The Planets

This issue of KIDS, dated April 17, 1997, was written and produced by seventh grade students of Cherokee Middle School in the Madison Metropolitan School District, located in Madison, Wisconsin.
Exploring the Planets Reviewed by Peter Y.
If you want a fun, easy way to get information about the planets and other things that deal with space, then you should visit this site. You can learn about the planets or comets, and there are many activities to do. You can find out the most frequently asked questions about space. In the Gallery there are pictures of spacecraft and the astronauts and many pictures of the planets. At the bottom of the Gallery page there are links to large data tables for the planets and satellites. You can get to a section called Online from Jupiter. To get to this section click on Jupiter on the opening page. Then go to Exploration of Jupiter--The Galileo Mission. From there go to Project Galileo Home Page (NASA/JPL). You will usually get right in. This site has all of this, and it is still under construction! Overall, I would say this is a great site, and you should definitely see it.
URL: http://ceps.nasm.edu:2020/ETP/ETP.html

HST's Greatest Hits 1990-1995 Reviewed by Brian B.
This site has many pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The pictures load quickly, and most have a caption link next to them that provides detailed information about each picture. If you need a picture for a report, it is a great site. It has pictures of planets, comets asteroids, galaxies, stars and other interesting space features.
URL: http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/Pictures.html

Kid's Space Reviewed by Erica S.
The information at Kid's Space is geared more towards younger kids. There are a variety of fun activities like a Word Find puzzle, an animated story, and a picture to unscramble. There is a quiz, which is very easy, pictures to print and color, as well as links to NASA pages. This site downloads quickly, and the graphics are appealing. Many of the Kid's Space pages require FutureSplash or Java to run. I don't think anyone over the age of ten would enjoy this site, but for those younger than ten, this site is fun as well as informational.
URL: http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/kids/welcome.html

SEDS Reviewed by Peter Y.
SEDS stands for Students for the Exploration and Development of Space. This site has lots of links to many different space topics like the planets, nebulae, and comets. Most of the links lead to lists of links. This may sound sort of confusing, but it is actually very easy to find what you want. If you don't see what you want, you can get to it from a search space at the bottom. You can find information on anything from the Viking probe and the space shuttles, to rumors about life on Mars. You can find lots of great sites such as the Nine Planets. SEDS loads very quickly and has never been a problem for me to get into. If you want to get to lots of great quality sites without searching through confusing search engines, then go to SEDS.
URL: http://www.seds.org/

The Great Space Place Reviewed by Katie B.
This site has great information about the nine planets, their moons or satellites, the sun, and two different asteroids. It also has biographies of the people involved in space exploration and links to a space art gallery. The Great Space Place has neat pictures on all of the topics. It tells interesting facts and basic information about each planet, like how big it is and its distance from the sun. To get to this fascinating information click on the Planetary Image Gallery at the bottom of the main page. This page also has a section on "Ask an Astronomer." To get to this site you go to "Spacegate," then "Kid's Warp," and finally click on "Ask an Astronomer." This site does require you to enter information about yourself. If you are looking for a terrific site on the planets, then this is the site for you!
URL: http://www.transatlantech.com/tps/gsp.html

The Never Ending Quiz Reviewed by Katie B.
This site is interesting. The Never Ending Quiz randomly generates questions about planetary statistics. You get to choose the topic for the questions and the format of the quiz. An explanation is given with each answer as well as other interesting facts. This site also gives places where you can find more information. If you choose to have pictures included in the quiz, it will take a long time to load!
URL: http://vulcanus.arc.nasa.gov/quiz/

The Nine Planets Reviewed by Brian B.
This site has lots of pictures and many facts about the planets and all of their moons. You can find out the statistics of any planet, learn where it got its name, read about its surface features and lots of other interesting information. There are also links to other sites about the planets. If you don't have a lot of time, you can click on "Express Tour", and it will show you the highlights of the site. There is also a very large glossary of technical terms and proper names.
URL: http://www.ex.ac.uk/public_html/nineplanets/

Views of the Solar System Reviewed by Wrede S.
Views of the Solar System is a very good site. It has many pictures and lots of information. It has information and pictures of the planets, asteroids, comets, meteorites, people that discovered things from space, and the history of space exploration. This site is well-rounded. You can get information on almost anything space-related. There are detailed explanations for most of the special features of the planets, and it has a great glossary.
URL: http://bang.lanl.gov/solarsys/

Welcome to the Planets Reviewed by Wrede S.
The Welcome to the Planets homepage has information on all nine planets, and on the probes and spacecraft that have visited the planets. It has many pictures of the planets and other space objects, like moons, asteroids, and comets. There is a chart of facts for each planet, and the pictures each have a brief description. This site gives you updated information on all the probes and spacecrafts, and you can even get information on the Hubble Space Telescope. Welcome to the Planets is very good if you're looking for information on many of the objects in the solar system.
URL: http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/welcome.htm

Welcome to the Pluto Homepage Reviewed by Erica S.
The Pluto Homepage is pretty interesting. There is information on different aspects of Pluto such as who discovered it, who discovered Pluto's moon, and much more. It is fairly easy to read, since every topic is broken into separate parts. Each topic has a picture or diagram that makes the information easier to understand. This site is very easy to read, and the information is good. There are links to several government Pluto pages as well, including one with a map of Pluto's surface and Hubble Space Telescope images.
URL: http://dosxx.colorado.edu/plutohome.html

Windows to the Universe Reviewed by Peter R.
There are many good sites about the solar system, but if you want the best site with straight up information, this is the place to go. You can get lots of information about planet earth, our solar system, and the universe. The Universe link includes stars, comets, constellations and even a tour explaining how to build a star. From the Myths link you can find out about the gods and goddesses of different cultures around the world. Other great links are Space Missions, People, Headline Universe, Cool Stuff, and Data. This site is very straight forward with its information, and various pictures help you understand the text. The many links are always open, and it is simple to find your way around. In conclusion, if you want to get good, quick information, this is the site.
URL: http://windows.engin.umich.edu/



These Internet resources were evaluated on the basis of the Site Selection Guidelines that the students developed. Questions and comments can be sent to teacher Cindy Koehn, ckoehn@madison.k12.wi.us

Last Modified: 4/10/97

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