Amazing Solar System Projects: You Can Build Yourself

By Delano Lopez and Shawn Braley

Amazing Solar System Projects You Can Build Yourself introduces readers ages 9 and up to the basic elements of the solar system with over 25 hands-on building projects and activities. Readers learn about the sun, the planets and their moons, meteors and comets, and the amazing tools that astronomers and astronauts have used to study the solar system over the years.
Amazing Solar System Projects You Can Build Yourself provides detailed step-by-step instructions and diagrams for creating the projects, which include making a greenhouse to see what happens on Venus and constructing a model of the phases of the moon to demonstrate why the moon has phases. Fascinating facts, anecdotes, biographies, and trivia are interspersed with the fun projects to teach readers all about the solar system.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nomad Press
• Release date: Jan 1, 2008
• ISBN: 9781619301177

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Contents

Solar System Map

Timeline

Introduction

Our Solar System

Chapter 1

The Big Bang and the Birth of Stars

Chapter 2

Meet the Planets

Chapter 3

Earth’s Moon

Chapter 4

Beyond Planets and Stars

Chapter 5

From Ancient Astronomy to Telescopes

Chapter 6

Sending Spacecraft to Space

Chapter 7

Future Space Exploration

Glossary | Metric Conversions

Resources | Essential Questions | Index

You can find a list of URLs on the Resources page. If the QR code doesn’t work, try searching the internet with the Keyword Prompts to find other helpful sources.

solar system

SOLAR SYSTEM MAP

TIMELINE

Introduction

OUR

SOLAR SYSTEM

Have you ever stared up at the night sky? You likely saw a fantastic light show with stars twinkling above and the moon shining like a spotlight. Maybe you wished that you could stand on the moon. Or perhaps you thought how amazing it would be to visit another planet.

Our solar system is made up of planets, moons, and many other types of space objects. If they’re so far away, how do we learn about them? In ancient times, people made up stories to explain how the stars, moon, and sun moved in the sky. The ancient Egyptians told myths about Re, the sun god. He sailed across the sky each morning bringing light to the world. The Japanese saw the sun as the goddess Amaterasu Omikami. The Norse believed that the sun and moon rode in chariots through the sky.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

What is the solar system and how does it impact you?

WORDS TO KNOW

planet: a large body in space that orbits the sun and does not produce its own light. There are eight planets.

solar system: the sun, the eight planets, and their moons, together with smaller bodies. The planets orbit the sun.

civilization: a community of people that is advanced in art, science, and government.

celestial object: a star, planet, moon, or other object in space, such as an asteroid or comet.

astronomer: a person who studies the stars, planets, and other objects in space.

Anasazi: an ancient civilization of the American Southwest.

astronomical: having to do with astronomy or the study of space.

solar eclipse: when the moon passes between the sun and the earth.

astrolabe: a tool used for calculating the altitude of objects in the sky.

probe: a spaceship or other device used to explore outer space.

rover: a slow-moving vehicle used to explore planets.

universe: everything that exists, everywhere.

galaxy: a collection of star systems.

Ancient stargazers had to rely on their eyes to observe the night sky. Some civilizations built structures to better track celestial objects, including the movement of the sun. Maybe you’ve heard of Stonehenge or Chichen Itza.

Many ancient astronomers also kept records of what they saw. For example, the Anasazi civilization of the southwest United States observed the cycles of the sun and the moon. Their observations could have helped them mark the change of the seasons. And ancient Chinese astronomers began keeping records of astronomical events, such as solar eclipses, more than 3,000 years ago!

Much later, people used math and science to explain the stars and the planets. They also designed astronomical tools. The Greeks used astrolabes to figure out the position of the stars. In the 1600s, astronomers in Europe began using telescopes to see objects in the sky more clearly.

Now, teams of scientists, engineers, astronomers, and astronauts from all over the world study the solar system. They gather information about space with advanced tools and machines, including powerful telescopes, fast rockets, space vehicles, computers, probes, and robotic rovers.

DID YOU KNOW?

The word astronomical comes from the word astronomy, which is the study of the solar system and outer space. Astronomical means related to the science of astronomy, but it also means huge, vast, or inconceivably large.

An artist’s rendition of a rover on Mars

credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell University, Maas Digital LLC

WHAT WE’VE LEARNED

Every person you know and every place you have ever been is located within a very small segment of the universe called the solar system. The solar system is massive compared to you, your backyard, or even Earth itself. But the solar system is tiny compared to the size of our galaxy and minuscule compared to the entire universe!

So, what is the solar system? What separates the solar system from the rest of the universe? What makes it a system of connected parts?

WORDS TO KNOW

gravity: a force that pulls all matter together, including planets, moons, and stars.

asteroid: a small rocky object orbiting the sun. Asteroids are too small to