• Question: How did the planets get in the sky?

    Asked by 275tund46 to Ross, Robert on 9 Nov 2015. This question was also asked by 664tund46.
    • Photo: Ross King

      Ross King answered on 9 Nov 2015:

      Great question! Some of the most interesting things in science are to do with our solar system and how it came to be.

      Scientists think that the planets formed in the same way as our sun did. Billions of years ago, there was a lot of dust and gas in the universe that was mainly made up of small elements called hydrogen and helium, which you might have heard of. These bits of dust and gas then started to stick together to build larger lumps of matter.

      Over time, these big lumps flying around space would smash into each other because of being attracted to each other by gravity (just like you are ‘attracted’ to the floor by the effects of gravity). Over time, these lumps got bigger and bigger and that is how the planets were formed.

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