INGLÉS III – TASK 3

(SUMMARY OF INTERESTING SCIENCE FACTS)

The solar system

INTRODUCTION

A solar system is a star and all of the objects that travel around it—planets, moons,
asteroids, comets and meteoroids. Most stars host their own planets, so there are
likely tens of billions of other solar systems in the Milky Way galaxy alone. Solar
systems can also have more than one star. These are called binary star systems if there
are two stars, or multi-star systems if there are three or more stars.

The solar system we call home is located in an outer spiral arm of the vast Milky Way
galaxy.

Nasa Science

It consists of the Sun (our star) and everything that orbits around it. This includes the
eight planets and their natural satellites (such as our moon), dwarf planets and their
satellites, as well as asteroids, comets and countless particles of smaller debris.

LISTENING COMPREHENSION:

Watch the videoclip from National Geographic: The Solar System 101

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=libKVRa01L8

READING COMPREHENSION

Size and Distance

Our solar system extends much farther than the eight planets that orbit the Sun. The
solar system also includes the Kuiper Belt that lies past Neptune's orbit. This is a
sparsely occupied ring of icy bodies, almost all smaller than the most popular Kuiper
Belt Object, dwarf planet Pluto.

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(SUMMARY OF INTERESTING SCIENCE FACTS)

And beyond the fringes of the Kuiper belt is the Oort Cloud. This giant spherical shell
surrounds our solar system. It has never been directly observed, but its existence is
predicted based on mathematical models and observations of comets that likely
originate there.

The Oort Cloud is made of icy pieces of space debris, orbiting our Sun as far as 1.6 light
years away. This shell of material is thick, extending from 5,000 astronomical units to
100,000 astronomical units. One astronomical unit (or AU) is the distance from the Sun
to Earth, or about 93 million miles (150 million kilometres). The Oort Cloud is the
boundary of the Sun's gravitational influence, where orbiting objects can turn around
and return closer to our Sun.

The Sun's heliosphere doesn't extend quite as far. The heliosphere is the bubble
created by the solar wind—a stream of electrically charged gas blowing outward from
the Sun in all directions. The boundary where the solar wind is abruptly slowed by
pressure from interstellar gases is called the termination shock. This edge occurs
between 80-100 astronomical units.

Two NASA spacecraft, launched in 1977, have crossed the termination shock: Voyager
1 in 2004 and Voyager 2 in 2007. But it will be many thousands of years before the two
Voyagers exit the Oort Cloud.

Formation

Our solar system formed about 4.5 billion years ago from a dense cloud of interstellar
gas and dust. The cloud collapsed, possibly due to the shockwave of a nearby
exploding star, called a supernova. When this dust cloud collapsed, it formed a solar
nebula—a spinning, swirling disk of material.

At the centre, gravity pulled more and more material in. Eventually the pressure in the
core was so great that hydrogen atoms began to combine and form helium, releasing a
tremendous amount of energy. With that, our Sun was born, and it eventually
amassed more than 99 percent of the available matter.

Matter farther out in the disk was also clumping together. These clumps smashed into
one another, forming larger and larger objects. Some of them grew big enough for
their gravity to shape them into spheres, becoming planets, dwarf planets and large
moons. In other cases, planets did not form: the asteroid belt is made of bits and
pieces of the early solar system that could never quite come together into a planet.
Other smaller leftover pieces became asteroids, comets, meteoroids, and small,
irregular moons.

Structure

The order and arrangement of the planets and other bodies in our solar system is due
to the way the solar system formed. Nearest the Sun, only rocky material could

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withstand the heat when the solar system was young. For this reason, the first four
planets—Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars—are terrestrial planets. They're small with
solid, rocky surfaces.

Meanwhile, materials we are used to seeing as ice, liquid or gas settled in the outer
regions of the young solar system. Gravity pulled these materials together, and that is
where we find gas giants Jupiter and Saturn and ice giants Uranus and Neptune.

Potential for Life

Our solar system is the only place we know that harbours life, but the farther we
explore the more we find potential for life in other places. Both Jupiter’s moon Europa
and Saturn’s moon Enceladus have global saltwater oceans under thick, icy shells.

Moons

There are more than 150 known moons in our solar system and several more awaiting
confirmations of discovery. Of the eight planets, Mercury and Venus are the only ones
with no moons. The giant planets grab the most moons. Jupiter and Saturn have long
led our solar system’s moon counts. In some ways, the swarms of moons around these
worlds resemble mini versions of our solar system. Pluto, smaller than our own moon,
has five moons in its orbit, including the Charon, a moon so large it makes Pluto
wobble. Even tiny asteroids can have moons. In 2017, scientists found asteroid 3122
Florence had two tiny moons.

What is a Planet?

This seemingly simple question doesn't have a simple answer. Everyone knows that
Earth, Mars and Jupiter are planets. At least, they are for now. Both Pluto and Ceres
were once considered planets until new discoveries triggered scientific debate about
how to best describe them—a vigorous debate that continues to this day. The most
recent definition of a planet was adopted by the International Astronomical Union in
2006. It says a planet must do three things:

1. It must orbit a star (in our cosmic neighbourhood, the Sun).

Discussion—and debate—will continue as our view of the cosmos continues to

Adapted from: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/our-solar-system/in-depth/

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1. COMPREHENSION:

Draw a well organised mind map with all the information you think it’s useful to help
understand our solar system. Keep in mind a primary student from Year 4.

You can use Canva to find a mind map template:

Any other resource is welcome too

2. WRITING TASK

Using your graph/mind map, give a brief explanation of the solar system comprising all
the most important different aspects cited in the video and the text. Be careful to
elaborate a coherent and clear piece of writing (200 words).