Your favourite Solar System facts

[Lord Camomile]

I volunteer for a local family festival (the Plumstead Make Merry, if yer interested ) and one thing we'd like to do this year is have a go at the 1'000 yard model of the Solar System. The basic idea is you recreate the Solar System to scale over roughly 1,000 yards.

At each of the markers for the different planets we hope to have an A3 sign giving details and facts about the planets. Obviously we'll have the standard stuff of size, distance from the Sun, etc, but I'm really keen to have some really fun and interesting facts. For example, Saturn is so light that if you were to have a bathtub big enough, it would float in the water! (Shamelessly nicked from Kidzone)

What other facts will interest and amuse the kids of Plumstead, and make their little jaws drop at the awe-inspiring wondrousness of the Solar System?

 

[Lord Camomile]

I'm also quite keen to discover how the planets are dealt with in non-Western cultures that don't defer to the Roman god names, etc. Anyone know what they call Jupiter in China?

e2a: never mind...

 

[fractionMan]

I'm also quite keen to discover how the planets are dealt with in non-Western cultures that don't defer to the Roman god names, etc. Anyone know what they call Jupiter in China?

e2a: never mind...

It's also got them in klingon!

 

[Lord Camomile]

Plumstead is a very diverse area...

 

[Ich bin ein Mod]

It takes longer for Venus to rotate once on its axis than it does to orbit the Sun, therefore a Venusian (sidereal) day is longer than its year

 

[twentythreedom]

There was an excellent show about the Cassini / Huygens probe to Titan on beeb last night. 2 billion miles it travelled!! Well worth a watch on iplayer

 

[Lord Camomile]

It takes longer for Venus to rotate once on its axis than it does to orbit the Sun, therefore a Venusian (sidereal) day is longer than its year

Ooh, that's a good one - explains the difference between a day and a year (astronomically speaking ) and how even those simple things can be so wildly different than on Earth.

Another example: Venus rotates the other way (will look up the posh astronomical term...), so the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east

 

[spring-peeper]

How many planets are there???

It used to be nine, then eight, now.......




eta: yeah for Plumstead, my hometown

 

[EastEnder]

Another example: Venus rotates the other way (will look up the posh astronomical term...), so the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east

Retrograde.

 

[Crispy]

I'd like to do this: http://www.noao.edu/education/peppercorn/pcmain.html

 

[Mumbles274]

Olympus Mons on Mars is 3 times higher than Everest

 

[Santino]

The Solar System was named after the two astronomers who discovered it, James Solar and Ronald System.

 

[Crispy]

Olympus Mons on Mars is 3 times higher than Everest

But considerably flatter.

In fact, from the summit of Olympus, all you can see is the mountain sloping away from you. The rest of the planet is beyond the horizon.

 

[Lord Camomile]

I'd like to do this: http://www.noao.edu/education/peppercorn/pcmain.html

That's what we're doing Gonna stretch across Plumstead Common

I volunteer for a local family festival (the Plumstead Make Merry, if yer interested ) and one thing we'd like to do this year is have a go at the 1'000 yard model of the Solar System. The basic idea is you recreate the Solar System to scale over roughly 1,000 yards.

 

[Lord Camomile]

Retrograde.

Who needs Google

 

[Lord Camomile]

The Solar System was named after the two astronomers who discovered it, James Solar and Ronald System.

*scribbles into notes* The things you learn...

But considerably flatter. In fact, from the summit of Olympus, all you can see is the mountain sloping away from you. The rest of the planet is beyond the horizon.

That's pretty cool too.

For the Mars poster I'm definitely going to include this photo, because it is seriously brilliant (and is on my wall at home )

 

[Mephitic]

In space, no one can hear you scream.

 

[TitanSound]

*scribbles into notes* The things you learn...

That's pretty cool too.

For the Mars poster I'm definitely going to include this photo, because it is seriously brilliant (and is on my wall at home )

Pixels.

 

[Santino]

From where do they measure the height of mountains on Mars?

 

[Mumbles274]

From where do they measure the height of mountains on Mars?

the bottom

 

[EastEnder]

From where do they measure the height of mountains on Mars?

From the bottom to the top.

 

[Crispy]

From where do they measure the height of mountains on Mars?

The average height is the "datum" or zero elevation for Mars. Most of the northern hemisphere is about 1km below datum, while the southern is about 1km above it.

 

[Lord Camomile]

Pixels.

That's from NASA, and NASA don't lie

 

[Santino]

The average height is the "datum" or zero elevation for Mars. Most of the northern hemisphere is about 1km below datum, while the southern is about 1km above it.

So the comparisons with Everest and whatnot are not actually like-for-like?

 

[Crispy]

So the comparisons with Everest and whatnot are not actually like-for-like?

Not exactly, no. It's still a very very big mountain though. Olympus is 27km high if you start from the north, or 25km high if you start from the south.

 

[Corax]

Because of its eliptical orbit it's always Tuesday on Venus.

 

[Lord Camomile]

Including leap years?

 

[quimcunx]

The solar system is over twice the size of Wales and if you were to line up double decker buses from tip to tail they'd all float away.

 

[Santino]

Not exactly, no. It's still a very very big mountain though. Olympus is 27km high if you start from the north, or 25km high if you start from the south.

Your mum is 27km high if you start from the north, or 25km high if you start from the south.

 

[EastEnder]

Because of its eliptical orbit it's always Tuesday on Venus.

All planetary orbits are elliptical.