon is.

The next four, and final planets, are known as 

Gas Giants. They are called this because they 

are mostly made up of different gases, and are 

larger that terrestrial planets.

You've previewed 19 of 30 pages.

To read more: