England Key Stage 4 | The Schools' Observatory

Distances in Space

Distances to objects in space are very, very large. The nearest star (excluding the Sun), Alpha Centauri, is 41.23 trillion km, or 41,320,000,000,000 km!!

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What is the Solar System?

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What is the Sun?

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Planet Facts Posters

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Our Sun Quiz

The Sun is our closest star and the centre of our Solar System. However, it is only one of several billion stars in our galaxy.

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Make a Play-doh Solar System

You may know that Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System, but do you know how much larger than the Earth it is?

Find out by creating a scale model of each planet in our Solar System!

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How is the Universe Expanding?

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What Can We See on the Sun?

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Create An Expanding Universe

You have likely heard about the Universe expanding. Or that redshift can tell us about the movements of galaxies. Both are difficult ideas to imagine and understand.

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Order the Planets

Our Solar System contains 8 planets. But which is closest to the Sun? And which is furthest away?

Complete this challenge to show the order of the planets.

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