Hi my name is Kosha and I’m from Rata Street School. I’m going
to explain what a Mercurian would look like, if there could be
such a creature.
By Room 14
I think a Mercurian’s body shape would be skinny. This is
because a Mercurian wouldn’t get moisture. Also a Mercurian
skin colour would be black because it’s 173° degrees on
Mercury. Thirdly a Mercurian’s body would have scales so they
would protect the Mercurian from the temperature, and also they
could reflect light. The reason why I said this is they’d have to
reflect light because it would be sunny and the Mercurian
couldn’t see. A Mercurian would have fat feet because the heat
from the ground would swell up the Mercurian’s feet. A Mercurian
would have rows of teeth like a shark. This creature would need
strong teeth so it could eat the solid rocks and sand. A Mercurian
would not be brainy because the Mercurian would have brain
damage caused by the heat. A Mercurian would have googley
eyes like goggles, to protect it from the heat.
Now have you heard all the interesting facts, about what I think a
Mercurian would look like.
Millions of miles away from the sun
Eighty eight Earth days to orbit the sun
Rocky and covered with craters
Circles the sun very fast
Unlike other planets, its day is twice as long as its year
Reaches up to 173 degrees
You can’t live on Mercury because it’s twice as hot as a
pizza oven
Did you know Mercury…
•
is the closest planet to the sun
•
is named after a Roman God
•
has no air
•
takes 88 days to orbit the sun
•
spins so slowly that sunrise only happens
once or twice a year
•
is surrounded by a thin layer of gas
•
Has a temperature that can be over 170
degrees
Room 14’s Discovery reporter, Kira Wenger, interviewed Peta Moses. She is the first female astronaut to fly back from
Mercury. We share with you some of Kira’s findings after her interview with this amazing individual.
Kira- What’s it like to be back on Earth?
Peta- It’s nice to have my own bed, my own room. I’m enjoying McDonald’s and watching TV again.
Kira- Which felt faster – flying there, or getting back?
Peta- Flying back felt faster. It was exciting getting there because I am the first person to fly there. It was also scary because I didn’t know what was going to happen.
Kira- So you couldn’t have McDonald’s for six years! What did you eat?
Peta- Soups, cereals, casseroles, food that can be frozen then heated up in a microwave. Obviously I couldn’t have fresh
food.
Kira- Space has zero gravity. How did you keep the plates from flying away?
Peta- There are trays that are attached to your lap and bowls that are attached to the trays. There were lids to keep the
food and drink in the containers.
Kira- What stands out when you’re flying through space?
Peta- When I was flying through space, getting closer to the sun was scary because it was really bright. I also saw Venus.
It looked like a really bright star from far away. Also, lots of stars stood out.
Kira- So there are no TVs in space. How did you keep entertained?
Peta- I took photos of Earth through the windows. I read books, watched DVDs in a portable DVD player. Also, once
every week I could speak to family and friends through the international space station.
Kira- Since it’s 173 degrees, why didn’t you melt on Mercury?
Peta- The space craft is made out of heat resistant metal. Osmium, Rhenium, Tungsten, and some Carbons can handle
over 3,000 degrees! The paint is silver and shiny which reflects the heat.
Kira- So, you’re in space for six years and you’re really busting. This is a personal question, but … how do you go to the
toilet?
Peta- There’s a shuttle waste management system. This system was designed to incorporate air pressure and flow for
pneumatic collection and transport of wastes.
Kira- So this is the interview with Peta Moses, but I have one more question … would you like to go again?
Peta- No, because it’s a very long trip and I would miss Earth.
Similar Features to Earth
• Made up of similar material :
By Room 17
Rock
• They are almost the same size.
It is 95% the size of Earth.
Earth: 12,756.3km in diameter
Venus:12,100 km in diameter
• Both have clouds.
• Both have active Volcanoes.
• Large craters because they
have been hit by meteorites.
• Heated by the sun.
