space atlas

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very for young astronauts

ISBN + EAN

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atlas for children

space atlas Written by Ji duek and Jan pala

Illustrations by Tom Tma

a voyage of discovery for young astronauts

The Space Atlas is awonderfully illustrated new atlas

with 6 big folding pages that introduces young readers

to the wonders of outer space and reveals them afascinating story

of the creation of starts and planets. It is filled with beautiful

full-colour illustrations of the solar system, easy-to-follow charts

of major constellation, plus awealth of illustrated facts.

This remarkable atlas gives children aglimpse

into our exciting universe.

The child will learn the most important

information interesting and playful way.

Appropriate for the schools, too.

B4u puBlIShINg, 2013

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SaturnS moonSSaturn is orbited by the great moon Titan, which is the only moon in the entire Solar System to have a dense atmosphere. It even rains there, but what falls from the clouds is not water but a chemical called methane, which flows into its great lakes.

The picture does not show all of the planets in the solar system in relative size because if we shall portray all of the planets in relative size, they would not get in the picture. Just an example the planet Jupiter is 11 times larger than Earth.

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mercuryMercury is the smallest planet in the Solar System. As it orbits close to the Sun, where sun rays fall it is heated to a high temperature. But where it is night, Mercury is very cold.

VenuSVenus is completely obscured by dense clouds that float in a poisonous atmosphere. Several space probes have landed on Venus; thus we know that the planets surface is hot and glows red like a hot stove. There are many extinct volcanoes on Venus. It is rather a hell-like planet.

earthEarth is the most varied planet. It has air and water and is home to humans, animals and plants. If you drove from Earth to the Sun in a racing car, the trip would take you over a hundred years! Earth does not orbit the Sun on its own but in the company of the Moon.

marSMars is a desert planet full of sand. Like Earth, Mars has ice near its North and South Poles. Today we are exploring Mars carefully as it is just possible that it is home to simple life forms.

JupiterJupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System. It is eleven times larger than Earth. It is surrounded by dense and colourful cloud. Storms rage constantly in Jupiters atmosphere. These storms which from space look like oval smudges easily outperform the Earths most powerful tornadoes. The largest storm is twice as big as planet Earth!

SaturnSaturn, the second largest planet in the Solar System, is adorned with beautiful rings. These consist of a huge number of grains of dust and ice, among which are boulders as big as houses. The rings are about 400,000 kilometres in length and several metres thick. Just imagine if they had the diameter of a football pitch, they would be as thick as a sheet of paper!

uranuSAt first sight Uranus is a boring planet. It looks like a blue-and-green ball because it is obscured by cloud. Uranus is so far away from the Sun that it cant be seen in the night sky without a telescope. Far below Uranuss cloud cover is an icy ocean comprising gases which are similar to those in gas lighters, although they are many times cooler.

neptuneTo see Neptune, too, you need a telescope. The composition of this planet is similar to that of Uranus. In its atmosphere you can observe white clouds of ice crystals and great storms that look like dark smudges. Neptune is a windy planet, where we find the fastest wind in the whole Solar System.

the Sun

The Sun is a star that shines in its own light. We can see the planet and all the other celestial bodies only because the Sun illuminates them for us. Thanks to its force of attraction it holds the Solar System together.

GaS Giant planetS

The four gas giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are further away from the Sun than the rocky planets. They are much bigger and the Sun doesnt shine on them so much, which is why they are very cold. Unlike the rocky planets they do not have a solid surface; they are formed of dense cloud over icy oceans. You could never walk on the giant planets, but you could swim on them before you froze, of course.

The Solar System is our place in the universe. It takes its name from the Sun, which is at its centre. The Solar System includes our own planet Earth and seven other planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The Solar System also contains smaller celestial bodies the moons of the planets, meteors, asteroids and comets. Most of these orbit the Sun, like the planets.

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The four planets that are closest to the Sun are called the rocky planets. Apart from Earth these include Mercury, Venus and Mars. They have a solid surface you could easily walk about on. All are about the same size as Earth. As they are close to the Sun, the temperature on their surfaces is quite warm.

rinGSAll the gas giant planets have rings, but in the cases of Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune these are only revealed by space probe. Saturn is the only planet with proper rings.

moonS

If a planet is orbited by another celestial body, it is said that it has a moon. Earth has one. Some planets, such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, have dozens of moons.

