Real World: Limits of the Solar System
What defines the limits of the solar system? Where does the Oort Cloud fit within this defined space? Paul Chodas, from NASA's Near Earth Object Program, answers these questions and fills us in on some of NASA's missions and explorations that have helped shape our understanding of the solar system.
Discussion and writing prompts
1. Where do you think the solar system ends? Use evidence from the video to explain how features such as the heliosphere, Kuiper Belt, and Oort Cloud help scientists define the "edge" of the solar system. Why might different definitions all be scientifically valid?
2. NASA missions like Voyager and New Horizons have traveled farther from Earth than any previous spacecraft. How has data collected by these spacecraft changed or improved our understanding of the solar system?
Background Information
Grades 3 through 8
- NASA eClips Our World: What Is a Solar System? (video)
- NASA Space Place Solar System (webpage)
Grades 3 through 12
- NASA Our Solar System Lithograph Set (webpage)
Grades 4 through 8
- NASA Solar System Exploration - Kids (webpage)
Grades 4 through 12
- NASA eClips Real World: Scaling the Solar System (video)
Grades 5 through 12
- NASA Solar System Ambassadors (webpage)
- NASA Solar System Exploration (webpage)
Grades 6 through 12
- NASA New Horizons (webpage)
- NASA Voyager (webpage)
- NASA JPL Cassini (webpage)
Activities
Grades 3 through 5
- NASA GSFC The Scale of Things (pdf)
Grades 3 through 8
- NASA SpacePlace Power Up with Solar System Activities Book (e-book)
- NASA Space Place Solar System (webpage)
Grades 3 through 12
- NASA Solar System and Beyond Trading Cards (webpage)
- NASA GSFC Play-doh Scale Models (pdf)
Grades 4 through 8
- Lunar and Planetary Institute Solar System in My Neighborhood (webpage)
Grades 4 through 12
- NASA Eyes on the Solar System (interactive)
Grades 5 through 12
- NASA Solar System TREKS (interactive)
Grades 6 through 8
Grades 6 through 12
- NASA A Scale Model of the Solar System (pdf)
- NASA Solar System Scroll (webpage)
- NASA JPL Modeling the Structure of the Solar System (webpage)
- NASA Exploring the Solar System: Pocket Solar System (webpage)