• Lighting strikes.
Venus Facts
• It takes 224.7 earth days for
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Venus is very hot and fiery.
Earth is evil Venus’s twin.
Nature on Venus is dangerous.
Under the poisonous clouds on Venus are
volcanoes.
Space craft like ‘Magellan’ in 1994 have
been close to Venus to discover more about
this rocky, smelly, cloudy Planet.
Venus is the second planet from the sun.
Earth is Venus’ twin.
Named after the Roman goddess of love
and beauty.
Under the poisonous clouds are volcanoes
erupting fiery red lava.
Some scientists think that there was water
but it boiled away.
Written by Room 17
•
•
•
Venus to orbit around the Sun.
It has no moon.
It rotates clockwise
A day is 243 Earth days.
The clouds on Venus are made
up of Sulphuric Acid. It’s always
covered by clouds.
You can’t breathe the
atmosphere on Venus.
It is the brightest planet and is
called the “Evening Star and
Morning Star because it
appears shortly before sunrise
and shortly after sunset.
Venus is mostly covered with
volcanoes. One is 241km long.
The temperature is more than 4
times as hot as boiling water.
(400◦C +)
It is named after the Roman
Goddess of Love and Beauty.
It’s the closest planet to Earth.
It’s the 2nd planet from the sun.
It has been photographed and
mapped by space craft.
Can we live on Venus? Today Rm. 18 we are going to explain to you why we
can’t.
Venus is the second planet form the sun, which means it is closer to the sun
than Earth is. This makes it a very hot planet, nearly 500 degrees Celsius; if we
landed there we would burn to ashes.
Another reason that we cannot live on Venus is that there is no oxygen in the
atmosphere and we need oxygen to breathe. There are no trees on Venus and
they are important to us because they produce the oxygen we need.
The atmosphere is very poisonous because it is made up of sulphuric acid and
carbon dioxide. Sulphuric acid can burn you if you breathe it in or touch it. It
smells just like Rotorua (really rotten eggs).
Venus does not have any water which is important for us to live. We are made
up of water and need to drink to keep us alive. We also need water for plants
that make our food and oxygen as well as to feed the animals we eat.
There are many volcanoes on Venus and these are very big. One is about 240
km long. They would make the planet a very dangerous place for us to live.
They help make the clouds thick and very poisonous.
We cannot live on Venus because it doesn’t have the things we need to live
and it is a poisonous and dangerous place.
.
Venus is known as the Morning or Evening Star because it is the third brightest object we can see from Earth in the night-sky. It
shines brightly because it is reflecting the sunlight. It is the 6th largest planet and is the second planet from the sun which makes
it very hot.
Up close it is a reddish-brown orange colour which is the colour of the clouds that hide the planet below. The clouds are not
made up of water but from the gases that come smoking out of the volcanoes
The atmosphere is vey poisonous and smells like rotten eggs. Looking up from the planet you can’t see the sun. It is blocked by
the thick sulphur and carbon dioxide clouds.
If you could land on the planet it is very hot and you would see that it has craters just like the moon. The surface is rocky, dusty
and covered by huge fiery volcanoes which pour out rivers of bright red/orange lava.
No astronaut has landed on Venus but spacecraft without people have visited. They have taken very detailed pictures of the
planet. In 1994 a very famous craft named Magellan orbited the planet for four years, making very clear maps of Venus and
sending the pictures back to Earth.
Did you know that all planets in the solar system rotate anti-clockwise, except Venus it, spins counter-clockwise?
By Room 13
Planet
Atmospherical, spherical,
Moving, turning, changing
Gravitation, heat, vegetation, seasons
Revolving, tilting, orbiting
Water covered
Earth
Dear Martian,
Earth is very different from Mars. In
Earth’s atmosphere there is oxygen and
carbon dioxide. We breathe in oxygen to
keep alive and breathe out carbon dioxide.
