The Earth is a huge and inspiring place
That one day we will explore.
But let's look at our Solar System today
And take a planetary tour!
Buckle up in your seat, and hold on tight
As our rocket begins to rise!
Get your camera ready and your spacesuit on.
You won't believe your eyes!
At our center is the bright, white sun-
A hot surface of 10,000 degrees!
The core gets even hotter than that!
For sure you will beg for a breeze.
The sun is one of billions of stars
We can see in our Milky Way band.
There are more stars in the universe
Than there are Earth's grains of sand!
Mercury is the closest and smallest world
To our hometown star.
Whizzing round the sun in 88 days,
It's faster than the sportiest car!
Being so close to the sun makes it quite hot,
Getting up to 800 degrees.
But because there is no atmosphere,
At night, you would actually freeze!
Venus is known as our sister planet
Because of our similar size.
Seen during dusk and also at dawn
It's the brightest world in our skies.
One Venus day outlasts its year
Because its rotation's so slow.
And heavy gasses that cover the planet
Trap scorching, hot air below.
Earth is next, and we know it well,
With all its diversity.
Its water, air and magnetic field
Lets life thrive abundantly.
Earth's different types of animals and plants
Have blossomed and have grown
Thanks to its position in the solar system
Known as the Goldilocks Zone!
It's not too cold, and it's not too hot,
Which serves life perfectly well.
That makes our planet unique in our space,
Allowing us all to dwell.
Mars is next, rocky and red
And it's where we sent the Rover.
Rolling around over mountains and hills
There's much we hope to discover.
There may have been life there at one time,
As well as running water.
We hope someday to send people to Mars
And extend humanity's borders.
An asteroid belt divides rocky and gaseous
Planets in our system.
Valuable resources orbiting round,
Some companies want to drill 'em!
They hope to mine the rocky soil
For ores rare in Earth's geology.
With all of these we could invent more
and build our technology!
Jupiter is the biggest of all
With gravity incredibly rife.
It's captured at least 79 moons,
Some of which might hold life!
The Big Red Spot is a giant storm
Even bigger than it appears.
It also is extremely old,
Raging 350 years!
Saturn was found in 1610
Which was 400 years ago.
Discovered by an Italian Astronomer
Whose name was Galileo.
Surrounding Saturn are 7 rings
Kept there by gravity's control.
A unique 6 sided storm rages on
At its northern pole.
Uranus is a far out world
And coldest in our collection.
It has its very own set of rings
And spins in a backwards direction.
It actually is tipped and said to roll
Around the sun on its side.
And it is just so far away
It needs a telescope to be spied.
Just like giants Jupiter and Saturn,
Neptune's mostly gas, it's true.
Mainly Helium and Hydrogen,
But Methane makes it blue.
Neptune has the strongest winds
1500 miles per hour!
No other planet has such gales
That wield so much power!
Pluto once was a planet years ago,
But now is called a Dwarf.
To be a planet it must orbit the sun,
Be a sphere and clear out its turf.
Pluto's gravity wasn't strong enough
To clear its orbital path.
This meant it could not be a planet
According to NASA's math.
And that's a snapshot of the Solar System,
Though there's so much more-
Moons and comets and more planet facts!
I encourage you to explore!