Fact cat space planets by White-Thomson Publishing

THE PLANETS

FACT CAT What are planets made of?

lanet is Which p st? e the bigg

Is there life on other planets?

The author, Alice Harman, is a writer and editor specialising in children’s educational publishing. The consultant, Kate Ruttle, is a literacy expert and SENCO, and teaches in Suffolk.

THE PLANETS

The Planets explores each of the eight planets in our solar system, from boiling-hot Mercury to freezing-cold Neptune. Amazing photos taken by spacecraft show us what these extraordinary planets look like.

FACT CAT

Join Fact Cat on a journey of fun, learning about every subject under the Sun!

THE

FACT CAT

S T E N A L P

Titles in the Space series 978 0 7502 8222

FACT CAT

THE MOO

FACT CAT

THE EARTH

THE

FACT CAT

THE SUN

FACT CAT

PLANETS Alice Harman

Alice Har

978 0 7

man

978 0 7

man

Alice Harman

Alice Har

502 822

Alice Harman

978 0 7502 8220 8

Alice Harman

502 822

27/11/2013 18:32

nt.indd 1

Planets_cover_fro

£11.99

Planets_cover_ HB8mmSpine.indd 1

www.waylandbooks.co.uk

02/12/2013 14:43

THE

FACT CAT

PLANETS

Alice Harman

CONTENTS

FACT CAT Get your paws on this fantastic new mega-series from Wayland ! Join our Fact Cat on a journey of fun r the sun! learning about every subject unde

First published in 2014 by Wayland © Wayland 2014 Wayland Hachette Children’s Books 338 Euston Road London NW1 3BH Wayland Australia Level 17/207 Kent Street Sydney NSW 2000

Picture and illustration credits: Chabluk, Stefan: 7, 11; Donohoe, William: 4-5; NASA: 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22; Shutterstock: Marcel Clemens 8, Maciej Sojka cover and title page Every effort has been made to clear copyright. Should there be any inadvertent omission, please apply to the publisher for rectification.

Produced for Wayland by White-Thomson Publishing Ltd www.wtpub.co.uk +44 (0) 843 208 7460 All rights reserved Editor: Alice Harman Design: Rocket Design (East Anglia) Ltd Fact Cat illustrations: Shutterstock/Julien Troneur Other illustrations: Stefan Chabluk/Bill Donohue Consultant: Kate Ruttle A catalogue for this title is available from the British Library ISBN: 978 0 7502 8222 2 Dewey Number: 523.4-dc23 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Wayland is a division of Hachette Children’s Books, an Hachette UK company. www.hachette.co.uk Printed and bound in China

FACT

CAT

There is a question for you to answer on each spread in this book. You can check your answers on page 24.

Our solar system . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Mercury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Venus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Mars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Jupiter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Saturn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Uranus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Neptune . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

CONTENTS

FACT CAT Get your paws on this fantastic new mega-series from Wayland ! Join our Fact Cat on a journey of fun r the sun! learning about every subject unde

First published in 2014 by Wayland © Wayland 2014 Wayland Hachette Children’s Books 338 Euston Road London NW1 3BH Wayland Australia Level 17/207 Kent Street Sydney NSW 2000

FACT

CAT

There is a question for you to answer on each spread in this book. You can check your answers on page 24.

Our solar system . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Mercury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Venus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Mars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Jupiter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Saturn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Uranus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Neptune . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

R A L O S R U O SYSTEM

The dotted line betw een Mars and Jupiter sh ows an area where ther e are many asteroids. These are small chun ks of rock and metal that orbit the Sun.

There are eight planets in Earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s solar system. A solar system is made up of planets that orbit, or move around, a star. The star in our solar system is the Sun. The Sun gives out light and heat. Ura n

une N e pt

Mercu ry

h Eart

Ven us M a rs

Earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s m oon

er Ju pit rn S at u

FACT

CAT

Until 2006, people said that there were nine planets in our

Apart from Earth, all these planets are named after ancient Roman gods and go ddesses. Which planet is the only one named after a godd ess?

Earth and five of the other planets have moons. These are large objects that are made of rock or ice. They orbit a planet, while that planet orbits the Sun.

solar system. The ninth planet was called Pluto, but this is now called a dwarf planet instead.