On your planet we couldn’t breathe, we
would need oxygen tanks.
When you come here you will find that
earth is green and blue. The blue is water
and green is land.
We drink water to keep alive and the land
is solid. Your planet is solid but doesn’t
have water so we could not breathe on it.
On Earth we have gravity, it holds Earth
together and keeps us healthy and stops
us from floating away. Gravity keeps us
alive by holding our body together and
allowing it to grow against the force of
gravity. Gravity also holds everything
together. Without it there would be no
atmosphere, no life. If we visited your
planet we would float. There are a lot of
fun things to do with gravity when you visit
Earth I will show you when you visit.
On our planet we have food that we eat to
keep alive. Food that we eat can be grown
on solid land. You can eat beef or steak
from cows. Food grows nearly everywhere
on earths planet.
I look forward to meeting you on Earth.
Make sure you land on Rata Street
School’s playground in New Zealand!
Mr Martian
Hometown Street
Hometown
Planet Mars
Did you know that ...
• Earth is the only planet we know of where there is life.
• Sunlight takes eight minutes to reach Earth from the Sun.
• The temperature of Earth increases 20 degrees Celsius every kilometre
you dig down.
• An Earth year is 365 days and 6 hours, that’s why we have leap year
every four years.
• Earth is almost five billion years old. (Life has been on Earth for the last
150 to 200 million years).
• Earth is the brightest out of the planets because the light from the sun
reflects off the water.
Do you ever wonder why we can only live on planet Earth? It’s because we have the proper thickness of an atmosphere. The
weight of the gravitational pull and the solidness of the ground make it possible for us to move around. Water and light we
need to survive because it gives us energy and light from the sun also gives us warmth. Being the third planet from the Sun is
perfect for us to stay.
Having an atmosphere is important for people to survive on Earth. It not only provides us with the oxygen we need to breathe
but also protection from the harmful UV rays from the Sun. The atmosphere is the right thickness so that the temperature isn’t
too extreme for us on Earth. It’s sort of like us using blankets, too many you will get too hot too less and you will be too cold.
Gravity is important to hold us down on the ground and keeps the atmosphere in position. If we had very little gravity like the
Moon and Mars we would float away and out to space. Too much gravity we would be absolutely stuck to the floor and we
would not be able to move. So that’s why we must have the right amount. That’s one of the many reasons why we can live on
Earth because we have the right amount of gravity so we don’t float away or be stuck to the ground. It’s also important we are
a solid planet so that we don’t get sucked in, or fall through like we would do if we were a gas planet.
Water and light helps us grow and survive because without light we would never have the growth for food and ourselves.
Without water on planet Earth it wouldn’t be a safe place to live because we can’t go long without water. No other planet has
enough water for us to survive like we do on planet Earth. Some planets have water in ice caps but we need it in a liquid form.
Having water and light are two of the most important things we need on Earth.
That’s why Earth is the only planet we can live on. We have a blanket of air known as the atmosphere that is just the right
thickness. We have just the right amount of gravity so we don’t float off. We have just the right amount of water and light to
keep us alive. We are just the right distance from the Sun so that we don’t melt or freeze. Earth is just right for us.
We would like to explain everything we know and why Mars is the only other
planet that could sustain life.
To begin with we will tell you about Location. Mars is the fourth planet from
the Sun. This means Mars is on the outer edge of the Life Zone (same as
Venus) but Earth, is in the perfect place in the Life Zone where we wont
freeze or burn and things can live like plants, animals and us.
Planets Earth and Mars do have some things in common or very similar.
By Room 12
Mars atmosphere is kind of like Earths except ours is 4 times thicker and
helps to protect us from things that could damage or hurt us. As a
consequence of Mar’s thin atmosphere, meteoroids do slam into it and the
atmosphere is actually floating away into space. Another consequence of
this thin atmosphere is that Mars can have very hot temperatures through
the day, and very cold temperatures at night.
