GETTING IN LINE WITH MARS AND JUPITER
It’s crazy to think that we’re all standing on a giant ball of dirt and rock flying through space. Earth is a “planet” sailing through space, 150 million kilometres from our Sun. Another 7 major planets spin around the Sun with us, and this week you can see an amazing sight: 5 of those planets are lined up in an almost perfect straight line in the early morning sky. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn all shine so brightly that you can see them with your “naked eye:” you don’t need a telescope or binoculars. Of course, they are all millions of miles apart in the sky…Saturn more than a billion kilometres away, which is 1,000 times 1,000 times 1,000! The planets just all happen to be on the same side of the Sun right now, so we can see them all at once. This hasn’t happened in more than 10 years. So while it’s hard to wake up while it’s still dark out to see this, we think it’s worth it.
Questions
Wee ones: If you count the 5 planets in a row, what numbers do you say?
Little kids: If we can see 5 of the 7 other major planets, how many of them can we not see? Bonus: If the last planet line-up was 12 years ago, how old were you then, or how many years later were you born?
Big kids: Jupiter looks like a tiny spot, but it’s about 10 times as wide as Earth. We’re about 12,000 miles wide, so about how wide is Jupiter? Bonus: Can you “spell” the number 1 billion in digits?
Little kids: If we can see 5 of the 7 other major planets, how many of them can we not see? Bonus: If the last planet line-up was 12 years ago, how old were you then, or how many years later were you born?
Big kids: Jupiter looks like a tiny spot, but it’s about 10 times as wide as Earth. We’re about 12,000 miles wide, so about how wide is Jupiter? Bonus: Can you “spell” the number 1 billion in digits?
Answers:
Wee ones: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Little kids: 2 planets. Bonus: Different for everyone…subtract 12 from your age, or subtract your age from 12!
Big kids: About 120,000 km. Bonus: 1,000,000,000!
The sky’s the limit: 12 ways. Mercury and Venus can line up as either MV or VM. For each of those, the remaining 3 planets have 6 possible orders: JMS, JSM, MJS, MSJ, SJM, and SMJ. Since there’s a MV set of those and VM set of those, we have 12 choices.
Little kids: 2 planets. Bonus: Different for everyone…subtract 12 from your age, or subtract your age from 12!
Big kids: About 120,000 km. Bonus: 1,000,000,000!
The sky’s the limit: 12 ways. Mercury and Venus can line up as either MV or VM. For each of those, the remaining 3 planets have 6 possible orders: JMS, JSM, MJS, MSJ, SJM, and SMJ. Since there’s a MV set of those and VM set of those, we have 12 choices.