TEACHING KIDS ABOUT SPACE WITH FUN FACTS

Are your little ones curious about outer space? We’ve created a cheat sheet of fun facts to help you ‘wow’ them with your knowledge the next time they ask you about our solar system.

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EARTH
The Earth is the biggest of all the planets found in the inner solar system. Our planet’s weather and atmosphere are just right to keep us alive.The Earth has one moon, named Luna.

Distance to the Sun: 150 million km

VENUS
Venus has a thick cloud cover that traps a lot of the Sun’s heat, so it’s one of the hottest planets. It’s about the same size as the Earth, so scientists call it Earth’s sister planet.

Distance to the Sun: 108 million km
Distance to Earth: 40 million km

Related article: Everything you never knew about our solar system

MERCURY
If you could go to Mercury, you’d cook to death during the day and freeze to death at night!

Distance to the Sun: 57 million km
Distance to Earth: 77.3 million km

MARS
The temperature on Mars is very similar to that on Earth. Scientists believe people could be living on Mars before too long!

Distance to the Sun: 228 million km
Distance to Earth: 55 million km

JUPITER
The biggest planet, Jupiter has no solid surface and under its atmosphere is a big liquid ocean of hydrogen and water.There is also a massive storm that has been brewing on Jupiter for around 300 years!

Distance to the Sun: 779 million km
Distance to Earth: 588 million km

Did you know? The sun is more than 300,000 times larger than Earth!



NEPTUNE
Much like Jupiter, Neptune also has a giant storm, often called The Great Dark Spot.

Distance to the Sun: 4.5 billion km
Distance to Earth: 4.3 billion km

Did you know? Mark Shuttleworth was the first African to travel into space. In 2002 he was a crew member on the Soyuz mission TM34.

PLUTO
Pluto was declared a dwarf planet in 2006.When it’s furthest away from Earth, it is 7.5 billion km away, and when it’s closest, it’s 4.28 billion km away.

Related article: South African women shaping the future of space exploration

SATURN
Saturn is similar to Jupiter, but smaller. Under the clouds, the sky slowly turns into liquid until it becomes a giant ocean of liquid chemicals.

Distance to the Sun: 1.43 billion km
Distance to Earth: 1.2 billion km

URANUS
It is believed that long ago, a huge object smashed into Uranus and changed the direction in which it spins.

Distance to the Sun: 2.88 billion km
Distance to Earth: 2.57 billion km

Related article: How to raise little readers

Did you know? American Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the moon. The Apollo 11 mission left Earth on 16 July 1969 with Armstrong, Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin and Michael Collins on board. On 20 July 1969 Armstrong made history by walking on the moon.