Matthew Faulkner, age 11, of Hutchinsont Kan.9 for his question:
CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE PLANETS?
The word planet comes from the Greek word meaning wanderer. And that's e actly what a planet does it wanders among the stars in a regular path
There are nine planets and each revolves about the sun. The nine area in order of their proximity to the sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus Neptune and Pluto.
Stars which appear fixed in the sky give off their own light while planets shine by light reflected from the sun.
When You look at a planet through a telescope, it appears like a ball. Stars look like pinpoints of light because they are so far away from Earth.
Planets travel in regular paths called orbits. The swing is always around the sun and is almost a circle although flattened or ellipse in shape. Although they all move in the same direction, the orbits of the planets are all different distances from the sun.
Planets from the terrestrial or inside group are made of heavy atoms of matter while the Jovian planets or outside group seem to be made of lighter atoms.
All planets rotate on their axes but at different rates. Their orbits are about in the same plane as the sun's equator with the exception of Pluto. The orbit of this planet is tipped.
Earth is 93 million miles from the sun. Closest planet to the sun is Mercury, which is 36 million miles away, and farthest is Pluto, a hefty 3,675 million miles away.
Earth has a mean diameter of 7,918 miles. Baby among the planets is Mercury with a mean diameter of just 3,100 miles. The daddy of them all as far as size is concerned is Jupiter, which measures a whopping 86,840 miles in diameter.
The ancient Greeks included the sun and the moon as Planets, but we no loner do so. Also, three new planets were added to the list since the days of ancient Greece. They are Uranus, Neptune and Pluto which were discovered in 1781, 1946 and 1930.
For latest information on planets go to Science News in YouAskAndy main menu and click on NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory