INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITIES
Basics of Space Flight Learner's Workbook Chapter 1 - online activity
Read chapter 1 of this Jet Propulsion Laboratory training Manual and turn in the recap questions and answers.  This book is also available as a download.
Planetary Trivia Scavenger Hunt - handout, CD-Rom & online activity
Use the TASA CD-Rom available for the classroom Macs and the websites below to complete this scavenger hunt of Solar System facts.
Scale Model of the Solar System - handout
How many Earths fit in Jupiter?  What is different about the spacing of the inner and out planets?  Find out when you make scale models of the Solar System.
EXTENSIONS:  Download and put together the Solar System Puzzle Kit.
Formation of the Solar System - online activity
Any model of the formation of the solar system must account for the motions, compositions and locations of all the planets and their moons. In this lab, you will use the motions of objects in the solar system to concoct a model of the formation of the solar system. Processes which were important to the formation of our solar system are also important in star formation, and galaxy evolution, so we will be visiting many of these concepts again.
Comparative Planetology - online activity
Students explore the solar system using a series of images taken by many different spacecraft.
Take a Spin Through the Solar System - online activity
You will put together current information from the internet to calculate the rotations of the Sun and planets around their axes.
MERCURY
Mercury's Solar Day - handout
Mercury has the longest solar day (from sunrise to sunrise) of any planet in the solar system.  Find out why.

EXTENSIONS:
Compare the results of tidal coupling for Mercury to tidal locking for the Moon.
Plot the position of the Sun across the sky during a solar day for an observer on Mercury.
Impact Craters - handout
Mercury is heavily cratered - pictures of Mercury look very similar to those of our moon.  Find out more in the excerpt from an article in Scientific American.  This article includes information about the 1300 km in diameter Caloris Basin pictured to the right.

EXTENSION:
In the article, the method by which craters are dated is discussed.  Determine a method to determine the area encompassed by this picture of the Caloris Basin  and use it to estimate the number of craters within the Caloris Basin.  How does this information compare to any you can find elsewhere about the age of this basin or the rate of impact of meteorites on Mercury's surface?

Caloris Basin