R A L O S R U O SYSTEM

The dotted line betw een Mars and Jupiter sh ows an area where ther e are many asteroids. These are small chun ks of rock and metal that orbit the Sun.

une N e pt

Mercu ry

h Eart

Ven us M a rs

Earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s m oon

er Ju pit rn S at u

FACT

CAT

Until 2006, people said that there were nine planets in our

Apart from Earth, all these planets are named after ancient Roman gods and go ddesses. Which planet is the only one named after a godd ess?

Earth and five of the other planets have moons. These are large objects that are made of rock or ice. They orbit a planet, while that planet orbits the Sun.

solar system. The ninth planet was called Pluto, but this is now called a dwarf planet instead.

MERCURY nly one So far, o een as ever b h t f a r c space you find n a C . y r u to Merc ? was there it n e h w out

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, so it can get extremely hot. However, the planet also cools down quickly. This means that it can be very cold at night.

Deep inside Mercury , there is a lot of iron. Thi s metal is also found on Ea rth. We use iron to mak e buildings and machi nes.

T C A F CA

FACTT

The temperature on Mercu

ry can

reach 430 C. This is more tha n seven times hotter than the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth! o

Mercury is the smal lest planet in the so lar system. It is mostly made of metal. It has a thin surface layer of rock around its metal core.

MERCURY nly one So far, o een as ever b h t f a r c space you find n a C . y r u to Merc ? was there it n e h w out

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, so it can get extremely hot. However, the planet also cools down quickly. This means that it can be very cold at night.

Deep inside Mercury , there is a lot of iron. Thi s metal is also found on Ea rth. We use iron to mak e buildings and machi nes.

T C A F CA

FACTT

The temperature on Mercu

ry can

reach 430 C. This is more tha n seven times hotter than the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth! o

Mercury is the smal lest planet in the so lar system. It is mostly made of metal. It has a thin surface layer of rock around its metal core.

VENUS

Venus is a much hotter planet than Mercury, even though it is further away from the Sun. This is because Venus has a thick layer of carbon dioxide gas around it. The gas traps the heat from the Sun.

T C A F T CA

FACT

uld be If you went to Venus, you wo e the squashed flat! This is becaus times air around you would be 92 heavier than it is on Earth.

ore and m d e r o un is m s aro a g There e id on olluti n diox p o b f r o a c e ecaus s and b e n , a h l t p ro Ear his rs, ae a c ight t m m w fro Ho ries. o t lanet? c p a f e h et chang

Venus is the closes t planet to Earth, b ut humans could not survive there. A s well as being far to o hot, it also has no liquid water. The rain on V enus is strong acid that wou ld badly burn your sk in.

It is difficult to see the surface of Venu s, as thick clouds of poisonous gas surr ound the planet. This pict ure has been coloured to clearly show the clou ds.

VENUS

Venus is a much hotter planet than Mercury, even though it is further away from the Sun. This is because Venus has a thick layer of carbon dioxide gas around it. The gas traps the heat from the Sun.

T C A F T CA

FACT

uld be If you went to Venus, you wo e the squashed flat! This is becaus times air around you would be 92 heavier than it is on Earth.

ore and m d e r o un is m s aro a g There e id on olluti n diox p o b f r o a c e ecaus s and b e n , a h l t p ro Ear his rs, ae a c ight t m m w fro Ho ries. o t lanet? c p a f e h et chang

It is difficult to see the surface of Venu s, as thick clouds of poisonous gas surr ound the planet. This pict ure has been coloured to clearly show the clou ds.

EARTH

Animals and plants can survive on Earth because it is just the right distance from the Sun. This means it is neither too hot nor too cold for them. Most of the Earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s surface is covered in water, which almost all living things need.

cr u st mantle

outer co re in n e

r co re

FACT

FACT is ocean e h t in many Water d n a s ink Human not dr salty. n a c s l w anima ou kno y other o D ater. at ter th salty w a w l l a ec ? lt in it what w a s e v ot ha does n

CAT

Earth is the third pl anet from the Sun, and the fift h largest planet in the solar sy stem. It is mostly made of rock, but it has a metal core. Under its surface, it is so hot that rock turns to liquid.

The surface of the Earth is made up of huge sheets of rock that move around on the liquid rock below. They can cause earthquakes when they crash into each other.

EARTH

cr u st mantle

outer co re in n e

r co re

FACT

FACT is ocean e h t in many Water d n a s ink Human not dr salty. n a c s l w anima ou kno y other o D ater. at ter th salty w a w l l a ec ? lt in it what w a s e v ot ha does n

CAT

The surface of the Earth is made up of huge sheets of rock that move around on the liquid rock below. They can cause earthquakes when they crash into each other.

