Exploring Our World: Latin America and Canada, Europe, and Australia © 2012 Georgia Edition

"The Solar System"

Introduction
In this chapter, you learned about the Earth’s place in the solar system. The sun is located at the center of the solar system. Earth, along with seven other planets and thousands of smaller bodies, travel around the sun. These planets and smaller bodies differ in size and chemical makeup.

Destination Title: Solar System Exploration

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Directions
Start at the solarsystem.nasa.gov Web site about the solar system.

• Click on “Planets” on the menu tab.
• Then click "Our Solar System."
• Below the two introductory paragraphs, click "Read More About Our Solar System."

1			How long ago was our solar system formed?
2			What region does NASA plan to explore in the New Horizons mission?
3			How many planetary moons are known? How do they differ?
4			Now click on "Meteors & Meteorites." Click "Read More About Meteors & Meteorites." What are the differences among a meteoroid, a meteor, and a meteorite?
5			What happened as a result of an asteroid collision on the Yucatán Peninsula 65 million years ago?