Exploring Our World: People, Places, and Cultures

"The Solar System"

Introduction
In this chapter, you learned about the Earth’s place in the solar system. The sun is located at the center of the solar system. Earth, along with seven other planets and thousands of smaller bodies, travel around the sun. These planets and smaller bodies differ in size and chemical makeup.

Destination Title: Solar System Exploration

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Directions
Start at the solarsystem.nasa.gov Web site about the solar system.

• Click on “Planets” on the menu tab.
• Read this information.

1			Which planet is usually the brightest in the sky?
2			What region does NASA plan to explore in the New Horizons mission?
3			Why does the number of dwarf planets change constantly?
4			What happened as a result of an asteroid collision on the Yucatán Peninsula 65 million years ago?
5			What is the difference between a meteoroid, a meteor, and a meteorite?