MARS called n e t e is of ecaus b Mars â&#x20AC;&#x2122; t e n ed pla wn colour. r e h â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;t ro red-b in s t i of he ma t s i th? What f Ear o r u colo

Mars is the planet that is most like Earth. It has volcanoes, deserts and areas of ice. However, Mars is much colder than Earth and has many more storms.

Mars is the fourth planet fr om the Sun. It is the second closest planet to Eart h. Several spacecraft and robots have been to Mar s, but they have not found any living thing there.

FACT

CAT

Mars is about half the size of Earth, but the two planets y have the same amount of dr land. This is because there is no liquid water on Mars.

In 2012, this robot landed on Mars to lo ok for evidence of life. Billions of years ag o, Mars was warm and wet enough for thin gs to live there.

MARS called n e t e is of ecaus b Mars â&#x20AC;&#x2122; t e n ed pla wn colour. r e h â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;t ro red-b in s t i of he ma t s i th? What f Ear o r u colo

Mars is the planet that is most like Earth. It has volcanoes, deserts and areas of ice. However, Mars is much colder than Earth and has many more storms.

Mars is the fourth planet fr om the Sun. It is the second closest planet to Eart h. Several spacecraft and robots have been to Mar s, but they have not found any living thing there.

FACT

CAT

Mars is about half the size of Earth, but the two planets y have the same amount of dr land. This is because there is no liquid water on Mars.

In 2012, this robot landed on Mars to lo ok for evidence of life. Billions of years ag o, Mars was warm and wet enough for thin gs to live there.

JUPITER

A spacecraft called Voyager I took this image. It shows Ju piter’s swirling gas clouds.

Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system. It is so huge that all the other seven planets could fit inside it at once. At least 67 moons circle around Jupiter.

s est moon g ig b r u o f an Jupiter’s d more th e r e v o c is were d s ago by 400 year o. med Galile a n t is t n s a scie the name t u o d n fi Can you s? our moon f e s e h t of

FACT

CAT

On Jupiter, there is a giant

hurricane called the Great

Red Spot. This storm is large

r than Earth. It has been going on for at least 300 years.

Jupiter is called a ‘gas giant’ because it is a huge planet that is made mostly of gas. It also has par ts that are liquid. It does not have a solid surface like Earth does. It has a rocky core, but the rest of the planet is liqu id and gas. 15

JUPITER

A spacecraft called Voyager I took this image. It shows Ju piter’s swirling gas clouds.

Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system. It is so huge that all the other seven planets could fit inside it at once. At least 67 moons circle around Jupiter.

s est moon g ig b r u o f an Jupiter’s d more th e r e v o c is were d s ago by 400 year o. med Galile a n t is t n s a scie the name t u o d n fi Can you s? our moon f e s e h t of

FACT

CAT

On Jupiter, there is a giant

hurricane called the Great

Red Spot. This storm is large

r than Earth. It has been going on for at least 300 years.

SATURN

The rings in this pict ure have been brightly coloured so that yo u can clearly see them .

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun. It is a gas giant like Jupiter, and it is the second largest planet in the solar system. More than 700 Earths could fit inside Saturn.

t Ear

Satu rn

Saturnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rings are made of billions of pieces of ice, dust and rock. Some pieces are as small as a grain of sand, but others are as big as a house.

is t took th f a r c e c a p As turn and a S f o h p s photogra Sometime . 3 1 0 2 July Earth in away from r e h t r u f . Saturn is her times t o t a n a th the Earth t this be? Why migh

FACT

CAT

Saturn is the lightest planet for its size in the solar system. It is so light that it would float if dropped in water!

SATURN

The rings in this pict ure have been brightly coloured so that yo u can clearly see them .

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun. It is a gas giant like Jupiter, and it is the second largest planet in the solar system. More than 700 Earths could fit inside Saturn.

t Ear

Satu rn

Saturnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rings are made of billions of pieces of ice, dust and rock. Some pieces are as small as a grain of sand, but others are as big as a house.

is t took th f a r c e c a p As turn and a S f o h p s photogra Sometime . 3 1 0 2 July Earth in away from r e h t r u f . Saturn is her times t o t a n a th the Earth t this be? Why migh

FACT

CAT

Saturn is the lightest planet for its size in the solar system. It is so light that it would float if dropped in water!