Common Core State Standard

CT Science Standards: 2.1, 3.1, 4.1 5.3

Astronomy
Common Core Standards: RI (Reading Standards for informational text): grades 3-5 (1,2,3,5,7) and RF (Reading Standards for Foundational Skills): grades 2-5 (4)

Solar System Stew

Written by Noreen Grice, Travelers Science Dome at the Gengras Planetarium
Imagine you are a chef in a fancy restaurant. Each day you create a special menu of meals that will be served to hungry patrons. You have to consider all of the ingredients you will
need to make those dishes and how those ingredients will be combined to assemble your culinary masterpieces. Now imagine that instead of working in a restaurant, you are a solar
system chef. It’s your job to combine all the things needed for our solar system. What’s on your ingredient list?
Let’s begin with larger objects. The most massive part of the solar system is our Sun. The Sun is considered a small star by comparison with some of the other stars in our galaxy,
but it’s large compared to things in our solar system. For example, you could fit over a million Earths inside the Sun. Let’s place the Sun in the center of the solar system and add all
other ingredients.
On our list, we’ll also need to include:
• Eight or nine planets
• Dozens of moons
• Thousands of objects smaller than many moons, that people call dwarf planets
• Thousands of asteroids (smaller than dwarf planets)
• A few frozen comets
Now, let’s see how everything fits together on our dinner plate.
The planets in our solar system all orbit the Sun. The closest planets are small rocky objects; so we’ve named them Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. The next four planets are a lot
larger and are made mostly of gases. We call these the gas giants; you know them as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. And there’s little Pluto, which
some people call a planet and other people call a dwarf planet.
Between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter is a region of rocky objects called asteroids. Some asteroids are round, but most are irregularly shaped
like potatoes or boulders.
A second region of objects, called the Kuiper Belt, begins near Pluto’s distance from the Sun. Like asteroids, Kuiper Belt objects orbit the Sun,
but their great distances from the Sun make them especially cold and icy.
Comets are smaller icy objects that originate in the outer solar system. Some come from the Kuiper Belt, while others originate from a very
large region called the Oort cloud, which surrounds our solar system. When a comet enters the inner part of the solar system, it usually heads
toward the Sun. Then, depending upon the angle of approach, the comet may leave the solar system or remain as a solar system object. That’s
what happened to Halley’s Comet; it orbits between Neptune and the Sun and takes about 76 years to complete one trip.
And now our dinner plate is complete, with all the amazing ingredients that make a solar system stew. Bon appetit!

Did You Know

Before there were cell phones, tablets and computers, and before there was
Fun Things to Do
When I was growing up, we learned about the planets in our solar
the internet or even electricity, people looked up at the night sky and made system in school, through library books, and on television shows. Some-
important discoveries. Ancient sky watchers noticed that some stars seem to times people invented songs to help students remember things in
change their position slightly from night to night. These special stars were science class. One song used the words, “my very educated mother
just served us nine pizza pies.” Can you guess the significance of this
called “wandering stars.” Nowadays we call them planets.
song? Each letter represents the name of a planet in order from the
sun:
If you know where to look, you might be able to see Mercury, Venus, Mars, My – Mercury
Jupiter or Saturn in the night (and sometimes twilight day) sky. Mobile apps, Very – Venus
online astronomy sites, astronomy-related magazines and even annual publi- Educated – Earth
cations like the Old Farmer’s Almanac will tell you where to look. Go outside Mother – Mars
on the next clear night and see which planet you can find. Just – Jupiter
Served- Saturn
Visit the New Children’s Museum in West Hartford! Us – Uranus
• Learn which planets are currently visible in the Traveler’s Science Dome. Nine – Neptune
Pizza Pies - Pluto

Your challenge is to make up a new song to help your classmates and

other students learn about the solar system. You might consider explor-
ing the sizes, distances or compositions of the planets. Will you write a
ballad or rap? Country song or folk song? Plan a space concert in your
classroom and have fun while you learn about the solar system!

Find it in the News!

Look through this week’s Hartford Courant to find:
• Any articles on what you can see in the night sky
• Daily sunset time so you can plan your evening
observations