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Celestial bodies that are not as large as planets but larger than grains of dust, are called asteroids. Asteroids orbit the sun and can be rocky, metallic or icy. Although most of them look like enormous potatoes, you could fit a big city on the surface of the average asteroid.

cometSComets may look like huge balls of dirty snow, but they are as big as an entire town. They roam the Solar System and start to melt when they get close to the Sun. They give off water vapour like a saucepan gives off steam, and this creates their long tail, which can be seen in the night sky from Earth. Some comets return to the Sun regularly while others visit it only once.

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the far Side of the moonIt takes the Moon more than 27 days to make one trip around our planet. While doing this it still rotates on its axis; as one such revolution also takes 27 days, only one of its halves known as the near side of the Moon is turned towards us. The far side of the moon the half that is always turned away from Earth can be observed only by satellite. It was first photographed by the Luna 3 spacecraft in October 1959.

moon rockAstronauts have brought back from the Moon a total of 400 kilograms of moon rock (equivalent to about eight sacks of potatoes). Specimens can be borrowed but they remain the property of the United States of America. But sometimes the Moon sends gifts down to Earth meteorites, which are released when craters are formed. Lunar meteorites are traded like precious stones; a fragment the size of a poppy seed might cost twenty dollars or more.

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These days swindlers sell plots of land on the Moon to people who dream of taking their holidays there. But you cant really buy a piece of the Moon the Moon belongs to all humanity.

do aStronautS wear diaperS?Although there is no air on the Moon, there are great changes in temperature on its surface from -180 to +120 degrees Celsius. For this reason astronauts would walk on the Moon in pressurized suits and carry air on their backs, as divers do. The biggest problem arose when they needed to go to the toilet. So they wore diapers. And didnt they itch? You cant scratch your nose when youre wearing a helmet, so they had special tools for scratching fitted in their spacesuits.

People once believed that the Moon affected the weather on Earth. That is why maps give its most striking features names such as the Sea of Rain, the Sea of Cold and the Ocean of Storms. The Moons craters bear the names of famous scholars, such as Copernicus, Plato and Aristarchus. These craters are several dozen kilometres in diameter.

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Seen from the Moon, Earth looks so small that astronauts can barely make out the outlines of its continents.

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This picture shows the Moon landing sites of the Apollo and Luna lunar modules. The names of craters and other places on the Moon are given in blue.

people on the moon

In 1969 Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin landed on the Moon. Yet the computer that controlled their spaceship was much worse and bigger than the computers we have today in the most ordinary mobile telephones. The moon has since been visited by another ten US astronauts, some of whom took an electric car and drove it on the Moons surface.

the moon

As the Moon is smaller than Earth its force of attraction is about six times less. Astronauts have been able to experience this for themselves in their heavy spacesuits they were able to jump much higher on the Moon than would be possible on Earth.

how the moon waS formedNo one knows quite how the Moon was formed. It may have happened 4,500,000,000 years ago, when Earth collided with another planet of a size similar to Mars (1). Although that planet was smashed to smithereens, its fragments remained to orbit Earth (2), packing themselves together to form the Moon over several thousand years (3).

Sometimes the Moon can be seen in the sky in the evening, sometimes in the morning. Sometimes it is visible all night and only rarely does

it disappear from view entirely. The Moon is an enormous, rocky, very cold globe that

orbits the planet Earth. It is the our planets natural satellite, unlike the artificial satellites that

we fire into the skies on rockets. The Moon orbits Earth at a distance of 400,000 kilometres. If there were a highway from Earth to the moon, it would take us almost half a year of non-stop driving to travel its length by car; it would take an aeroplane about three weeks to make the same journey without stops, of course.

aStronaut muSclemanWould an astronaut on the Moon be able to lift a large motorbike? Yes, because it would be six times lighter than it is on Earth. It would like lifting a bag of sand.

footprintS on the moonThe footprints of earthlings remain visible in moondust for several dozen million years. As the Moon has no atmosphere and there is no water there, astronauts have nothing to wipe or wash them away with.

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will we eVer liVe on the moon?Probably yes! Thirty years from now there could be a base there similar to those in freezing Antarctica. And a hundred years from now we may be building small villages on the Moon. It would be interesting to live in them for sure. Just imagine on Earth the highest you can jump is half a metre, but on the Moon, thanks to its low force of attraction, you can easily jump two metres. And if you put on wings, you can fly!

