GK-8 Project Submission Form - The Center for Mathematics and ...

Moons orbit planets. Right now, Jupiter has the most moons—58. Mercury andVenus don't have any moons. Earth has one. It is the brightest object in our nightsky. The Sun, of course, is the brightest object in our daytime sky. It lights up themoon, planets, comets and asteroids, too. Without our Sun, there would be no lifeon Earth.The SUN is the biggest, brightest and hottest object in our solar system. It is ourclosest star, and the only star in our solar system. The Sun is way too hot to visit.A person or spacecraft couldn't even get near it. Even if you could get close, thesun’s powerful gravity would make one of your arms weigh as much as your wholebody. It would be impossible to move!Our Sun is a ball of hot, glowing gases. The part we can see is about 11,000°F(6,100°C) and it gets even hotter as you go deeper. The oven in your kitchen onlygets as high as 500°F (260°C). The surface of the Sun boils like a pot of soup! Italso shoots flares of hot gas thousands of miles into space. All of the heat andlight from the sun provides us with plenty of energy!MERCURY is the closest planet to our Sun and is the second smallest planet in oursolar system. If Earth were the size of a baseball, Mercury would be the size of agolf ball. It zips around the Sun every 88 days – faster than any other planet. (Inother words, it takes Earth 365 days to make one revolution, but it only takesMercury 88 days to make one revolution!)Since Mercury is so close to the sun, it is very hot. The temperature on Mercurycan change more than 1,000°F (530°C) between night and day. There is very littleair, or atmosphere, to hold in the heat when the Sun is not shining. The thinatmosphere also means meteors don't burn up, so Mercury is covered with craters.It looks a lot like our moon.VENUS is the second planet from our Sun. It is Earth's closest neighbor – thesecond brightest object in our night sky. Only the moon is brighter. Even though itis so close to Earth, Venus is very mysterious. The surface is hidden beneath hot,poisonous air made up mostly of carbon dioxide. Scientists must use radar to 'see'through Venus' clouds. Venus has no moon and no rings. To get to the surface ofVenus, you would have to pass through clouds of sulfuric acid, hurricane-forcewinds, and lightning.Prepared by NSF North Mississippi GK-8 Project 3