Lesson · Grade 6 · Science
Where our solar system sits in the Milky Way
- Grade 6
- Science
- 1 min 19 s
- British Columbia
- BC6-SC-18
A labelled top-down drawing of the Milky Way builds up step by step: its stars, gas and dust, spiral arms and central bulge, its width of about 100 000 light-years, and the Sun in the Orion Arm about halfway out, about 26 000 light-years from the centre. A zoom-in shows that the planets travel with the Sun, and then the whole solar system sweeps once around the centre, kept on its path by gravity, with one trip taking about 230 million years.
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In one sentence
The question this lesson answers
Where in space is our solar system?
Our solar system is inside a huge galaxy called the Milky Way.
Transcript
What the lesson says
Where in space is our solar system?
Our solar system is inside a huge galaxy called the Milky Way.
It holds hundreds of billions of stars, along with clouds of gas and dust.
Seen from above, it would look like a spiral with long, curved arms.
It is about 100,000 light-years across.
One light-year is how far light travels in one year.
At its centre is a bright bulge, crowded with stars.
Our Sun sits in a small arm called the Orion Arm, about halfway out from the centre.
That is about 26,000 light-years from the centre.
The Sun's planets, including Earth, travel along with it.
Together, they move in a giant orbit around the centre of the galaxy.
The pull of the galaxy's gravity keeps the solar system on this path.
One trip around the centre takes about 230 million years.
So the Sun and its planets travel together around the centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way.
Curriculum
Where this fits
- British Columbia, Grade 6
Science, Earth science: the position, motion, and components of our solar system in our galaxyBC6-SC-18
Previous: Our Solar System: The Sun and Everything That Orbits ItNext: What Causes the Northern Lights?
The outcomes and strands follow the British Columbia curriculum.
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