Beyond Earth | Science Grade 6 CBSE

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Six wonders beyond Earth

From our own star to the far cosmos, each piece of the sky tells a story. Tap one to explore it.

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The three big ideas

The Sun is a star – a giant ball of hot, glowing gas. It sits at the centre and gives the whole family light and heat.
The solar system is the Sun together with eight planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune – plus their moons, asteroids and comets, all revolving around the Sun.
Planets make no light of their own; they shine by reflecting sunlight. Mercury is nearest the Sun, Neptune farthest, and Jupiter is the largest.
The four inner planets are small and rocky; the four outer ones are giant balls of gas (Saturn has bright rings). Earth is the only planet known to have life, with air and liquid water.

The Moon is Earth’s natural satellite; it revolves around the Earth. It has no light of its own – it reflects sunlight.
As the Moon orbits, we see different amounts of its sunlit side, giving its changing shapes or phases (new moon to full moon). Its surface has craters, and it has no air, water or life.
Stars are huge balls of hot, glowing gas, like the Sun, but very far away, so they look like tiny twinkling points. The Sun is just our nearest star.
Stars seem to form patterns called constellations – such as Saptarishi (the Great Bear) and Orion (Mriga). The Pole star (Dhruv tara) stays almost fixed in the north and has guided travellers for ages.

Worked example. The Moon glows brightly at night. Does it make its own light?

No. The Moon has no light of its own; it reflects the Sun’s light back to us – just as the planets do.

Rotation gives day and night. The Earth spins on its axis about once every 24 hours; the half facing the Sun has day, the half turned away has night.
Revolution gives the year. The Earth also travels around the Sun, taking about 365 days – one full trip is a year.
The Sun is one of countless stars in a vast star-island called a galaxy; ours is the Milky Way (Akash Ganga). Beyond it lie billions of galaxies making up the universe.
Observe safely: never look straight at the Sun, with eyes or any instrument – it can harm your eyes. Star-gaze on a clear, dark night, away from bright lights.

Common mistake: believing the Sun travels across the sky and around the Earth. The Sun stays put – it is the Earth that rotates, making the Sun appear to rise and set.

Where you'll meet it

The sky in everyday life

Finding your way

Long before maps and phones, sailors and desert travellers found north by the Pole star and read the constellations – turning the night sky into a giant compass.

Calendars & seasons

Earth’s rotation gives us the day, the Moon’s phases shape the months and festivals, and its year-long journey around the Sun brings the seasons that farmers plan around.

India in space

ISRO’s Chandrayaan missions explored the Moon and Mangalyaan reached Mars – real journeys "beyond Earth" that study the very worlds in this chapter.

Check yourself

Competency quiz

Modelled on the competency-based pattern — MCQ, assertion–reason and a case study, testing whether you can use the ideas, not just recall them.

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