Solar System

We will learn about the family of solar system.

We see the Sun in the sky during the day. The Sun is the brightest object in the sky. It is made up of very hot gases. It contains no solid materials. The Sun is the closest star to Earth, although it is too far away from us. It is very important for all the creatures. No life is possible without it. The Sun shines all the time. The Sun is the main source of energy for all living things in the world.

What is the solar system?

The Sun and its nine planets along with their moons make up a family called the solar system.

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are the nine planets of our solar system. They move in their orbits around the Sun. The orbits of the most planets are almost circular. These planets are far away from each other. So, they cannot strike against each other. Many planets have their own moons. The largest planet in our solar system is Jupiter. It is followed by Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Earth, Venus, Mars, Pluto and Mercury. Jupiter is so big that all the other planets could fit inside it. Mercury is the nearest planet to the Sun. No planet has its own light.

We see many stars twinkling in the sky at night. All stars are fixed at their places. Each one is a ball of hot, glowing gas. They have their own light. Some of them are very big, even bigger than the Sun. They are farther away than the Sun so, they look smaller than the Sun. We can see the stars in different groups at times. Many people imagine that different groups of stars together make different shapes in the sky. These imaginary shapes are called constellations. They are named after ancient people or animals. Constellations look like different animals and men.

The moon is a big ball of rock. A thin layer of dust covers its surface. Moon is smaller than the Earth and it moves around the Earth. No life has been found on moon so far. Although it is nearly 400,000 kilometers away from us and it is our nearest neighbour in space.

We see the moon in different shapes on different days but it has a fixed round shape. The moon has no light of its own. It gets light from the Sun. Different parts of the moon get sunlight at different times. We can see only the lighted part of it. So, we see the moon in different shapes. Sometimes the moon comes between the Sun and the Earth. The side of the moon facing us is unable to receive the sunlight. We do not see the moon when it is between the Sun and the Earth. This is known as full moon. After a few days, the moon appears partly but less than one-half. This is known as crescent moon. Again after a few days, one-half of the moon appears. This is known as half moon. When the moon appears to be more than one-half but not full. This is known as gibbous moon. When the moon appears completely, this is known as full moon.

The moon needs about 28 days to complete one orbit of the Earth.

Our Earth

Rotation and Revolution of the Earth

Solar System

Third Grade

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