If you lived on Mars, your day would be half an hour longer. Wouldn’t that be
good! Everyone says that there are not enough hours in the day to get
things done and another thing is the year is twice as long with only two
seasons which are Summer and Winter.
Mars has water but that water is locked up on, or in Mars. Perhaps the
Americans should send another probe to drill through the ice because if
there is ice there has to be water. People and plants need that water to
survive. It also has dust that might be dirt that might create plants to grow.
Milky Way our galaxy of stars and planets.
Astronauts flying though the atmosphere.
Rotating on it’s axis around the Sun.
Solar System.
This dust, which is a brownish, red colour, is what gives Mars it’s nickname
The Red Planet, because of all the huge dust storms that blow across it for
weeks!
So hopefully you now know that life could be sustained on Mars because
Mars and Earth are so similar. We have sent probes to explore this red,
dusty planet, and it could be the next planet that we tread on.
Do you know much about Mars, because I know a
lot about it and I am going to describe Mars to you.
Facts
M
A
• A mountain 3 times higher than Mt Everest– Olympus Mons (21
Kilometres).
• Mariner Valley is like the Grand Canyon but much bigger.
• The atmosphere is thin and is disappearing into space.
• American Space probe (Mariner 1V) came very close in 1964
and took some photos of Mars.
R
• The Red Planet is it’s nickname because of all the red dust.
• Rocky and dusty surface.
S
• 4th planet from the Sun in the Solar System.
• 2 satellites moons– Phobos and Deimos.
Hi Mum and Dad.
I have just landed on Mars and I am going to
be back in 6 months. I am writing this post
card because I miss you. I have been
outside looking for life and collecting soil
samples. We are going to climb Olympus
Mons, the biggest volcanic mountain in the
universe when I have finished looking for life
and soil samples for the day. I will also put
New Zealand’s flag on top of Olympus Mons
to say a New Zealander was the first person
to climb to the top. Did you know that it is 3
times taller than Mt. Everest! There is also
this place called Mariner Valley that is a lot
like the Grand Canyon in America but it is
almost as big as America. Amazing isn’t it!
If we find something interesting or strange,
we might bring it back to Earth and take it to
Te Papa Museum for everyone to see. We
get lots of big sand storms on Mars, and the
other people usually call out loud “SAND
STORM!”. So we jump into the Space
Shuttle and fly somewhere safe. I’m having
a great time. See you in 6 months okay bye.
XOXO
Super Fast Post
Mr and Mrs Jackson
C/- Rata Street School
Rata Street
Naenae
Lower Hutt
New Zealand
The EARTH
Mars is the 4th Planet from the Sun. It is on the
edge of the life zone. Mars is a lot like Earth it has
an atmosphere and all those things. Robotic
probes on Mars are taking dirt samples to test the
dirt on Mars. Mars’s atmosphere is drifting off into
space so it needs volcano’s to keep it on the planet.
Mars has four volcano’s on it, the fourth one is the
biggest, its name is Olympus Mons, Olympus Mons
is three times bigger than Mt Everest. Mars has a
notorious face on it nobody knows how it got there.
Mars has the biggest fault in the solar system it is
called Mariner Valley. It is the size of America.
Mariner Valley is like the Grand Canyon. They
have found ice on Mars in the northern hemisphere
where the ice cap is very small, while in the
southern hemisphere the ice cap is much bigger.
Dust storms on Mars can last for weeks. Once
there may have been a water flow in streams on
Mars. In the southern hemisphere locked under all
that ice could be life, there could be a big sea with
life in it, such as fish, sea snakes and sea turtles.
Mars will be the next Planet we will tread on. One
day Mars might kick us out of the life zone and
Mars might be the planet that has life on it. Mars is
a fascinating place. Mars is very dusty and red
because of the rust. That is what the red rust is and
that is why they call it the red Planet. Mars core is
made out of iron and that is how the rust got there.
