Solar System Adventures: Where’s the Water?

What: Planetarium
When: Terms 1 to 4, Monday to Friday
Duration: 45 minutes in the Planetarium
Curriculum links & Accessibility & Access Fund
Year level: Years 4 to 8
Minmum student numbers: Minimum 15 students
Maximum student numbers: Maximum 150 students
Cost: $9 per student + education service fee
Booking information: Bookings 13 11 02
School visit information

During this presenter-led, live show in the Planetarium students will be taken on a guided tour of our solar system in the search for the most precious resource – water!

This curriculum-aligned program explores the solar system through a unique lens, visiting planets, moons and other space rocks along the way, and ultimately connects Earth’s special environment with the search for life.

Students will experience

Launching off the Earth and see the ways our oceans and atmosphere protect life on Earth
Visiting the giant ice mountains on Pluto
Sailing through jets of salty water erupting from Saturn’s tiny moon Enceladus
Plunging into dark shadowy craters on scorching hot Mercury

Students will learn

About the crucial role that water plays for life here on Earth
That water can be found in solid, liquid and gaseous forms
About the planets, moons and dwarf planets in the solar system, and what their environments are like
About some of the space missions that have allowed humanity to learn about these distant worlds

Victorian Curriculum links

Science: Levels 3 and 4

Chemical sciences

solids, liquids and gases have observable properties; adding or removing heat energy leads to a change of state between solids, liquids and gases
VC2S4U04

Earth and space sciences

water is an important Earth resource that originates from various sources; water cycles through the environment by moving through the sky, landscape and ocean, and involves processes including precipitation, evaporation, transpiration, condensation, melting, freezing, crystallisation, infiltration and run-off
VC2S4U07

Physical sciences

heat energy can be generated from different sources; temperature changes may happen when heat is transferred from one object to another
VC2S4U09

Science: Levels 5 and 6

Biological sciences

habitats can be described by their physical conditions; changing the physical conditions of a habitat, including by human activity, may affect the growth and survival of organisms
VC2S6U01

Science: Levels 7 and 8

Physical sciences

energy exists in different forms, including thermal, chemical, gravitational and elastic, and may be classified as kinetic or potential; energy transfers (conduction, convection and radiation) and transformations occur in simple systems and can be analysed in terms of energy efficiency
VC2S8U15