Solar System Science
Try these astronomical activities to learn
more about our Solar System, and its
planets, meteors, and moons. Learn
something new about our amazing Universe
or discover the stars from your own
backyard.
Prepare to turn your house into an
astronomy lab for some out of this world
learning and fun!
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Cosmic Clouds
Many planets, just like Earth, have atmospheres that produce clouds and weather.
With the exception of Mercury, swirling clouds can be seen around all the planets
in the Solar System. Create your own cosmic cloud in a bottle.
Materials
• 2-litre plastic pop bottle
• plastic freezer bag, filled with ice cubes
• black paper
• scissors
• matches
• food colouring (optional)
Let’s get to work!
What happened?
1. Cut the top off the pop bottle to make an opening that is
a bit bigger than your fist.
2. Use the black paper to create a backdrop around half
the bottle. Cut it to fit, and tape it to the bottle.
3. Fill the bottle one-third full with hot tap water.
4. Add a few drops of food colouring if you wish.
5. Have an adult light a match, then blow it out.
6. Immediately place the blown-out match in the bottle for
a few seconds to trap a bit of smoke in the bottle, then
drop the match into the water.
7. Quickly cover the top of the
bottle with the bag of ice cubes.
8. Look at the bottle: what do you
see? Remove the bag of ice
To be safe,
cubes from the bottle and let
have an adult
your cloud escape.
light the
match.
On any planet, three main ingredients are needed for the formation of clouds:
1. A liquid to evaporate into the air: in our bottle we used water, just like on Earth. On
Saturn’s moon, Titan, liquid methane lakes evaporate into the atmosphere to create
clouds.
2. A temperature difference great enough to cause evaporation: in the bottle, the
difference in temperature occurs between the hot water and the ice.
3. Tiny particles for liquid vapour to condense onto: liquid droplets can form around
evaporated sea salt over Earth’s oceans, dust particles swirling over the surface of Mars,
or in the case of our bottle, smoke particles from the match.
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Going Around in Circles
Planets in our Solar System all orbit the Sun, but not at the same speed. Have you ever
wondered which planet completes its orbit the fastest? This experiment will not only give you
the answer, but will demonstrate why.
Materials
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sturdy plastic drinking straw
piece of string cut to about 60 cm (there will be extra)
piece of aluminum foil, about 30 cm by 30 cm
set of keys, or metal washers, to act as a weight
scissors
coloured markers
Let’s get to work!
1. Cut your drinking straw to about 15 cm in length.
2. Thread the string through the straw.
3. Crumple the aluminum foil tightly around one end of the
string, to become your orbiting “planet.”
4. Measure 45 cm from the planet along the string and tie the weight at that position, so
that your straw is now between the planet and the weight. Trim any extra string.
Scaled distances from the Sun (cm)
(Scaled to the 45-cm length of string)
Mercury
0.6
Jupiter
7.8
Earth
1.5
Uranus
28.7
Venus
Mars
1.1
2.3
Saturn
Neptune
14.3
45.0
Create your orbit
1. Hold the straw with your hand as in the
photo above. Your hand will be like the Sun
at the centre of the Solar System.
2. Swing the aluminum foil planet in a circle
around the straw, like in the image above.
3. Notice what happens when you pull the
weight down, making the orbit length
(string length) shorter.
Test all the planet orbits by measuring and marking them on the string using the scaled
distances provided.
What happened?
As the aluminum “planet” gets closer to the straw, its orbital speed increases. The same is true in
our Solar System where the planets closest to the Sun orbit the fastest. In place of a string, the
planets are attracted to the Sun by gravitational force. Newton’s law of universal gravitation
states that the gravitational force between two objects is stronger the closer the objects are to
each other. This explains why Mercury, as the planet closest to the Sun, has the fastest orbit—it
makes a complete trip around the Sun once every 90 Earth days!
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Making an Impact!
The surface of our Moon is covered with impact craters, formed by meteors speeding through our
Solar System and hitting the Moon’s surface. Create your own impact craters using various
household “meteors.”
Materials
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1000 ml flour (approximately)
125 ml coloured powder—cocoa
powder or coloured drink mix works
well
A large, shallow container such as an
aluminum baking dish or pizza box
3 to 5 “meteors” of various sizes and
weights. They do not all have to be
round—try experimenting with
different shapes. Here are some
suggestions:
o marble
o small rock or pebble
o golf ball
o small bean bag
o potato
o tennis ball
Photo: Tim Cole
Craters on the Moon are formed when
meteors hit its surface. The impact
creates these circular imprints, some of
which we can see with the naked eye
from Earth.
Let’s get to work!
Spread out a sheet or two of newspaper, or work outside, to make cleanup easier.
1. Place the container on the floor, and fill it evenly
about 2 cm deep with flour.
2. Cover the flour with a thin layer of cocoa powder
or drink mix; the coloured powder represents
the Moon’s surface.
3. Hold the first meteor 1 to 2 metres above the
flour (about the height of your head).
4. Drop the meteor into the flour. What happened
to the flour where the meteor hit the surface?
The coloured powder will help you to see the
impact crater patterns.
5. Continue making impact craters with meteors of different sizes, shapes, and
weights. Try dropping them from different heights to get different results. (After
such intense meteor bombardment, you may have to rebuild your Moon surface
with more flour.)
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What happened?
Meteors can also hit
the Earth to form
impact craters. The
second-largest
impact crater in the
world is 250 km
across and is found
near Sudbury,
Ontario.