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the influence of the moon on earthDoes the Moon have an effect on people? Yes, but not on their mood or health, and it doesnt affect sleepwalkers. A full moon may wake you at night if it shines through your bedroom window. The important thing is that the Moon (like the Sun) has tides. It also provides pleasant conditions all over our planet.

craterSAt first glance the surface of the Moon looks like a desert. But unlike Earth the Moon is pockmarked with great holes and hollows called craters. How were they formed? By celestial bodies falling to the Moon in the distant past, causing an enormous explosion and leaving a circular pit at the place of impact.

The Moons biggest craters are visible from Earth without a telescope. They look like black smudges. They were once filled with dark lava from the Moons interior, which then hardened. People used to think that the craters were seas filled with water; although we now know that this is not so, we continue to call these features seas. The size of the Moons seas is comparable with that of states on Earth. They cover the same area as France or certain US states.

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The Sun is the star closest to Earth so close that it outshines all other stars, just as a streetlamp lights up the night sky. It is better to look at the stars in the country, where there are no streetlamps.

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stars and constellations

If you look at the night sky in fine weather, youll see a lot of small lights. Most of these will be stars, but there may some planets among them. With a bit of luck you may spot an artificial satellite, a meteor or a flashing aircraft. Stars are huge balls of hot, glowing gases. On the surface of a star the temperature is higher than incandescent iron. Yet a stars surface is its coolest part! At its centre the temperature can reach one hundred million degrees Celsius!

Stars that are smaller than the Sun are known as red dwarfs. They shine for dozens of billions of years. A star that is larger than our sun may explode at the end of its life. Such a massive explosion is known as a supernova.

Great BearThis constellation is visible throughout the year. It includes the famous Plough. It helps us find the Little Bear (Ursa Minor) constellation and the star Polaris.

Southern croSSThe stars of the Crux constellation which is located on the Milky Way form an obvious star shape. The dark mark we find immediately next to the constellation is called the Coalsack.

In the past people in Europe, Asia, Australia and America gave different names to the same groups of stars. In the Great Bear (Ursa Major) constellation, for instance, the Burmese saw a crab, while Finns saw in it a salmon, Indians seven sages, American Indians a plough and Egyptians a crocodile.

tauruSThis constellation is located near Orion. Its brightest star Aldebaran is orange-coloured. It is easily seen in the night sky from October to March.

leoThis constellation is composed of a number of prominent stars. It is surrounded by many galaxies, but these cannot be seen without a telescope. Its brightest star is called Regulus. We see Leo in the night sky from February to May.

cyGnuSConstellation which lies on the plane of the Milky Way. It looks like a large cross. Its brightest star is Deneb. Deneb is the largest and most distant star that can be seen in the sky without use of a telescope. You will find Cygnus in the night sky from May to November.

orionSeven bright stars grouped in the shape of an hourglass or a butterfly in flight. It contains an enormous nebula that can be seen with a small telescope. Orions brightest star, which is orange in colour, is called Betelgeuse. This constellation is easy to see in the night sky from October to March.

caSSiopeiaFive bright stars grouped together in the shape of the letter W. It is bordered by the constellation Andromeda, part of which is a nearby galaxy. This is so bright that it can be seen in the night sky without a telescope. Cassiopeia is most clearly visible between September and December.

centaurThe brightest star in the constellation Centaur is called Alpha Centauri. It contains an enormous star cluster. Centaur lies on the plane of the Milky Way.

Stars are extremely large much larger than planet Earth. Unlike the Sun they are very far away from us. If Earth were the size of the full stop at the end of this sentence, the typical star would be as big as an orange.

little BearInconspicuous constellation whose brightest star Polaris is found all night long over the northern horizon. Polaris is also known as the North Star and it shows us which way is north; otherwise it is not an especially conspicuous star.

As Earth travels around the Sun, at different times of the year we have different views of the universe. This is why some constellations are clearly seen in spring and others in summer, autumn or winter.

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From Europe, Asia or North America we see different stars and constellations than we do from Australia, Africa or South America. Planet Earth blocks our view of the Antipodes. Of the 88 constellations, from Europe we can see only sixty.

Often the shapes of clouds remind us of something; it is the same with stars. In history different groupings of stars have reminded people of different things, such as epic heroes, animals or everyday objects. It was by these associations that the constellations developed.

