Unit 02 Different Kinds of Communities

Unit 23

The Solar System What Is the Solar System?

23

Key Words

• solar system • be made up of • planet • object • orbit • path • distance We all live on Earth. Earth is part of a larger system called the solar system.

The solar system is made up of the sun and the planets. A planet is a huge object that moves around the sun. There are eight planets in the solar system. Earth is one of eight planets that orbit the sun. In order of the planets from the sun, they are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

The sun is the center of the solar system. The eight planets move in paths around the sun. Each path is called an orbit.

The planets are different from one another. Some are smaller than Earth. Others are larger. They look different, and they are at different distances from the sun.

There are eight planets in the solar system.

Main Idea and Details

1 What is the passage mainly about? a. The characteristics of the planets. b. The planets in the solar system. c. The distance of the planets from the sun.

2 The farthest planet from the sun is a. Earth b. Mercury c. Neptune

3 What does orbit mean? a. Fly. b. Go through. c. Move around.

4 According to the passage, which statement is true? a. The planets all move around the sun. b. Earth is the center of the solar system. c. The planets all have the same size.

5 Complete the outline.

Sun The Solar System

Planets

• The a of the solar

system. • Has all of the planets orbiting it. • Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, b

Uranus, and Neptune. • Orbit the sun. • Are different sizes. • Are at different c from the sun.

Vocabulary Builder

Write the correct word and the meaning in Chinese.

1

▶ the sun and the planets

2

▶ a large, round object in space that travels around a star

3

▶ a track; a way that allows you to move forward

4

▶ the curved path that something follows as it goes around something else