We live on the relatively small planet Earth, where we have built, explored and interacted through the many millions of years we've been here. For a long time, though, people have asked what is beyond the Earth, and because of evolving technology, we now know things that seemed impossible to know before.
Everything in the universe is made up of galaxies, and galaxies are made up of matter and planets like the Earth. In our galaxy (the Milky Way), we have eight planets, not including any dwarf planets and the sun. The planets listed are from closest to the sun to farthest from the sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Now closer to the Earth is the moon, which orbits us (makes a full rotation of us) every 28 days. When the Moon blocks the sun, it makes the Earth pitch black, which we call a solar eclipse. The moon has something called a lunar cycle, which is how much of the moon is lit each day. Fun fact – we get a full moon once every 28 days.
You might be wondering now how we know all this information, but the answer is easy: evolving technology. We can see planets far away from Earth using super telescopes, which capture incredible pictures definitely worth a look. We have also sent satellites into space to look at surroundings, including famous satellites like the ISS, or International Space Station.
There are many more things to explore in space, and some we have no records of. Space is a truly interesting topic that is definitely worth studying or researching facts about.
Thank you for reading!