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Satellites move around in orbit and can fly around Earth in less than two hours. Some satellites photograph Earths surface, while others monitor the weather, relay telephone calls, broadcast television signals or establish Internet connections. Many satellites are military installations, although they have no weapons; they are used to monitor enemies, give aircraft their bearings or perform tasks of intelligence. Weather forecasts, GPS navigation, cable television and perhaps even this book would not exist without satellites.

Space ShuttlePeople have travelled to space in space shuttles as well as rockets. A shuttle is a large aeroplane that carries a rocket into space. Once in orbit the rocket is detached from the shuttle; some time later the astronauts land back on Earth as though in an ordinary aeroplane. Space shuttles have many advantages. They are more spacious than the cabin of a rocket and they have so much cargo space that a whole satellite can fit inside. Most importantly, they can make repeated trips into space, whereas most rockets can be used only once. But space shuttles are very expensive to operate.

teleScopeTelescopes, too, can orbit planet Earth as satellites. They are not directed at Earths surface, but into space. Such cosmic observatories have lots of advantages. As it is forever dark in space, the stars can be observed continuously with no disturbance from clouds and bad weather.

VoStokIn 1961 Yuri Gagarin became the first cosmonaut. He travelled into space on the Vostok 1 rocket and returned just two hours later. Even though he orbited the planet only once, this was an extremely heroic act, as no one could be sure that he would survive such an excursion.

SatelliteIf in the night sky you see a glowing dot moving about among the stars, this is probably a satellite. Unlike an aeroplane it does not flash and it leaves no trail. It crosses the sky in several minutes. The brightest satellite is the International Space Station; you can find forecasts of its flight-times on the Internet.

apollo 11The return module of Apollo 11, in which Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin returned to Earth after their conquest of the Moon. They landed on the Moon on 20 July 1969, stepping onto its surface one day later. They landed this module in the Pacific Ocean on 24 July.

SpaceSuitPeople can take walks in space if they wear special pressurized suits. In 1965 Alexei Leonov was the first cosmonaut to leave the cabin of his spaceship. He had quite an adventure his spacesuit inflated and he almost failed to make it back to his spaceship!

SputnikBefore people dared to fly into space, they sent up a variety of instruments known as artificial satellites. The first satellite, known as Sputnik, was launched into space on a Russian rocket in 1957. It operated for about three weeks, its only task to transmit short beeps by radio.

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rocketAlthough a rocket is enormous, most of it is occupied by rocket fuel; there remains little room for cargo or astronauts, who sit right at its tip in a small spaceship. In the course of the flight the rockets lower parts are gradually disconnected. Only the tip reaches space.

Zero GraVityAstronauts in orbit experience a state of zero gravity. They float freely in space and inside their spaceship. It is possible to try out zero gravity on Earth, too, using special aeroplanes. Astronauts train underwater, in large pools. Floating in water is something like zero gravity; you can turn yourself upside down.

coSmic inVentionSA number of inventions are connected with space flight. The rocket engine nozzle served as a model for the preservation of frying pans. Smoke detectors first appeared at space stations. Barcodes served for the labelling of spaceships, while the Velcro helped hold down various objects in a state of zero gravity.

G-forceWhen you are in a car that pulls away quickly or on a rollercoaster, you are forced back in your seat as if by an invisible hand. Astronauts live through something similar when a rocket takes off. But as a rocket moves faster than a car, astronauts have it much harder. They may even lose consciousness briefly at the moment of launch.

firSt woman in SpaceThe first woman to travel to space was Valentina Tereshkova, in 1963. She spent three days there.

In order to reach space, you have to overcome the gravitation of planet Earth. You feel this force when you jump into the air; in the blink of an eye Earth brings you back down. And to reach space you have to fly at least one hundred kilometres high, which is impossible for an aeroplane. The only way of getting into space is by space rocket. A space rocket is enormous taller than a five-storey building. Rockets may take off slowly, but soon they reach speeds of several kilometres a second much quicker than a bullet fired from a pistol.

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the firSt coSmonautSThese were not people but animals. Laika the dog took a trip into space as early as 1957. One of the first creatures to return from space was the chimpanzee Ham. His reward was an apple and retirement spent in a zoo. Thanks to animals, people overcame their fear of space so that they could go up there, too.

firSt human in SpaceIn 1961 Yuri Gagarin became the first cosmonaut, in the rocket Vostok 1.

rocket enGineA rocket flies upwards by expelling the hot gases that burn in its engine. The principle is the same as when you inflate a balloon and then let out the air; as the air escapes, the balloon is propelled forward.

iSSIn order to live in space people have to build spaceships to protect them from the harsh environment. The biggest is the International Space Station, known as the ISS. It is so big that it would barely fit inside a football stadium.

