(Posted 11 August 2018) Why is a planet called a planet? You can discover why for yourself simply by stepping outside during National Science Week 2018. No telescope or binoculars are required.
It turns out that we have the ancient Greeks to thank for this name. It is a name that means ‘wandering stars’ or ‘wanderers’. They noticed that five stars moved of their own accord compared to the many thousands of stars that don’t.
For beginning sky watchers, the easiest way to locate a planet is use the Moon as a kind of celestial signpost. You just need to know when the Moon will pass any given planet. The Moon will be located near the planets Venus and Jupiter during National Science Week.
Download the activity sheet/chart via this link (Adobe PDF format): 2018_National_Science_Week_planet_finder_chart_activity
