OUR EARTH AND OUR SOLAR SYSTEM

Introduction:

In a clear night sky, when we look up from terrace, courtyard or open ground, we can see the sky with full of stars.Some stars twinkle and some do not.Some of them seems to be big and some others appears to be small & faint. The stars are very far away from the earth. The sun and the moon both are comparatively to other stars close to the earth so we can see them clearly.We can see the round shape of the sun and the moon also.

The Heavenly Bodies:

The heavenly bodies are related to sky. The objects present in space is also know as the heavenly bodies.These are also called astronomical objects. The stars, the planets, the moon are included in heavenly bodies. 

1. Stars:

The heavenly bodies that twinkle are called stars. Stars have their own light. Stars shine. Stars are huge celestial bodies which are made of Hydrogen and helium gases. These gases produce light and heat, hence it shine. According to the astronomers, 300 billion of stars exist in the space.

Some stars seems to be very bright, its because of its capacity to produce the heat or luminosity. The color of the stars also depend on it. The hot stars seem to white or blue and the cool stars seem to red hues and orange.

2.The Sun:

The sun is a star. It is closer to us than any of the other stars. Hence, it appears big and brilliant.In its bright light, during the day, we cannot see other stars.

3. Planets:

The heavenly bodies that do not twinkle are called planets. Planets do not have light of their own. They get light from the stars. Planets revolve around a star, even as they rotate around themselves.

                               

There are eight planets in our solar system.Since the discovery of Pluto in 1930, it was supposed that it was the ninth planet in the solar system. But in 2006 the astronomers designated Pluto as a Dwarf planet and reduced the number of planets in solar system to eight only. 

The order of the planets in the solar system,starting nearest to the sun is the following.

1. Mercury 2. Venus 3. Earth 4. Mars 5. Jupiter 6. Saturn 7. Uranus 8. Neptune.

Orbit of planets:

Every planet in the solar system revolve around the sun along a specific path. This path is known as the orbit of planet.

The solar system:

The sun which is a star, and the planets that revolve around it are together called  the solar system.