Space for Kids
Space is vast, mysterious and full of wonders, from our nearest star to galaxies billions of light-years away. These lessons explain the Sun, Moon, planets, stars and space exploration, with simple facts, real-life examples and quizzes to test what you have discovered.
All 119 Space topics
The Sun
The Sun is a star at the centre of our solar system.
The Moon
The Moon orbits Earth about every 27 days.
Phases of the Moon
The Moon doesn't make its own light; it reflects sunlight.
Eclipses
A solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, blocking sunlight.
Stars
Stars are huge balls of hot glowing gas, like our Sun.
Constellations
Constellations are patterns of stars people imagined as pictures.
Galaxies
A galaxy is a huge group of stars, gas and dust held together by gravity.
Black Holes
A black hole is a place in space where gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape.
Comets
A comet is a ball of ice, dust and rock that grows a glowing tail when it nears the Sun.
Asteroids and Meteors
Asteroids are rocky objects, mostly in a belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Mercury
Mercury is the smallest planet and closest to the Sun.
Venus
Venus is the hottest planet because its thick atmosphere traps heat.
Earth in Space
Earth is the only known planet with life.
Mars
Mars is a cold, dusty desert planet with the tallest volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons, and a huge canyon.
Jupiter
Jupiter is the largest planet, a gas giant with a Great Red Spot that is a giant storm.
Saturn
Saturn is a gas giant famous for its bright rings made of ice and rock.
Uranus and Neptune
Uranus and Neptune are ice giants far from the Sun.
Dwarf Planets
Dwarf planets are round objects that orbit the Sun but haven't cleared their orbits.
Astronauts
Astronauts train for years to live and work in space.
The International Space Station
The ISS is a large laboratory orbiting Earth about 400 km up, built by many countries.
Rockets
Rockets burn fuel to produce a powerful push.
Satellites
A satellite is an object that orbits a planet.
Space Telescopes
Space telescopes like Hubble and James Webb see the universe clearly from above Earth's atmosphere.
Mars Rovers
Mars rovers like Curiosity and Perseverance are robot vehicles that drive on Mars, drill rocks and search for signs of ancient life.
Day and Night
Earth spins once every 24 hours.
The Seasons
Earth's axis is tilted.
The Big Bang
Scientists think the universe began about 13.8 billion years ago in a huge expansion called the Big Bang.
Light-years
A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, about 9.5 trillion kilometres.
Searching for Life
Scientists search for life beyond Earth by looking for planets with liquid water and by studying Mars and icy moons like Europa.
Auroras
Auroras are colourful lights in the sky near the poles, caused by particles from the Sun hitting gases in Earth's atmosphere.
Nebulae
A nebula is a giant cloud of gas and dust in space.
Supernovas
A supernova is a huge explosion at the end of the life of a very large star.
Neutron Stars
A neutron star is the super-dense core left behind after a large star explodes.
Pulsars
A pulsar is a spinning neutron star that sends out beams of radio waves.
Quasars
A quasar is an extremely bright object at the centre of a distant galaxy, powered by a giant black hole.
Exoplanets
An exoplanet is a planet that orbits a star other than our Sun.
Solar System Formation
The solar system formed about 4.6 billion years ago from a spinning cloud of gas and dust.
The Oort Cloud
The Oort Cloud is a huge, distant shell of icy objects that surrounds the solar system.
The Kuiper Belt
The Kuiper Belt is a ring of icy bodies beyond Neptune.
Europa
Europa is one of Jupiter's moons.
Titan
Titan is the largest moon of Saturn and the only moon with a thick atmosphere.
Io
Io is one of Jupiter's moons and is the most volcanically active object in the solar system.
Ganymede
Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system and is bigger than the planet Mercury.
The Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our solar system.
Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda Galaxy is the nearest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way.
Space Suits
A space suit protects astronauts from the vacuum of space, extreme temperatures and tiny fast-moving objects.
Spacewalks
A spacewalk, or extravehicular activity, is when an astronaut leaves a spacecraft to work outside.
Space Food
Astronauts eat specially prepared food that is lightweight, lasts a long time and is easy to eat without crumbs.
Zero Gravity
In orbit, objects and astronauts seem to float because they are constantly falling around Earth.
Mission Control
Mission control is the team on the ground that monitors spacecraft, communicates with astronauts and solves problems.
Apollo Missions
The Apollo missions were NASA programmes that sent astronauts to the Moon between 1968 and 1972.
Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope is a telescope that orbits Earth and sends back stunning images of distant galaxies, nebulae and planets.
James Webb Space Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope is a powerful telescope that observes mainly infrared light.
Space Probes
A space probe is an uncrewed spacecraft sent to explore planets, moons, comets or asteroids.
Voyager Missions
The Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes were launched in 1977.
Meteorite Hunting
Meteorites are rocks from space that land on Earth.
Solar Wind
The solar wind is a stream of charged particles that flows from the Sun into space.
Solar Flares
A solar flare is a sudden burst of energy from the Sun's surface.
Planetariums
A planetarium is a building with a dome where a projector shows the night sky and space.
Star Colours
Stars come in different colours that show their temperature.
Meteor Showers
A meteor shower happens when Earth passes through a stream of tiny space rocks and dust.
Space Debris
Space debris is old rockets, broken satellites and bits of metal left in orbit around Earth.
Moons of Mars
Mars has two small moons called Phobos and Deimos.
The Sun's Atmosphere
The Sun has layers of gas around its surface called the corona.
Stargazing Tips
Stargazing is easier away from city lights.
