Space Facts for Kids: Fascinating Black Holes to Planets

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Updated on: Educator Review By: Michelle Connolly

Outer space has fascinated scientists and the world alike for centuries. From ancient times where people watched the stars to astronauts exploring planets, space travel is something that has excited children and adults.

Providing space facts for kids encourages this heartfelt desire to discover more and learn more about the Earth and its surroundings.

Space Facts for Kids
Milky way and Starry Sky Background

The sun, the moon, planets and stars, black holes, outer space is filled with fascinating information that helps us understand more about our own world.

Learning space facts for kids will help children understand how wide our universe is and to constantly explore the world around us.

Space Facts for Kids: The Sun

Out of everything that resides in space, people probably talk about the sun the most. The sun is an important part of our solar system and it is vital for human life on the earth.

Not only does it give us light and keep us warm, there are plenty of other space facts for kids that can get them interested in the sun’s role in our lives. The sun is incredibly hot, with its core being 13,6000,000 degree celsius.

You would definitely need any ice cream to cool down e about the sun with. The sun is also the largest object in our solar system making up 99.86% of the solar system’s mass. The sun is also important because it keeps the stars, the planets, and the earth working in unison as their orbits are arranged around them.

If we didn’t have the gravity of the sun, the earth would spin in haphazard directions.

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The Sun: Solar system Planets: Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Others

The Sun is an incredibly old object. It is 4.5 billion years of age. Scientists believe that it started as a cloud of dust and gas before it slowly formed a massive centre and gained heat. This heat was achieved as helium and hydrogen gases built up within it.

Sunlight reaches the earth from the sun in eight minutes, this is referred to as the speed of light. Going back to the sun’s amazing size, it is 865,000 miles which, in kilometres, is 1,392,000 kilometres wide. That is 110 times wider than the earth’s diameter!

The sun would be like a large football in comparison to the earth’s size which is a ping pong ball! The sun has circled our galaxy, the milky way, only twenty times since it was formed over 4.5 billion years ago, so it is rather slow.

Space facts for kids help us realise the importance of the sun and learn more about our source of warmth and light.

Solar System Facts for Kids

Space facts for kids would be rather empty without understanding the solar system in which we live. Our solar system is incredible with over one million objects the size of the earth being able to fit inside the sun.

The sun is considered an average-sized star, which really puts the vastness of the sun into the frame. Asteroids are a common sight in outer space but around once a year, one enters the earth’s atmosphere. Sometimes more come, but it depends on the year.

These asteroids burn up before reaching us though, so there is very rarely any damage. There are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand in all the beaches of the earth – an incredible thought because that’s more than a billion trillion. One of the many phenomenal space facts for kids.

Earth’s sunsets are ethereal and spectacular events. With rich hues of red, purple, and pink, sunsets are some of life’s great joys. Not every planet is made the same and the colours of the sunsets on Mars are very different. When the sun sets, a blue colour appears – a little different from what we’re used to seeing on earth.

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At Sunset Time on The Tropical Beach and Sea with Coconut Palm Tree

Mars is an interesting planet to study by itself. In fact, there is a volcano on Mars which is three times the size of Mount Everest! The solar system is an amazing thing. Encouraging children to learn space facts for kids is a perfect way of getting them engaged with the world around them and beyond.

The vastness of the universe can be explored through a variety of content online and in books or simply go outside and stare at the sky. If you have access to a telescope, that’s even better! With so much to learn about our universe, space facts for kids is a perfect way of introducing your little ones to these grand concepts.

Space Facts for Kids: What does the Moon Do?

In the evening time, a wonderful way to spend your night is moon gazing. The moon is a beautiful part of our sky and can be viewed as a night light, lighting our way in the dark. The moon is the earth’s only natural satellite.

This means that it is a space object that orbits our planet rather than the sun. It orbits the earth every 27.3 days. The moon doesn’t have much gravity, with it only being around a fifth or 17 percent of the gravity that is found in the earth. The moon is as old as the sun in our solar system, being 4.5 billion years old.

Despite it not looking too far away in the sky it is actually 250,000 miles or 384,400 kilometres from the earth. To travel this far in a car, you would be driving for 130 days! For those who want to visit the moon, it takes around 13 hours by rocket, travelling at a light speed of 1.52 seconds – phenomenally fast.

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The Moon

While it was said for many years that the moon was made of cheese, we know that not to be true. The moon has many things present on it including mountains, valleys, lava flows, dead volcanoes, and craters.

Craters are probably the material most associated with the moon and it is thought by scientists that these formed around 3.5 to 4.5 billion years ago through meteors hitting the moon’s surface. There is no erosion on the moon which means that anyone who has set foot there will have their footprints visible for 10 million years – one way of leaving an impression.

From creating the earth’s tides to the incredible phases it goes through, the moon is an integral part of space facts for kids. Going through the phases of the new moon, the new crescent, the first quarter, the new gibbous, the full moon, the old gibbous, the last quarter and the old crescent, there are plenty of opportunities to go and learn about the moon in your garden.

See what space facts for kids you can learn by stargazing in your garden or outside.

Would you like to learn more facts about Space? Come and check our facts about Space: The First Man and The First Woman in Space & Blue Moon.

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