SUBJECTS: Science
YEARS: 5–6
We all know the basics of the solar system — a big burning star in the middle and bunch of planets spinning around the outside.
But actually getting your head around just how massive the sun is, and how tiny and far away the planets are, is really hard, because the numbers are so mind-bendingly big.
Presenter, Bernie Hobbs, scales down the the solar system to fit into a football field to demonstrate the relative sizes and distances of the Sun and planets.
Find out about two giant stars, Aldebaran and VY Canis majoris, that make the Sun seem tiny in comparison.
Things to think about
- 1.How big is our solar system? If we scaled down the solar system to fit into a sports field, how big do you think the Sun would be? Do you know the name of the biggest star in our solar system? Can you name all of the planets in our solar system? How many are there?
- 2.The Sun is huge. How big does Bernie, the presenter, say it is? Watch how Bernie demonstrates the scale of the solar system in a sports field. The hypergiant star, VY Canis majoris, is many times bigger than the Sun. How much bigger is it? What is the meaning of its name?
- 3.Construct a model of our solar system showing the relative distances between the Sun and planets. Create an interactive poster of our solar system.
- 4.Research the giant and supergiant stars that we know about such as Aldebaran, VY Canis majoris, Arcturus and Antares. Find out about their size, their distance from us and when they were discovered. Find out why Pluto is no longer considered a planet and investigate the current rules for classifying a planet.
Acknowledgements
Image courtesey of NASA.
Date of broadcast: 18 Mar 2012
Copyright
Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).