When the meteors hit the flour, round imprints are left on
the surface. These are impact craters, just like those on
the surface of our Moon. Larger meteors create bigger
impact craters with more material, called ejecta, being
tossed out of the crater on impact. Look closely and you
may even see lines of ejecta, called rays, pointing away
from the crater, just like on the Moon.
Canadian Connection:
Manicougan Crater, Côte-Nord, Quebec
The Manicougan Crater is 100 km
across and can easily be spotted from
space, as in the image above.
Scientists believe that the crater was
caused by an asteroid hitting the
Earth some 215 million years ago.
Can’t get enough craters?
Why not check out the Moon’s craters yourself using a pair of binoculars, or visit your
local astronomical observatory to see the craters up close with a telescope. In
Ottawa, visit the Helen Sawyer Hogg Observatory at the Canada Science and
Technology Museum during free stargazing evenings.
For details, visit the Museum website:
http://www.sciencetech.technomuses.ca/english/whatson/astronomy-programs.cfm
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Night Sky Scavenger Hunt
Become a backyard astronomer and discover how people have been gazing into the night
sky for millennia with the naked eye — no telescope required.
Materials
• Flashlight—if you wish, cover the lens with red Cellophane to create a red light (you
will find it easier on your eyes in the dark).
• a Star Chart from the Museum website:
www.sciencetech.technomuses.ca/english/whatson/astronomy-resources-activitytemplates.cfm
• binoculars (optional; any type will do)
Picking the perfect spot
• Find a place as far away from porch lights or street lights as possible—the darker
the sky, the more stars you will see.
• Find a safe and comfortable area where you can sit or lie down for a full view of the
sky.
• Avoid areas with lots of trees or buildings, so that as few objects as possible block
your view of the sky.
• Dress properly for the weather—you’ll want a sweater or jacket if it’s cold, and
perhaps bug repellent in summer.
Ready, set, stargaze!
1. You can start stargazing once the sky is dark, about an hour after sunset.
2. Let your eyes adjust to the darkness – try not to look directly at your flashlight or
other lights.
3. Use your star chart to navigate your way around the night sky. The sky changes
depending on the time of year, so be sure you have the current month’s chart. Have
fun with our scavenger hunt checklist:
Objects
□ the Moon
□ Pleiades star cluster
□ Milky Way galaxy
□ meteors (shooting stars)
Constellations
□ Ursa Major (Big Dipper)
□ Cassiopeia
□ Orion (winter constellation)
□ Summer Triangle (summer constellation)
Bonus: Spot the International Space Station
Before heading out, visit the NASA website below for the dates and times when the
International Space Station will be passing over your area. Be ready at the specified time—
it looks like a shooting star and passes quickly.
http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/
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Planetary Pizza
Use all your astronomy knowledge to create your own Solar System on a tasty pizza. Make
Jupiter out of pepperoni or Saturn’s rings out of onion rings—your favourite toppings are
transformed into delicious planets, tasty asteroids and a savoury Sun!
Ingredients
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pre-made pizza crust or dough
pizza sauce
grated cheese
toppings of your choice (see suggestions below)
Cooking up the Solar System
To avoid injuries,
always use oven
mitts and be sure
to have adult
supervision.
1. Preheat the oven according to the package directions for
your pre-made pizza crust or dough.
2. Place the pre-made crust on a pizza pan, or roll out the
dough into a circular shape and place on a pizza pan.
3. Spread pizza sauce evenly over the crust.
4. Sprinkle cheese evenly over the sauce.
5. Use different toppings to represent different objects in our Solar System. See the
Astronomical Toppings suggested below for fun ideas.
6. Bake according to package directions for the pre-made crust or dough.
7. Let the pizza cool for 5 minutes and enjoy. Bon appétit!
Astronomical Toppings:
These are just a few ideas—add your own to create a
unique Solar System!
Pizza chefs spin pizza
dough above their
heads. This is the
same circular motion
that flattened our
Solar System 4.6
billion years ago!
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giant gas planets such as Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune,
and Uranus—pepperoni, sausage, zucchini, or sliced
tomatoes
small terrestrial planets like Mercury, Venus, Earth,
and Mars—olives, cherry tomatoes, pineapples,
green onion
Sun—a full pineapple ring or round piece of ham
asteroid belt—bacon bits, sundried tomatoes
Saturn’s rings—onions rings or green peppers cut
cross-wise
moons, comets, and meteors—sliced mushrooms,
capers, red pepper flakes
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Experiments
□ 2-litre plastic pop
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bottle
black paper
small plastic freezer
bag
ice cubes
matches
food colouring
(optional)
sturdy plastic
drinking straw
String
Recipes
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aluminum foil
small weight
coloured markers
flour
coloured powder
(e.g., drink mix or
cocoa powder)
“meteor” objects
large, deep container
flashlight (red light is
best)
□ pre-made pizza crust
or dough
□ pizza sauce
□ your choice of pizza
□
toppings
grated cheese
Movie
Book
Fly Me to the Moon
Three young houseflies stow away aboard the
Apollo 11 flight to the Moon.
The Kids Book of the Night Sky,
By: Jane Drake and Ann Love
In this book, children discover all the
secrets of the night sky, playing games like
"Night Sky I Spy," keeping an astronomer's
log, and reading about night sky myths.
Star maps are included for each season, so
kids will know what to look for, when, and
where. When the Sun goes down and the
sky becomes dark, young readers will be
ready for the night sky's all-star show.
(nWave Pictures, 2008)
Web link
Learn more about astronomy with this series of
short videos, created in celebration of the
International Year of Astronomy, showcasing
artifacts from the Museum’s collection.
www.sciencetech.technomuses.ca/english/whats
on/astronomy-videos.cfm
(Kids Can Press, 2004)
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