If Olympus Mons erupted it would turn Mars into a
pool of lava. Mars is a very small planet, third
smallest in fact. Mars is made of gas and gas is
poisonous. Mars is an ice cold, freezing desert I
would not want to live on Mars because it is too
cold.
Now you know all the amazing facts about the
magnificent Planet Mars.
By Room 11
Jupiter is a giant gas planet that orbits around the sun
Up in the Solar System it takes six months to get to Jupiter
Planet Jupiter is the largest planet that we know in space
Io is one of the four largest moons, and it is volcanic
The gravity on Jupiter can make you two and a half times
heavier
Each planet could fit inside Jupiter
Rapid rotation makes a day ten hours
Jupiter Fact File
Dear Mr Appleyard,
I have just seen Jupiter and the
Galilean Moons.
They are so
amazing and big.
Near the bottom is The Red Spot. It is
actually a huge storm on Jupiter’s
atmosphere that’s been raging for
centuries. It’s like a hurricane.
Mr Appleyard
Jupiter’s clouds are swirling around Rata Street School
the planet.
Rata Street
Naenae
We can’t land on Jupiter because we
would just get stuck in the swirling Lower Hutt
New Zealand
stormy clouds and be poisoned.
The EARTH
By the way Mr A I can’t wait until I get
back to school because its boring just
sitting down in a space shuttle for six
months so I’ll see you in six months.
Order in Solar System
Fifth planet
Distance from Sun
778,330,000 km
Distance from Earth
Between 893 million
and 964 million km
Diameter
143,000 km
Time to rotate once
9.8 hours
Time to orbit sun once 12 years
Number of moons
63
Tilt (lean)
3.3 degrees
Rings
Three
Size
More than 1,300 Earths
Made of?
Hydrogen and helium
Visited by
Pioneer 11, Viking,
Galileo
Special feature
The Red Spot
Average temperature -121 degrees
of clouds
Jupiter is an amazing planet. If you look at the picture you would be able to see that it is a huge ball of gas with swirling,
coloured, cloud bands and it has a great red spot. It has 63 moons. But we can’t live on Jupiter. It doesn’t have
oxygen, water, light and heat. I will explain these things.
To live on a planet it needs to have an atmosphere with oxygen. We need oxygen to breathe and to stay alive.
Jupiter’s atmosphere is made up of 90% hydrogen and 10% helium which would kill you. Even if you got past that you
would be pulled into the planet because the gravity is two and a half times stronger than on Earth and you would be
crushed and cooked by the pressure and heat below the atmosphere.
We also need water to live. We have 80% water in our bodies, so when we sweat it replaces the water we lose. Plants
need water to grow and the plants give us oxygen and food. On Jupiter there is no weather so there is no water cycle
and so there is no water. Without it we would die.
Light and heat are needed to keep things alive and also for plants to grow. On Jupiter there is no light or heat because
it is millions and millions of miles away from the sun. The average temperature of the clouds is -121°c. You would be
frozen and in the dark.
That is why we can’t live on Jupiter because: there is no oxygen for us to breathe and we would die, there would be no
water in our bodies and there is no light or heat so you would be a dead frozen body swirling, in the gas clouds.
Did you know that Saturn has no surface? Well it doesn’t because the planet is made form
gas and liquid. In fact, Saturn is one of the planets that is called ‘Gas Giants’ because it has
no surface. I am going to describe to you three awesome things about Saturn: appearance,
atmosphere and space exploration on the planet.
By Room 16
The appearance of Saturn is quite yellow and pale. It is surrounded by 7 rings that are only
30cm thick. These rings are made out of ice and rock. Did you know that if you look through
the thick, strong clouds you can see that there is no solid surface? Saturn is just a planet
that is covered with mixed up carbon dioxide gas and liquid. This planet looks quite like a
spaceship. The rings on Saturn spread for miles into space.
