Mapping Our Place in Space

This lesson builds the basic map learners will use throughout the course: where Earth sits, what counts as the Solar System, how distances are measured, and why scale matters. Professor Victor Zane introduces the Sun-centered structure of our planetary neighborhood without yet diving deeply into individual planets, moons, or missions.

By the end, learners should be able to describe the Solar System as a layered environment shaped by gravity, distance, motion, and observational limits. The lesson emphasizes practical mental models: astronomical units, light-time, orbital paths, and the difference between the inner planets, outer planets, small-body regions, and the distant boundary of the Sun’s influence.