The Solar System
In The Palm of Your Hand!

Pacific Science Center's Planetarium has turned our solar system into a deck of cards. Check it out! This deck of 52 cards includes 44 cards of different objects in our solar system, an instruction card, and eight blanks to fill in as new objects are discovered.

Solar System Cards
The deck is playing-card sized, and the cards are designed to remind you of trading cards. No suits or numbers, just images and information about each object. The front of each card has a full-color photograph and the name of the celestial body. The back has some statistics: size and size classification, composition, distance to the Sun, and what the object is orbiting.

Here are some suggested activities:
  • Card Sorting - have students create categories and fit the cards into them based on their characteristics.
  • Scale Solar Systems - Choose a scale and lay the cards in the correct positions based on their distances from the Sun.
  • Invent a Game.
These cards were invented as a way to better teach the "new" solar system, and have students explore what might have prompted scientists to reclassify Pluto. The "new" solar system is more complicated than just the nine planets that was taught ten years ago. We now have eight planets and a growing number of dwarf planets, not to mention all the moons, asteroids, and comets. Because learning about classification was the main idea behind the creation of these cards, they do not include the classification of the objects described, we hope that you and your students will explore those possibilities together.

Terms Explained
  • Size: The average diameter in kilometers.
  • Size Classification: Tiny, Small, Medium, Large or Huge.
  • Made of: This is the simplified composition. In cases where an object contains several materials, this is the predominant material. The choices are: Ice, Rock, or Gas.
  • Distance to the Sun: The distance is measured in Astronomical Units (AU). One AU is the distance from the Earth to the Sun.
  • Orbits Around: the body the object orbits.
Included:
  • Sun
  • Moon
  • All eight official planets
  • Pluto
  • Several dwarf planets
  • Several moons
  • Several comets
  • Several asteroids
  • One instruction card
  • Eight blanks (in case astronomers find something new, or we forgot your favorite object!)

Pacific Science Center Solar System Cards are generously sponsored by Aerojet.