The atmosphere of Saturn is really, really cold. The temperature is -175 degrees celsius.
Man that’s got to be like 160 freezers or more, to be that cold! Another thing you might want
to know is that the clouds are vicious. They are filled with a gas called carbon dioxide.
(That’s the same gas that humans breathe out!) The clouds on Saturn can spread out so
wide that they have covered the whole planet. These clouds carry another thing.. violent
lightning and thunder storms. Saturn has lots of these swirling around it. The biggest one of
these storms is the ‘Dragon Storm’. The Dragon Storm is probably 50 times bigger than the
lightning and thunderstorms.
That information was sent to Earth from a machine called ‘The Phoenix Probe’ which was
launched in 1985 to send back information about Saturn. It was the first time anyone had
sent anything to Saturn. However, the probe didn’t land. In fact, it was not made to land at
all. It was made to orbit around Saturn because the pressure of the atmosphere would have
crushed and destroyed it. It was discovered that Saturn has many moons. The maximum
number of moons is 60 but more have been found every year so the number might be
higher than that now! One moon called ‘Titan’ is the size of Mercury! Not only that, but in
2005 people made a ground breaking discovery. They found lakes of water on Titan.
Saturn is famous for its seven rings
Atmosphere is thick and poisonous
Temperature is minus 175c
Uranus is next to Saturn
Rings are made out of ice and rock
Named after a Roman God
Dear Parish,
Today on Saturn I think I’m going to die
because there is no surface! Right now I am
flying straight down, my feet can’t find
anything to land on! I think this is because it is
all covered with pale yellow clouds just like the
golden sand on the beach. This is the
cloudiest planet, out of them all. I have been
shocked from lightening three times and I
have been in dangerous storms, one rock hit
my face and I was crying, and crying. Saturn’s
core is extremely hot!! It’s over 1,000 degrees
Fahrenheit. Now I’d be cooking in there.
Saturn is also the brightest planet I have ever
seen with my two eyes. It is the sixth planet
from the sun.
Saturn is surrounded by
gigantic rings. If you look from Earth to Saturn
the rings look like a huge C.D. The rings
stretch up to 30cm long, that’s as long as your
school ruler Parish! There are only 7 rings and
they are all connected to each other, each one
is made from rock and ice. If you get closer to
Saturn the rocks actually look as big as a car
but some are small as a grain of sand. Saturn
has a lot of moons and one of them is called
Titan. Did you know that Saturn has the
biggest moons in the whole solar system?
That’s fascinating!! I found very cool things on
Titan such as humungous holes which are
called craters. I was trying to look all the way
down a black hole (crater) and I tripped over. I
was very lucky because I wasn’t in the
deepest crater. I held on tightly to the big rock
inside the crater and I made it out of there!
Phew!
I hope you now know all about Saturn
because now I am going to go now. Bye for
now Parish.
So I hope, after all that, you are getting a bit smarter and know more about Saturn. Plus,
you now know about the wonders of Saturn’s appearance, atmosphere and exploration on
the planet. Do you feel a bit smarter?
Did you know that…
1.
Saturn’s biggest moon is called Titan and scientists have found liquid
ethane which is like water.
2.
Saturn is famous for its seven rings which are made out of rock and ice.
3.
4.
Saturn has powerful hurricanes which are called Dragon storms.
Saturn is one of the gas giants in the solar system.
Why We Can't Live On Saturn
“ Daddy, why can't we live on Saturn?” Because. “But why not?” Be quiet and I'll tell you.
“Okay.” Because Saturn is so far away from the sun. That's it. Okay, there is more. We'll
take an in-depth look in the next paragraph...and two others. These three paragraphs are
going to be about the surface (or possibly the not-surface), the pressures, and the varied
temperatures of the planet Saturn.
