ScienceWiz® Online Discovery Planets includes a digital flip book that provides a grand tour of the solar system. It integrates hands-on projects and celestial observations with breathtaking online materials. These include videos, simulations, Interactive 3D models and and deep dives into the centers of the gas and ice giants. Watch an incredible 4K video of the actual surface of Mars, composited from data captured by NASA’s Mars rovers. This is our first ever high resolution view of another world! Listen to the profound and stunning video narration of Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot. Take a deep dive into Saturn’s interior to watch gigantic diamond ice burgs float in a liquid diamond sea. Learn about the liquid oceans found to be buried underground on numerous moons and even beneath the frozen surface of the dwarf planet Pluto. Do some of these mineral rich oceans harbor life? The race is on to find out. The word planet means wandering star. Five of these wandering stars are visible to the naked eye and were known to the ancients. These wandering stars, did not travel across the night sky in lock-step with all the other visible stars. Their paths were peculiar and unique. The ancients did not know that these wandering stars were other worlds, but we do. Children and adults alike can now pinpoint these wandering stars themselves using the digital app provided. Just point the digital phone at the night sky in your neighborhood and you can eye-ball and distinguish each planet from among the multitude of stars. Then point a pair of strong binoculars or a telescope to get a better view. Let the tour begin!
PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES INCLUDE:
Locating the five planets with the naked eye: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter & Saturn using a digital app
Making a basic telescope (materials included). Taking a multi-dimensional tour of our Solar System online Spinning and exploring the surface features of each planet using 3D models Watching a 4K video of the surface of Mars and see what NASA’s rovers saw Constructing the planets to scale Discovering why Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet Drawing circles and ellipses for yourself (The planets travel around the Sun in elliptical orbits.) Understand what makes an ellipse different from a circle
Laying out the Solar System to scale Discover which planet could actually float in water. Learn about the asteroid belts Discover how most comets actually hide out in the Oort Cloud Discover amazing facts about the MOST studied meteorite on the planet
Mankind’s ever evolving knowledge of the Solar System is explored through videos, interactive play and simulations. Learn how human knowledge of the cycles (day-night, monthly and yearly) have been observed and recorded for thousands of years. These ongoing observations have led to our current understanding of the Solar System and our place among the stars.
The kit includes a handle box for easy storage and transport, as well as materials for each project.
