The Solar System | The Suburbs Module Outline |

The Solar System | The Suburbs Module Outline

SUB.A | Next Stop, Mars!

We’re off to Mars and the middle of our Solar System as we head out and away from Sol and the ‘tropical’ part of our home space – come on!

SUB.B | Mars

The Red Planet. Little Green Men. Mars has loomed large in our collective imaginations forever, but what’s it really like and are we really going to take vacations there in the future?

SUB.C | The Mars Missions

Science fiction has been telling us for years that we’ll be living in space soon, but robots have been out there for decades already. have a look at where our robots have already gone.

SUB.D | The Asteroid Belt

The Asteroid Belt is fast becoming one of the Solar System’s hottest spots! Between tracking potential threats to Earth, to trapping asteroids for resource mining, asteroids are hot properties in lots of ways.

SUB.E | All That Gassss

Out past Mars we come to some of the most beautiful and most mysterious planets in our neighborhood – planets that have massive storms, gorgeous rings, incredible mountain ranges and moons galore!

SUB.F | Jupiter

Jupiter: the biggest planet in our solar system. Big as it is, there’s a lot more to learn about Jupiter and its myriad moons – there might even be life!

SUB.G | Saturn

Saturn is one of the most distinctive, beautiful and easily recognizable planets in our Solar System, thanks to those famous rings, but guess what? There’s a lot more to Saturn than bling!

SUB.H |Goodnight Moons

How many moons ARE there careening around our planets? Astronomers think life off Earth may be much more likely on one of the moons of our Solar System than on other planets, so let’s take some time to learn which is which. Have fun exploring!

SUB.I | Uranus

What’s so special about Uranus? Besides being surprisingly beautiful, it has a lot going on besides the obvious comedic possibilities (but yes, some of those are ‘brewing’ too!), so come in and explore!

SUB.J | Neptune

As blue as the sea, that’s Neptune. One of the furthest out of our neighbors, Neptune is distant, hostile, windy and incredibly cold, but deep blue and beautiful. Have a look!

SUB.K | Lesson Quizzes, Games & Bonus Questions

We’ve taken an amazing journey now, through the Solar System and out to the furthest reaches of our home in the universe. Let’s see what you’ve learned!

SUB.L| Dive Deeper

Want to know more? Explore some of our favorite apps, read up on the Solar System and check out the resources we’ve compiled for you.

Your SUB Module Progress

10 Fun Facts: The Hab

1. Aquarius is the the world’s only permanent undersea research station.

2. Most missions last about two or three weeks.

3. Fabien Cousteau, grandson of Jacques Cousteau, beat his grandfather’s record month-long underwater expedition by spending 31 days on the Aquarius Reef Base in 2014.

4. The lab is used by NASA, the US Navy, and researchers and educators from around the globe for training and research.

5. The internet connection is better in the Hab than at many places above the water.

6. You have to swim underneath the facility in order to enter it.

7. Crew members are called aquanauts (NOT aquaNUTS!)

8. In 1994, a crew of scientists and divers had to evacuate Aquarius and climb up a rescue line to the surface in 15-foot seas after one of the habitat’s generators caught fire.

9. Aquarius was featured in the comic strip Sherman’s Lagoon in 2012.

10. The Hab was originally built in Texas.

10 Fun Facts: Coral

1. Reefs usually grow up on the east shore of land masses.

2. Parts of a coral reef can be harvested to make medications to treat cancers and other illnesses.

3. A coral reef isn’t a single organism; it’s actually a community of life that lives and thrives in one location.

4. Only about one percent of the world’s oceans contain coral reefs. That’s about the size of France.

5. Coral reefs are the largest biological structures on earth.

6. Corals are related to jellyfish and anemones.

7. There are over 2,500 species of corals. About 1,000 are the hard corals that build coral reefs.

8. Reefs grow where there are stronger wave patterns and currents to deliver food and nutrients.

9. The Great Barrier Reef is 500,000 years old.

10. Most coral reefs grow just about two centimeters per year.

10. Most coral reefs grow just about two centimeters per year.

10 Fun Facts: Invasive Species

1. To be considered invasive, a species must adapt to a new area easily. It must reproduce quickly. It must harm property, the economy, or the native plants and animals of the region.

2. Some invasive species are introduced accidentally, but others are brought deliberately.

3. Ship ballast water transports between 3,000 and 7,000 foreign species daily around the globe.

4. The total loss to the world economy as a result of invasive non-native species has been estimated at 5% of annual production

5. Invasive species have contributed to 40% of the animal extinctions that have occurred in the last 400 years.

6. Rodents are some of the worst invasive species.

7. There are an estimated 50,000 wild ring-necked parakeets in parks across London and southeast England.

8. Black and Norway rats annually consume stored grains and destroy other property valued over $19 billion.

9. Northern Pacific seastars reproduce very quickly. In one area where they were introduced, their population reached an estimated 12 million seastars in just two years.

10. Starlings were introduced to New York in the late 1800s, as part of an attempt to bring animals that were mentioned in Shakespeare‘s work to America.

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