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Lesson details
Key learning points
- The solar system includes the Sun, eight planets, dwarf planets and bands of smaller rocks.
- The planets, dwarf planets and bands of smaller rocks all move the same way around the Sun as they orbit it.
- Most planets in the solar system are orbited by one or more moons.
- Each moon orbits a planet because of the gravitational attraction between it and the planet.
- Each planet in the solar system orbits the Sun because of the gravitational attraction between it and the Sun.
Keywords
Solar system - the Sun and the collection of objects in orbit around it
Planet - a very large, spherical object in orbit around a star that has cleared the path of its orbit of other objects
Dwarf planet - a large object in orbit around a star that has not cleared the path of its orbit of other objects
Moon - a natural object in orbit around a planet
Common misconception
Gravity only acts close to the surface of a planet.
Provide examples of motions caused by gravitational forces acting over huge distances of space, such as the orbits of planets.
Licence
Lesson video
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