Space StationA space station is composed of separate parts called modules, which are fixed to each other like a construction kit. Some modules contain laboratories, others astronauts accommodation or stores. The International Space Station as a whole is as big as a ten-room flat. This may seem large, but outside there is nowhere for the astronauts to go!

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Journey into orBitThe journey to the space station is an adventure in itself. Three astronauts squeeze into a small cabin, where they have practically no elbow room. After ignition of the rockets engines they reach orbit after twenty minutes. It takes them several hours more to reach the space station.

enerGyOne of the few things not transported to the space station is electrical energy. It is produced by solar power, as on Earth. The solar power plant is created by large shiny panels that stick out in all directions from the space stations escape module.

eScape moduleWhen the time comes for the astronauts to return or they are in some kind of danger, they get into a small spaceship and head for Earth. As the spaceship passes through Earths atmosphere its surface reaches a temperature of several thousand degrees Celsius. It is protected by a special shield to ensure that it does not burn up. It makes its final landing, somewhere in the steppes of Asia, using parachutes.

iSS orBit of earthThe International Space Station flies around Earth at a speed of 30,000 kilometres per hour and a height of 400 kilometres. This is about forty times higher than the altitude of commercial aircraft. The ISS orbits Earth once every 90 minutes, meaning that astronauts see sunrise and sunset sixteen times in one Earth day! This is difficult to get used to; they tend to sleep only 5 6 hours per day.

foodAstronauts eat three times a day. In a small kitchen they heat up canned food or pour hot water over dried food. Apart from spoons, forks and knives they need another tool scissors to cut into the bags the food is packed in. Kitchen utensils are disposable, so they are not washed.

exerciSeZero gravity is dangerous for human muscle and bone. So as to return to Earth in full health, astronauts must exercise for several hours each day. For this reason the station has an exercise bike, a treadmill and other apparatus.

Sleep in SpaceAstronauts sleep in sleeping bags attached to the wall by Velcro to stop them from flying about the station. They use ear-plugs because of the noise made by all the instruments. And as it is light at the station even at night, they wear masks over their eyes.

dietSpace food is nothing special. It is important not to make crumbs in conditions of zero gravity an astronaut could breathe these in, or they could float into someones eye! Astronauts can use ketchup, mustard or mayonnaise normally, but salt and pepper are mixed with water to stop them from flying about the station. Astronauts have coffee, tea, juice and lemonade to drink.

toiletS in SpaceToilets in spacecraft are a little like those in aeroplanes. The men urinate into a special tube. When they need to do a number two, they fasten themselves to the toilet, which then sucks everything away.

hyGieneThe water in the small shower does not fall downwards. Astronauts wash in a mist! Or they use wet wipes or washcloths. For teeth-cleaning they have a special toothpaste that they can swallow. At the station, water is so valuable that urine and sweat are purified. Sometimes it is better not to think about where your drinking water comes from.

laundryIt is warm in the station, so astronauts wear T-shirts and shorts. As there is no washing machine, clothing is for single use only. Underwear and T-shirts are changed every three days, sweatpants every two weeks. Dirty laundry is loaded into a transport ship and left to burn up in Earths atmosphere.

Humans live on planet Earth. When they head into space, they must take stores of air, water and food with them. Without air they can survive for several minutes only, without water for several days and without food for several weeks. They need protection against high and low temperatures. The Sun is able to heat them up to 120 degrees Celsius, which is a temperature higher than that of boiling water. But when the Sun is not shining, temperatures can drop to -250 degrees Celsius. It is not unlike sitting around the campfire in summer though the fire warms your face, your back is cold.

how do you Become an aStronaut?Future astronauts need to study hard at primary school particularly mathematics, physics, English and Russian. They need to go on to secondary school and university, and they should not forget to do lots of sport there are no chubby people aboard a space station. Their full-grown height should be between 160 cm (5 ft 2 in) and 190 cm (6 ft 2 in). If you wish to become a pilot of a spaceship, you must first become a jet-plane pilot. If it works out for you, you may end up not only at a space station but by flying to the Moon or Mars. Why not give it a try?

