PUPILS at a Powys primary school have been thanking their lucky stars after they were given a visual tour of the solar system.

Children at Franksbridge Community Primary School were treated to a visit from experts from the Elan Valley outreach team, who brought their planetarium to Hundred House Hall, where they inspired the children with their visual tour of the solar system.

Our solar system is made up of a star, eight planets and countless smaller bodies such as dwarf planets, asteroids and comets.

Formed about 4.6 billion years ago, the eight planets orbiting the sun are the four terrestrial (containing mainly rocks and metals) planets of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, the two gas giants, and Uranus and Neptune, known as ice giants.

After exploring the Milky Way and zooming in to the planets, the children learnt about light pollution and what it means for the Elan Valley estate to hold International Dark Sky Park status. The pupils also enjoyed learning about constellation mythology from different cultures.

The children of Franksbridge thoroughly enjoyed learning from such enthusiastic experts, agreeing that the planetarium experience was “out of this world”.