Comparing objects in our solar system

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  • VermontCathy
    VermontCathy Posts: 1,821 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Oh yes! The sun rotates once in about 25 days. That's why we can see sunspots pass across the face of the sun, moving farther every day.

    Astronomy can be a lot of fun for families. Even a small telescope will show details on the Moon, and interesting features on Jupiter and Saturn. (Mars is easy to see, but seeing detail on the surface is really hard.)

    If you live in a rural area with fairly dark skies, you can see many interesting deep-sky objects, like star clusters, gaseous nebulae, galaxies, double stars, and more!

    Our town has a scale model of the solar system on a hiking trail near the school. There are signposts for the sun and for each planet, explaining how far that planet is from the sun. You get a real sense of scale when you can stand in one spot and see the sun, Mercury, Venus, and Earth, but Mars is farther away, and you have to walk quite a ways to find Jupiter, Saturn, and the outer planets. At the end of the trail, another sign says that in the scale model, Alpha Centauri would be in South America. :-)

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