`For one thing , the surface of Saturn wouldn't be hospitable for one very obvious reason:
it has no surface. Instead it has a liquid interior, and do you know of any humans who are
able to live in liquid-especially liquid hydrogen and methane-and survive without an
aqualung? I don't. But Saturn has water on it. So why doesn't Saturn support life? To
answer that we'll have to go on to the next paragraph.
The pressure on Saturn would be unbearable to almost all known life forms except for one
form of life, and that life form is not us. It's a Tardigrade, a.k.a, a Water Bear (a little
creature that can survive more than a cockroach). But that's not our subject. Anyway,
where were we? Oh yes, at the subject of that question in the last paragraph. The answer
is: the pressure on Saturn would crush you long before you touched the water. If you tried
to send a space probe, manned or not, or a habitable space station into Saturn, you
guessed it, the pressure would crush it. Along with the pressure, there's also the
temperatures.
At the inner core of Saturn, it is a boiling temperature of 11,700 degrees celsius, but at the
cloud-tops it's a freezing -106 to-176 degrees celsius. Brrrr! The immense heat at the core
is generated by the compression of Saturn, the pressures on the core compress it, so it
emits energy in the form of heat. So if you went near the core of Saturn, you'd be
incinerated, and near the cloud-tops you'd be an ice-block, except more of a cryogenically
frozen ice-block, you'd be so cold. Hostile! But what about the interior? Well the middle is
somewhere around -100 degrees celsius, so too cold to live in. Why does Saturn, with all
of its beauty, have to be so inhospitable? Couldn't it do us a favour and start naturally
terraforming?
So that's why we can't live on Saturn: because of the surface, or more precisely, the notsurface, the crushing pressures, and the varied temperatures. So don't ask to go to Saturn
again. "Okay then, can we go to Jupiter?” Be quiet.
By Room 15
Did you know that Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun, is called the “ice giant” because it is made up of rock and ice and has a
large rocky core. Now you may not find that interesting, but because of the tremendous planetary pressure of Uranus, scientists believe
there could possibly be trillions of large diamonds in or on the surface of Uranus. Imagine how rich you would be if you lived on Uranus.
Unfortunately, we can’t live or survive on this planet. Let me explain to you some of the reasons why you can’t live on Uranus – temperature, atmosphere and hurricanes.
First of all, Uranus is the coldest planet in the solar system. It’s even colder than Mars! It’s a mind-numbing -212C. Imagine running
around in Antarctica wearing nothing but ice and frost. That’s a lot colder than a freezer! And Uranus is even worse than that! Wow!
But more dangers lurk in Uranus, everywhere in the atmosphere.
The air in Uranus is very poisonous. It’s made of hydrogen, helium and methane gas. Those are three dangerous gasses. You wouldn’t be able to breathe! There is no oxygen on Uranus. We need oxygen to be able to breathe. Otherwise you can’t take a single
breath, and you would just die! Uranus doesn’t have any gravity. Gravity is the force that keeps us on the ground. Without it, we’d float
away!
On Uranus, many hurricanes blow at all times of the day. Even though one day on Uranus is equivalent to 18hours on Earth, that’s still
a long time of non-stop Hurricanes. Hurricanes are strong winds that blow around in a circular motion. That circle gets bigger at the top
of the hurricane. Hurricanes cause lots of damage and death when they occur. On Uranus they’re even worse. They blow up to
speeds of 322km/h. Wow! That’s fast. Imagine living on a planet where you can’t breathe, can’t stand on solid ground and spending
18 hours dodging dangerous and speeding hurricanes. I would not want to live on a planet like that.
So now you know why we can’t live on Uranus. If you want to know more facts or make some cool suggestions on how we could survive on Uranus, come see me in Room 15. I’ll be more than happy to hear and share.
