Solar system diagram

What this diagram shows

Our solar system is the Sun and everything that orbits it, including eight planets. In order from the Sun they are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. In Explore, tapping the Sun or a planet shows its name and one fact. Labels names them all. Quiz me asks the child to find each one and gives a score at the end of the round.

The picture is not to scale, and it is worth saying so out loud. If the planets were drawn at their true sizes and distances, the inner planets would be tiny dots and Neptune would be far off the edge of any screen. The Sun is so large that about a million Earths could fit inside it. The diagram is useful for order and names; it is not a picture of real sizes or spacing.

Common misconceptions

• "The Sun moves across the sky." The Sun appears to move because Earth spins once a day. That spin gives us day and night.
• "The planets are lined up in a row." Each planet is at a different point on its orbit, so they are spread around the Sun, not in a line as on the diagram.
• "Summer happens when Earth is closest to the Sun." Seasons are caused by the tilt of Earth's axis, not its distance. Northern summer actually happens when Earth is a little farther from the Sun.
• "The Sun is not a star." It is a star, and the nearest one to us. Other stars look small only because they are much farther away.
• "Pluto is the ninth planet." Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006.

Where this fits in school

• England, Year 5: pupils describe the movement of Earth and the other planets relative to the Sun, the Moon's movement around Earth, and how Earth's spin explains day and night.
• England, Key Stage 3: pupils learn about gravity, the Sun as a star, and how Earth's tilt causes the seasons.
• US, grade 5: NGSS 5-ESS1-1 covers why the Sun looks brighter than other stars (it is much closer), and 5-ESS1-2 covers patterns such as day and night and shadows.
• US, grades 6 to 8: NGSS MS-ESS1-2 covers the role of gravity in the solar system, and MS-ESS1-3 asks students to analyze data on the scale of solar system objects.

A 10-minute solar system activity

• Ask the child to name any planets they know and guess their order before opening the diagram.
• In Explore, tap the Sun, then each planet outward. Ask which fact surprised them most.
• Point out the four rocky inner planets and the four giant outer planets, and ask what the dividing line is (between Mars and Jupiter, where the asteroid belt lies).
• Make a memory sentence together, such as "My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming."
• Play one Quiz me round to test the sentence.

To show scale, try a hallway model: put a ball for the Sun at one end and walk outward, placing small objects for each planet at increasing distances. Even a rough model makes the gap between the inner and outer planets feel real.

Learning more

Science is part of Eurekami's skill map, with lessons that draw science diagrams live and narrate them in English or Spanish. Daily Practice brings a skill back for review when it starts to fade, so the planets stay in order.