Janice VanCleave's Super Science Model
Chapter One
Line Up
Make a Model of the Solar System!
Celestial bodies are natural things in the sky,
such as stars (bodies made of gases that are so
hot they give off light), planets (bodies that
revolve around a sun and shine only by the
light they reflect), and moons (bodies that
revolve around planets and shine only by the
light they reflect). Revolve or orbit means to
move in a curved path around another body.
The curved path one celestial body takes
around another is also called an orbit. A solar
system is a group of celestial bodies that
revolve around a central body that is a star
called a sun.
The bodies that orbit our Sun include
minor planets (small rocky bodies mainly
between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter; also
called asteroids), nine major planets (planets
with diameters larger than Ceres, the largest
asteroid) and their moons, comets (bodies of
dust, gases, and ice that move in an extremely
elongated path), and space debris.
The major planets in order from the Sun are
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, Neptune, a ... read full excerpt from Janice VanCleave's Super Science Models ebook
