9781422283691

Planet Ear th

The Earth is one of   the smallest planets   in the Solar System. Until the 1500s people believed that the Earth was at the center of the Universe . All the other heavenly bodies—Sun, Moon, planets , and stars—circled the Earth. Look at the Sun, they said, every day it circles the Earth. So it appears, but things are actually the other way round. The Earth and planets circle the Sun, as Copernicus pointed out in 1543. The Earth is one of the smallest planets, and certainly not the center of, or the most important body in, the Universe!

∆ Earth is tiny compared with Jupiter.

∆ Astronomers such as Ptolemy thought the Earth was at the center of the Universe.

This satellite picture of our beautiful Earth shows the continent of Africa and the Atlantic Ocean.

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