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Hi, my name is Ukip, the friendly alien that will 

be teaching you all about the formation of our 

solar system!

To start, we must go back in time more than 13 

billion years ago to the very beginning of our 

universe.

Ready? Let's go!

Here we are... 13 Billion years ago when it all began!

We are in a place known as a singularity, where 

many scientist believe the entire universe started.

This ball of energy exploded, as you can see behind 

me, and over billions of years, all objects in space 

have been created because of this Big Bang.

However, not everything in space has been the same 

for the billions of years it has been around...

let us take a look!

We will begin our exploration of the solar 

system at the sun, because it is the center, 

and the first object formed in our solar system. 

We must stay a safe distance away though, 

because the sun is extremely hot!

Around 4.6 billion years ago particles of dust 

and gas began to form together due to 

energy and gravity. Gravity caused these 

materials to collapse in on themselves and 

begin to spin, which created our sun.

The sun is the largest object in our solar 

system, and made up of 70% Hydrogen, 

28% Helium, and 2% of some other special 

materials.

Our first planet stop will be Mercury, because it is closest to the sun, and is our first terrestrial 

planet.

A terrestrial planet is simply a solid planet, so I will take you through these first, because they are the 4 

planets closest to the sun.

Anyways, you probably want to know how Mercury was formed! Basically, Mercury's 

metallic core came first, with lighter elements forming the crust and atmosphere later.

Like I said earlier, not all planets have stayed the same since their creation, and scientist 

believe today's Mercury(the smallest planet) is much smaller than the original... perhaps it was struck by 

another large celestial object?

Some interesting facts about Mercury include that its orbit around the sun is only 88 days, it has no 

moons, and is 70% metal.

Next we will stop at Venus...

The rocky core of Venus was the first part of 

the planet formed, and then gravity began to 

capture other elements that make up its 

crust, mantle, and atmosphere.

Interesting facts about Venus include it's size 

that is extremely close the Earth's, it's orbit 

that only takes 224 days and rotates counter-

clockwise, and that it is the hottest planet, 

made up of 96% Carbon Dioxide.

The next planet should be a good one... Let 

us take a look!

Here it is... Earth! The only planet inhabited by life!

Earth is believed to have formed 4.6 billion years ago. While massive collisions creating the sun were 

occurring, smaller material and objects began to build up as well(Earth)! Gravity then began 

collecting gas and created an atmosphere. In the beginning years, Earth was mainly just a ball of molten 

lava, as the universe was still extremely hot, and many collisions were still occurring. The 

collisions most likely also account for the Earth's tilt, as well as the Moon which was possibly a chunk of 

Earth knocked out by a collision of another object. Over time, the Earth's surface cooled, and a crust and 

water were able to form. The earliest form of multicellular organisms came about 580 million 

years ago.

Earth is 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, and 1% of other gases. It is the most dense of all the planets, and in my 

opinion, definitely the most awesome!

Sadly, we have to leave Earth and keep moving...

Here we arrive at Mars, the last of the terrestrial planets.

Similarly to the other terrestrial planets, Mars is believe to have formed the same way, with 

excess debris from the sun creating the core, and gravity bringing in gases to form the 

atmosphere.

Like Venus, Mars is made up of 95% Carbon Dioxide. Also, you may be wondering why Mars 

looks so red! This is because the surface of Mars is a thick layer of oxidized(rusted) iron dust. 

Strangely, the farther we get from the sun, the more moons the planets seem to have, because 

Mars is the first planet with 2 moons: Phobos and Deimos. Lastly, the orbit of Mars takes 687 

days.

Now we move on to a different type of planets... Any guesses what they could be?

Here we meet our first gas giant, planet Jupiter!

Once the sun was formed, heavy, rocky materials stayed 

near, while solar wind swept away the lighter elements that 

ended up forming the farther planets like this jupiter!

Jupiter is 90% Hydrogen, and 10% Helium. The core is 

believed by some to be rock and others to be molten liquid, 

but when the core temperature is 35,000 degrees Celsius, 

the answer is hard to determine.

Jupiter is also the largest planet, has 67 moons and 4 rings, 

and completes an orbit just less than every 12 Earth years. 

Lastly, you may notice the giant red storm that has been 

going on for the last 350 years!

Here we take a look at the other gas giant 

Saturn!

Saturn's core formed first similar to Jupiter, and 

then gravity pull in the lighter elements before 

the solar winds swept them even farther 

away.

Again, Saturn is almost completely Hydrogen 

and Helium. The core is also suspected to be 

rocky. It has 62 moons, more than 30 rings, 

and takes just less than 30 years to complete 

an orbit. The rings of saturn have been dust 

and rocks collected and brought into an orbit 

by gravity. Opposite to Earth, Saturn is the 

least dense of the planets.

This concludes the gas giants... what could be 

next?

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