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Some Earth facts

First you need to remember some facts about the Earth. The Earth is almost a perfect globe or sphere (the force of its spinning causes it to bulge out around the Equator). It is travelling through space as part of the solar system.

When we are talking about the Earth we divide it into 2 halves. These are called hemispheres. There is the Northern Hemisphere (where we find Britain) and the Southern Hemisphere (where we find Australia and South Africa).

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Some Sun facts

The nearest star to the Earth is called the Sun. This huge ball of hot, glowing gas is 15 million degrees Celsius at the centre, and is over a million times the size of the Earth. It looks different to the other stars in the sky because the Earth is relatively close to it - about 150 million kilometres away.

Like all of the planets in our Solar System the Earth travels around, or orbits, the Sun. The Earth's orbit around the Sun is elliptical. This means that it isn't a circle - it is more like a stretched circle.

The Sun is very important to the Earth. All of our energy comes from the Sun in the form of light and heat. Without the Sun's energy life would not exist on Earth.

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Orbit question

Try this quiz question to check what you have learnt. Don't worry if you get it wrong.

Which of these is right?

  1. The Earth goes round the Sun
  2. The Sun goes round the Earth
  3. Neither move