Natural Sciences and Technology Grade 5-B ... - Thunderbolt Kids

The Earth is called aplanet. There are 7 other planets also moving
around the Sun. You can see one of the other planets on most
evenings, or early in the morning. This planet is called Venus or
iKhwezi or Naledi ya Masa. It is not astar.
You can see the planet Venus just after sunset or just
before sunrise below the moon.
Venus also moves around the Sun but its orbit is asmaller circle
than Earth's orbit. Venus takes 225 Earth days to go once around
the Sun.
Teacher's Note
The days referred to here are Earth days; Venus has its own
day-length but it's very much longer than an Earth day.
Mars is another planet you can see on some nights. Mars appears
as asmall, orange dot in the sky. Mars takes 687 Earth days to go
once around the Sun.
You can also see Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn in the sky, but they
are harder to see than Venus and Mars. All the planets seem to
move along the same path that the Sun and Moon seem to move.
Chapter 1. Planet Earth
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