Lesson · Grade 6 · Science
Our Solar System: The Sun and Everything That Orbits It
- Grade 6
- Science
- 1 min 14 s
- British Columbia
- BC6-SC-17
A labelled diagram builds up piece by piece: the Sun (a star), the eight planets on their orbits split into small rocky planets and giants of gas and ice, then moons, the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, Pluto as a dwarf planet, a comet growing a tail near the Sun, and a meteor burning up in Earth's air. The planets then move along their orbits to show how the Sun's gravity keeps everything travelling around it, and the video ends on the recap that our solar system is the Sun and everything that orbits it.
Concept: Our solar system: the Sun, planets, moons, asteroids and comets
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In one sentence
The question this lesson answers
What is in our solar system?
At the centre is the Sun, which is a star.
Transcript
What the lesson says
What is in our solar system?
At the centre is the Sun, which is a star.
Eight planets travel around the Sun in paths called orbits.
This picture is not to scale, because the real distances are far bigger.
Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are small, rocky planets.
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are giant planets made mostly of gas and ice.
Many planets have moons, like the Moon that orbits Earth.
Asteroids are rocky chunks, and most orbit in a belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Dwarf planets, like Pluto, are round but smaller than the planets.
Comets are balls of ice and dust that grow long tails near the Sun.
A meteor is the streak of light when a small space rock burns up in Earth's air.
The Sun's gravity keeps the planets, asteroids and comets in their orbits.
Our solar system is the Sun and everything that orbits it.
Curriculum
Where this fits
- British Columbia, Grade 6
Science, Earth science: the position, motion, and components of our solar system in our galaxyBC6-SC-17
Previous: How Old Is the Universe? The Big BangNext: Where our solar system sits in the Milky Way
The outcomes and strands follow the British Columbia curriculum.
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