Our Earth and Solar System

THE EARTH IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM
CELESTIAL BODIES
• The sun, the moon and all those

objects shining in the night sky are
celestial bodies.
(Asteroids, Meteors, etc.)
• These celestial bodies are called
stars.
• The sun is also a star.
CONSTELLATIO N
Various patterns formed by different groups of stars. These
are referred to as constellations • Ursa Major or Big Bear is
one such constellation.
• One of the most easily recognizable constellation - small
bear or Saptarishi (Sapta-seven, rishi-sages).
• It is a group of seven stars that forms a part of the large
Ursa Major Constellation.
‘POLE STAR’ & ‘SUN’
‘POLE STAR’
The North star indicates the north direction. It is also
called the Pole Star.
• It always remains in the same position in the sky. We
can locate the position of the Pole Star with the help of the
Saptarishi.
• ‘Sol’ in Roman mythology is the ‘Sungod’.
• ‘Solar’ means ‘related to the sun’.
SUN
• Centre of the solar system.
• It is huge and made up of extremely hot gases.
• 150 million km away from the earth.
PLANETS
There are eight planets in our solar system. In
order of their distance from the sun, they are:
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus and Neptune.
All the eight planets of the solar system move
around the sun in fixed paths. These paths are
elongated. They are called orbits.
Venus is considered as ‘Earth’s-twin’ because
its size and shape are very much similar to
that of the earth
An easy way to memorize the name of the
planets in order of their distance from the sun is:
My Very Efficient Mother Just Served Us Nuts
The earth is the third nearest planet to the sun.

In size, it is the fifth largest planet.
It is slightly flattened at the poles.
That is why, its shape is described as a Geoids.
Geoids means an earth-like shape.
PLANETS
• The earth is a planet. It gets all its heat and light from the
sun.
• Do not have their own light and heat.
• Till recently (August 2006), Pluto was also considered a
planet.
• International Astronomical Union decided that Pluto like
other celestial objects (Ceres, 2003 UB313) discovered in
recent past may be called ‘dwarf planets.”
• Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus have rings around them. These
are belts of small debris.

• The word ‘planet’ comes from the Greek word “Planetai”
which means ‘wanderers’.
• Venus is considered as ‘Earth’s-twin’
S.No. INNER PLANETS OUTER PLANETS
1 They are closer to the Sun. They are far away from the Sun.
2 They are small. They are very large.
3 They take a short time to They take a long time to complete

complete one revolution. one revolution.
4 They are mostly made up of They are mostly made up of gases

rocks and are called terrestrial and are called gas giants.
planets.
5 Examples: Mercury, Venus, Examples: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,

Earth, Mars Neptune
S. ONE ORBIT NUMBER OF
NO PLANET AROUND SUN ONE SPIN ON AXIS MOONS
1 MERCURY 88 days 59 days
2 VENUS 255 days 243 days
3 EARTH 365 days 1 day 1
4 MARS MARS 687 days 1 day 2
5 JUPITER 11 years, 11 months 9 hrs. 56 min 16
6 SATURN 29 years, 5months 10 hrs. 40min 18
7 URANUS 84 years 17 hrs 14 min 17
8 NEPTUNE 164 years 16 hrs 7min 8

MOON
•Our earth has only one satellite, that is, the moon.
•Its diametre is only one-quarter that of the earth.
•It appears so big because it is nearer to our planet
than other celestial bodies.
•It is about 3,84,400 km away from us.
•Now you can compare the distance of the earth
from the sun and that from the moon.
•The moon moves around the earth in about 27 days.
•It takes exactly the same time to complete one spin.
•As a result, only one side of the moon is visible to us
on the earth.
• Full moon night or Poornima
• New moon night or Amavasya
• Very bright light of the sun
does not allow us to see all the
bright objects of the night sky
ASTEROIDS
• Numerous tiny bodies move around the sun.
• Found between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter
• Scientists are of the view that asteroids are parts of a
planet which exploded many years back.

METEOROIDS
• The small pieces of rocks which move around the sun
• Sometimes come near the earth and tend to drop upon it.
• During this process due to friction with the air they get heated
up and burn. It causes a flash of light.

• Sometimes, a meteor without being completely burnt, falls on
the earth and creates a hollow.
MILKY WAY GALAXY
• A galaxy is a huge system of billions of stars, and clouds of dust and
gases.
• There are millions of such galaxies that make the Universe.
• Our solar system is a part of this galaxy.
• In ancient, it was imagined to be a river of light flowing in the
sky. Thus, it was named Akash Ganga.
A Satellite is a celestial body that moves around the planets
in the same way as the planets move around the sun.
A Human-made Satellite is an artificial body.
It is designed by scientists to gather information about the
universe or for communication.
It is carried by a rocket and placed in the orbit around the
earth.
Some of the Indian satellites in space are INSAT, IRS, EDUSAT,
etc.
The sun is commonly
known as Soorya or Sooraj
in Hindi, Find out its name
in different languages of
our country. Take help of
your friends, Parents and
neighbours.

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THE EARTH IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM

• The sun, the moon and all those

The earth is the third nearest planet to the sun.

are belts of small debris.

2 They are small. They are very large.

3 They take a short time to They take a long time to complete

4 They are mostly made up of They are mostly made up of gases

5 Examples: Mercury, Venus, Examples: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,

1 MERCURY 88 days 59 days

2 VENUS 255 days 243 days

3 EARTH 365 days 1 day 1

4 MARS MARS 687 days 1 day 2

5 JUPITER 11 years, 11 months 9 hrs. 56 min 16

6 SATURN 29 years, 5months 10 hrs. 40min 18

7 URANUS 84 years 17 hrs 14 min 17

8 NEPTUNE 164 years 16 hrs 7min 8

planet which exploded many years back.

up and burn. It causes a flash of light.

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