The Discovery of the Solar System

Young scholars develop a sense of the scale of our solar system by creating a one to ten billion scale model. They calculate the relative sizes and distances for the planets and asteroid belt using a guiding worksheet. To create the...

Today scientists watch other solar systems forming, helping to inform us how we got our start. The video covers what makes up the solar system, how we went from gas to a disk, how the planets formed, and the motion in the system. The...

What changes when you leave the solar system and enter interstellar space? First, scientists needed to define the end of the solar system. Using an interesting video, an installment from the SciShow Space series explains how the...

The first man-made object to enter space happened in 1942; just 71 years later, we sent the first object outside the entire solar system. The video introduces the solar system, starting with the sun. It covers each planet, the more...

Take a trip back in time to the Age of Enlightenment. A video lesson describes the sequence of events leading to the discovery of the planet Uranus. Previously, Uranus was considered a faint star, then a comet, and finally correctly...

Can Mars support human life? Researchers may have found evidence of water on Mars with information from the Curiosity Rover. An episode of a larger solar system playlist discusses the other life-sustaining elements and atmospheric...

Sword duels, religious unrest, war—who says science is boring? Aspiring astronomers discover fascinating facts about the famous scientists that dared challenge the accepted model of the solar system in the 13th video of a 16-part History...

Provide a visual reference to just how far apart the planets in our solar system are. Starting from a grapefruit representing the sun, the speaker in an engaging video walks the relative distance between each planet. 

Have researchers found life on another planet? Maybe not, but possibly on one of Saturn's moons! A spacecraft has verified the presence of water on Enceladus as well as other life-supporting compounds. The episode of a solar system...

In this solar system worksheet students explore how some of the planets have changed their status, view a video and answer questions about Pluto and the other planets.