Halley's Comet
Halley's Comet is a famous comet that returns to the inner Solar System about every 76 years.
Saturn's Rings
Saturn is surrounded by bright rings made of billions of pieces of ice and rock.
Venus's Clouds
Venus is covered in thick clouds of sulphuric acid.
Jupiter's Great Red Spot
The Great Red Spot is a giant storm on Jupiter that has been raging for hundreds of years.
Mercury's Craters
Mercury is covered in craters caused by impacts from asteroids and comets.
Space Shuttles
The Space Shuttle was a reusable spacecraft that carried astronauts and equipment to orbit between 1981 and 2011.
The Asteroid Belt
The asteroid belt is a region between Mars and Jupiter filled with millions of rocky objects.
Pluto
Pluto is a small dwarf planet at the edge of the Solar System.
Ceres
Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt and is classed as a dwarf planet.
The Rings of Uranus
Uranus has a set of faint, dark rings made of dust and rocks.
Sunspots
Sunspots are cooler, darker patches on the surface of the Sun caused by strong magnetic activity.
Star Maps
A star map shows the positions of stars and constellations in the sky.
Space Weather
Space weather is the changing conditions in space caused by the Sun, such as solar flares and bursts of charged particles.
Dark Matter
Dark matter is an invisible substance that does not emit light but has gravity.
Dark Energy
Dark energy is a mysterious force thought to be pushing the universe apart and making it expand faster.
The Solar System to Scale
Imagine shrinking the Solar System so the Sun is the size of a football.
Star Life Cycles
Stars are born from clouds of gas and dust, shine for millions or billions of years, and then end their lives in different ways.
Telescopes Through History
Telescopes have helped people explore the sky for over 400 years.
Gamma-Ray Bursts
Gamma-ray bursts are the most powerful explosions in the universe.
Red Dwarf Stars
Red dwarfs are small, cool stars that are the most common type of star in our galaxy.
Interstellar Travel
Interstellar travel means travelling between stars, which is extremely hard because the distances are so huge.
The Galactic Centre
The centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way, has a supermassive black hole called Sagittarius A*.
Star Clusters
A star cluster is a group of stars that formed together from the same cloud of gas.
Icy Moons
Some moons in the Solar System are covered in thick layers of ice and may have liquid oceans beneath their surfaces.
Lunar Rovers
A lunar rover is a vehicle designed to drive across the surface of the Moon.
Space Stations Past
Before the International Space Station, the Soviet Union and Russia operated the Mir space station.
Meteorite Craters
Meteorite craters are bowl-shaped holes left when a space rock hits the surface of a planet or moon.
Moons of the Solar System
Many planets have moons, which orbit around them.
Brown Dwarfs
Brown dwarfs are objects that are bigger than planets but too small to start the nuclear fusion that powers stars.
Cosmic Rays
Cosmic rays are high-energy particles that travel through space at very high speeds.
Venus Probes
Venus has been visited by many space probes that studied its thick clouds and hot surface.
Asteroid Mining
Asteroid mining is the idea of collecting valuable metals and minerals from asteroids.
Dwarf Galaxies
Dwarf galaxies are small galaxies with fewer stars than larger galaxies like the Milky Way.
Light Echoes
A light echo happens when light from a bright event, such as a supernova, reflects off dust clouds and reaches Earth later.
Star Parallax
Parallax is the apparent shift in an object's position when viewed from two different points.
Comet Chasers
Comet chasers are space missions that travel to comets to study their ice, dust and gases.
Gas Giants
Gas giants are large planets made mostly of hydrogen and helium.
Ice Giants
Ice giants are planets with large amounts of icy materials like water, ammonia and methane.
Terraforming
Terraforming is the idea of changing another planet so it becomes more like Earth and can support life.
Space Elevators
A space elevator is an idea for a cable that would stretch from the ground into space, allowing things to be lifted into orbit without…
Launch Windows
A launch window is the period of time when a rocket can launch to reach its target.
Orbital Speed
Orbital speed is how fast an object must travel to stay in orbit around a planet or star.
Mars Colonies
A Mars colony is an idea for a settlement of people living on Mars.
Space Gardens
Space gardens grow plants in spacecraft or space stations, providing fresh food and a sense of comfort for astronauts.
Lunar Gateway
The Lunar Gateway is a planned small space station that will orbit the Moon.
Spaceplanes
A spaceplane is a vehicle that takes off and lands like an aeroplane but can travel into space.
Ion Engines
An ion engine pushes a spacecraft by shooting out charged particles called ions.
Solar Sails
A solar sail uses the pressure of sunlight pushing on a large, thin sheet to move a spacecraft.
Galaxy Collisions
Galaxies sometimes collide and merge over billions of years.
Black Hole Event Horizon
The event horizon is the boundary around a black hole beyond which nothing can escape.
Asteroid Deflection
Asteroid deflection is the idea of changing the path of an asteroid that is heading towards Earth.
Space Tourism
Space tourism is travel into space for leisure, usually on private spacecraft.
Star Nurseries
Star nurseries are clouds of gas and dust where new stars are born.
Comet Tails
A comet's tail is made of gas and dust that is pushed away from the comet by the Sun's light and solar wind.
Frequently asked questions about Space
Can I see planets without a telescope?
Yes. Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are often bright enough to see with the naked eye. Apps can show you where they are in the sky.
Why is space so dark if the Sun is so bright?
Space has almost no air or dust to scatter sunlight, so there is nothing to light up the empty space between objects.
What is the best way to learn about space at home?
Watch the night sky, use a free star-map app, read books about astronauts and visit a planetarium or science museum if you can.