Written by: Sayuri Shrestha - 28017, Grade VI
Posted on: 14 June, 2021
The earth we live on is a planet. Earth is called a planet because it is always in motion moving in space around the sun. Apart from earth there are other planets too, that move around the sun . In fact , till august 2006 AD, it was accepted that the sun has a family of nine planets . However , on 24 august 2006 AD the international astronomical union (IAU) voted for a change . Based on a new definition for a planet , our sun now has only eight planets . Pluto, which was earlier a planet now called a dwarf planet, as are a few other bodies . These eight planets and dwarf planets move around the sun in their fixed paths called orbits.
Almost every planet has a satellite, or moon , that revolves around it . A satellite is any free flying object, the earth or any other planets have. The sun , the eight planets , their moons , and the dwarf planets form the solar system . The eight planets that revolve around the sun in the order of increasing distance from the sun are mercury , venus , earth , mars, jupiter, saturn , uranus and neptune. The dwarf planet Pluto is present beyond Neptune and no spacecraft has ever visited Pluto .
The moon is what we call a satellite of the earth . The moon does not have an atmosphere to protect it from extreme heat or cold . so the temperature on the moon can be as high as 100 celsius at noon , and as low as -173 celsius at night . The moon does not produce its own light like the sun does . It shines because it reflects sunlight from its surface. (the American astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the moon. He went with his colleague Edwin Aldrin on the US spacecraft Apollo 11 . They landed on the moon on 20 july 1969 AD . )
We see many things from the earth we see the sun, the stars, the moon, the clouds, the sky but there are more things that we cant see from the earth , there are more things above our heads just then the sky , sun , moon and clouds there is a whole universe on top of our heads and that one day most probably we will be able to see all those things.
