Space - KS2

From up here on the International Space Station I get a great view of Earth.

Our planet is just the right distance from the Sun for life to exist.

We call it a Goldilocks planet because the Earth’s temperature, like the porridge in the Goldilocks fairy tale, is not too hot and not too cold.

This is because the Earth has an atmosphere which holds onto the Sun’s warmth whilst also protecting us from the Sun’s rays.

But what’s it like on other planets?

There are eight planets in our solar system. The closest one to the sun is Mercury, then it’s Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

The eight planets travel around the Sun at different speeds. These lines show us the paths they take which we call orbits.

On a clear night from Earth we can sometimes see the five planets which are closest to us - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

Using a powerful telescope can also see Uranus and Neptune but to get an even clearer view we send telescopes into space, like this one - the Hubble space telescope.

We have also sent probes into space.

Probes are space crafts with cameras to send images back to Earth. This allows us to compare the planets in even more detail.

Mercury and Venus are both rocky planets. Mercury is closest to the Sun, so it gets very hot during the day. But it has a very thin atmosphere which does not hold on to any heat, so it gets very cold at night in the shade.

Venus, on the other hand, has a thick atmosphere which holds onto heat from the Sun. So, even though Mercury is closer to the Sun, Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system.

Mars has a hard, rocky surface with lots of iron in the soil which rusts, making the surface and atmosphere look red. This is why we call Mars, the Red Planet.

Mars is most like Earth.

Both have valleys and mountains, weather and seasons, ice caps and volcanoes.

Robotic vehicles called rovers have been sent to Mars to collect information. The Perseverance rover is up there now, studying the Martian climate and weather.

It tests technologies that could help humans survive on Mars.

The two largest planets are Jupiter and Saturn.

They are called Gas Giants as they don't have hard surfaces, but instead have swirling gases above a solid core.

On the surface of Jupiter there is a huge red spot twice as wide as planet Earth.

When the Voyager 1 probe flew past Jupiter, the images it sent back showed that this Great Red Spot is a huge storm which has been raging for over three hundred years.

Saturn is best known for its rings, which are made of chunks of ice and rock.

Uranus and Neptune are the furthest planets from the Sun. They are known as the Ice Giants.

Uranus is the coldest planet in the Solar System. Unlike the other planets, Uranus spins on its side.

Neptune is the furthest planet from the Sun, thirty times further than Earth. Its orbit is so huge that one year on Neptune takes almost 'one hundred and sixty five' Earth years.

The James Webb space telescope is currently one million miles from Earth. It is being used to explore the beginning of the Universe, study how stars are born, and look for Goldilocks planets in other solar systems.