D e ar R o o m
1 5
Wow! Finally we’ve made to Uranus. Can you believe we’ve been travelling for 9.5years? That’s a long time to be
travelling in a Space Craft. Uranus is such a huge planet. It’s like 50 times bigger than Earth. The days go really
fast here on Uranus. One day is like 18 hours on Earth. Cool aye? Yesterday, Nofoaga
counted 21 moons that orbit Uranus. That’s a lot of moons for one planet. It’s a really beautiful pale blue colour. It
reminds us of the really nice clear blue skies that we have back on Earth. I’ve noticed that it’s really freezing cold
here. Our temperature gauge is telling us minus 212degrees! Luckily we are in our space craft which is keeping us
warm. One really weird discovery we’ve made is Uranus is tilted like 90degrees, so the North and South ice polar
caps are on the West and East side. We can’t wait to fly back home. We miss our hot weather and we’re sick of
eating yucky food inside this space craft. We can’t wait to have a proper birthday celebration, because it’s not fun
celebrating our birthday’s in a space craft. When we get back, you might not recognise us, because we will be 18
years older than what we were when we left you guys. Can’t wait to see you all again. Nofoaga wants to have a big
30 year old party when she comes back. See you all in 9.5 years time.
By Room 10
Did you know that Neptune….
•
is a gas giant.
•
is cold – it is about -240 degrees there because it
is the eighth planet from the sun.
•
has stronger wind than a hurricane.
•
is covered in blue and green clouds.
•
has 13 moons that travel around it.
•
is 4,504,300,000 kilometres from the sun.
•
has ice.
•
has rings that are hard to see because of the
clouds surrounding the planet.
•
has an atmosphere made of hydrogen, helium,
and methane.
At last, I finally landed on Neptune. I was shivering and my
body was covered with goosebumps. As I stepped out of my
spacecraft, I could feel my goosebumps. The hairs on my
arms tingled. What was this place? Would it be like Earth?
As I walked along wondering if there were animals living on
this planet, I could feel the wind coming in – brrrrr! I was
shaking but I was glad my spacesuit had an electric heater
inside. I looked up and saw the different coloured clouds
hanging about. They were sea blue, grass green, and snow
white, and they made the place look mysterious. What a lot of
craters!
Suddenly, I saw something white behind a crater. I didn’t
know what it was. The hairs on my arms stood straight and
still. I went up to the crater very slowly, wondering what that
white thing could be. I peeked … and stood there staring at
my spacecraft!!
Hi Mum and Dad. Did you know that we
can’t live on a planet called Neptune? If you
didn’t, I’ll explain why we can’t.
First of all, we can’t live on Neptune
because there is no water on that planet.
Humans need water to survive (stay alive).
80% of our body is filled with water, like a
water tank three quarters filled.
Hi Miss Curry,
It’s SO cold over here, near Neptune
that I can’t even land! It is very cold
because it is the eighth planet from
the sun. That means it’s freezing
here. I reckon it’s about minus 240
degrees. Can you believe it? I’m so
pleased that I am wearing my special
space suit. I’m really missing Earth,
and I hope it’s warmer than Neptune
when I get back. I’m pretty thirsty
too! It was a big surprise finding out
there was no water on this planet. I
wish I could walk on Neptune, but I
can’t because not only is it too cold to
land, but also there is no solid
ground. My space ship would just fall
straight through. I’m heading back to
Earth now, I’ll see you in twelve
years!
Neptune is an enormous planet
Earth is four times smaller
Particularly gassy
Thirteen moons
Unpleasantly cold
Nasty wind
Eighth planet from the sun
Miss Curry
Rata Street School
Rata Street
Naenae
Lower Hutt
New Zealand
The EARTH
Another problem with Neptune is that the
temperature on Neptune is below freezing.
It’s about -240 degrees there. We would
freeze as soon as we get there!! Humans
can’t live in super hot or super cold places.
We also can’t live on Neptune because
there is no solid ground. Neptune is actually
made out of Hydrogen gas. There would be
nothing to build anything on and nothing to
walk on so basically we would fall straight
through!
Now you know why we can’t live on
Neptune. Isn’t it amazing? Lucky we live on
Earth!