Use the following lithographs to envision the scale of our solar system. View different models of planets at different scales, an infographic about the relative sizes of the planets and distance from the sun, and images of the largest...

Part of the National Air and Space Museum's online exhibition about Exploring Planets, this describes and gives visuals of telescopes, probes and fly-by aircrafts, orbiters, and landers as current methods for earth and airborne...

Find out how astronomers locate new planets by observing the traits of the stars they orbit. Get some tips at locating stars with the help of star maps.

This resource provides a nice overview of Pluto. Get information on Pluto's size, tilt, orbit and surface features. There is also a brief explanation of the "New Horizons" space probe.

This site is astronomy for kids and teachers! Here students can learn about the planet Earth of the Solar System including fun facts, mass, day, year, and distance from the Sun.

Teach the concept of scale models and the size of the solar system through this extensive lesson plan. Students will learn about scale models, estimate which objects to use to create a scale model of Earth and Sun, and figure out how far...

Students must determine the kinetic energy of a satellite as it orbits around a planet.

Describes scientific research into volcanic activity on the surface of Venus. Using information transmitted from the orbiting Magellan spacecraft, data is collected. Includes a glossary of vocabulary terms. [ November 8, 2010]

This unit will use demonstrations and student examples to help young scholars gain an understanding of rotation, revolution, and orbit. Through hands-on activities students will explore the concepts of day and night. Technology will be...

Explore the dozens of Saturn's moons orbiting the second largest planet of our solar system. Find out about the Cassini space mission which explored Saturn's largest moon, Titan.

Many facts about Mars are presented on this comprehensive site. Planet size, surface, length of day, orbit, atmosphere, moons, are a sampling of the many topics discussed on this site. You will also find an activity book, a quiz, a...

Students explore orbit transfers and, specifically, Hohmann transfers. They investigate the orbits of Earth and Mars by using cardboard and string. Students learn about the planets' orbits around the sun, and about a transfer orbit from...

A basic introduction to artificial, or man-made, satellites. Links to information about the planets and other objects in our solar system are included.

This site from NASA states Kepler's third law of motion and extends it to develop an equation for the velocity of an orbiting planet.

A collection of audio lectures from an introduction to astrophysics course taught at the University of California, Berkeley. The course discusses the solar system, stars, quantum mechanics, gravitation, and cosmology focusing on how...

A wealth of facts await you on this complete site. Topics include size, mass and gravity, length of day, orbit, distance from the sun, and more. A coloring page, quiz, fill-in-the-blanks activity, and interactive puzzle will challenge...

How do astronomers collect stardust? They design and build satellites that are launched into space to collect particles on specially designed panels. Satellites can be sent to orbit around an object of interest: a planet, moon, or comet....

This thorough site presents a wealth of facts about the fifth largest planet. Topics you will find discussed include size, mass and gravity, length of day, orbit, moons, and more. Various Jupiter activities are found on this site such as...