Dear teacher.You've undoubtedly heard the big space news: Pluto is not a planet! At a meeting of the International Astronomical Union “IAU” redirects here. For other uses, see IAU (disambiguation). The International Astronomical Union (IAU) unites national astronomical societies from around the world. in August 2006, scientists revised the definition of planet. They took a vote and changed Pluto's status to "dwarf planet dwarf planet Body, other than a natural satellite (moon), that orbits the Sun and that is, for practical purposes, smaller than the planet Mercury yet large enough for its own gravity to have rounded its shape substantially. ." Ceres and Eris, other objects in our solar system solar system, the sun and the surrounding planets, natural satellites, dwarf planets, asteroids, meteoroids, and comets that are bound by its gravity. The sun is by far the most massive part of the solar system, containing almost 99.9% of the system's total mass. , have also been placed in this new category. Junior Scholastic is now delighted to provide you and your students with this up-to-date solar-system poster, "A New Look at the Solar System." The poster features the sun, eight planets, and the newly named dwarf planets. In addition, we've put together five activities that will provide students with fun and unusual views of our solar system. The activities are sure to build important skills, including chart-reading, mathematics, and reading comprehension. Plus, our list of resources and background materials will help you gather even more out-of-this-world information. We would like to thank the education department of the Lunar and Planetary Institute The Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) is a NASA-funded research institute, dedicated to studies of the solar system, its evolution and formation. The Institute is part of the Universities Space Research Association, located in Houston, Texas. in Houston, Texas, for helping us with this poster. We're extremely pleased to be able to keep you and your students current by providing these additional materials. We hope you enjoy this tour of the revised solar system. Suzanne McCabe, Editor Junior Scholastic Scholastic Inc. 557 Broadway, 4th Floor New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , NY 10012-3999 e-mail: Junior@scholastic.com |
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