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takinG a walk in SpaceWhen an astronaut wishes to step outside the station he has to put on a special spacesuit, which is a little spaceship in itself. It contains a store of air and water, devices for heating and cooling and a walkie-talkie. When an astronaut is roaming beyond the station, he is attached to a rope like a rock-climber to prevent him from flying off into space.

neBulaeIn space there are huge clouds of dust and gas. When these warm up they form glowing nebulae. In some nebulae new stars are formed, while others are remnants of extinct stars. One day our Sun, too, will disperse into a nebula.

GalaxieSIn the universe there are a great many galaxies, and these are extremely distant from each other. Some galaxies are shaped like pancakes, others like rugby balls, while many look as though they have been torn to pieces. Galaxies feed on each other, hence the expression galactic cannibalism. Our galaxy, for instance, once swallowed several smaller ones.

milky wayThe Milky Way, which we see in the night sky, has nothing to do with milk, of course. It is in fact formed by millions of distant stars which are so small that they blend together. The dark marks we observe in the Milky Way are caused by dark nebulae of dust that hide distant stars from view.

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Black holeSBlack holes are very strange objects. They act rather like cosmic vacuum cleaners, swallowing whatever comes near to them. Their powers of attraction are so great that nothing escapes them, even light. That is why they are black.

Binary StarSStars do not tend to stand alone. Often they form an inseparable pair, called a binary, or a larger group, called a star cluster; a cluster may be composed of dozens or even hundreds of thousands of stars. So the stand-alone Sun is rather exceptional.

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t i m e : 0 7 . 3 0 : t h e r u d i m e n t s o f t o d ay s co n t i n e n t s a r e f o r m e d .

t i m e : 0 9 . 0 5 : V i r t u a L Ly t h e e n t i r e p L a n e t i s f r o z e n .

the laSt three hourS of earthS eVolution

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the d istant

the oriGin of the uniVerSe and earth in one dayThe universe is 14 billion years old, as the Big Bang took place 14 billion years ago. The Sun and planet Earth were born 5 billion years ago. The ancestors of humans appeared on our planet 4 million years ago. Imagine that the history of the entire universe were represented by a single day. If the universe began at midnight, the Solar System including Earth was not created until 4 oclock in the afternoon. And the entire history of humanity took place in the last seconds before the next midnight. If we were to reduce the evolution of Earth to 12 hours, it would look exactly as it does in this diagram:

t i m e : 0 6 . 1 2 : B a c t e r i a p r o d u c e s o m u c h o x y g e n t h at a L m o s t e V e r y -t h i n g i s p o i s o n e d . t h e o z o n e L ay e r o r i g i n at e s .

un iverse

the un iverse

are we alone in the uniVerSe?It is difficult to say. So far we know of only one planet Earth that has animal- and plant-life. But it would be strange if we were in the universe alone. Perhaps one day we will discover some cosmic neighbours. Indeed, this is one of the reasons why we explore our home the universe.

SiZeSeen from Earth, the Sun and the Moon are the same size. In fact the Sun is 400 times bigger than the Moon. But because the Sun is 400 times further away than the Moon, from Earth the disc of the Sun has the same diameter as that of the Moon.

our GalaxyThe Galaxy is composed of stars, nebulae and star clusters. Our Galaxy contains about 500 billion (500,000,000,000) stars. If each star were transformed into a grain of sand, all the stars of our Galaxy would form a heap of sand the size of a passenger car.

the temperature in SpaceSpace is extremely cold. The temperature in space is typically -270 degrees Celsius about twenty times lower than in a deepfreeze.

The universe is everything stars, planets, nebulae, galaxies, everything around us and in us. Everything that can be seen by a telescope or microscope. People, too, are part of the universe. What is near and what is far away? Is the Moon far away? The stars are many times further away! What is large and what is small? Planet Earth is enormous, but compared to the stars it is just a speck. It is the same with objects in space though they may look small, probably they are huge and seem small to us only because they are extremely far away.

The entire Solar System and all the stars you see in the night sky are parts of our Galaxy. From a great distance it looks like a giant Catherine wheel. As we, too, are part of the Galaxy, we are looking at it from within.

the expanSion of the uniVerSeThe universe was created by an event we know as the Big Bang. We dont exactly what happened, but at that time the stars and planets began to form and time started. Since that time the universe has got bigger and bigger, inflating like a balloon.

The universe is absolutely silent. If an astronaut in orbit were to remove his helmet and shout at the top of his lungs, no one would hear him. The situation is different on planets with an atmosphere. On Mars, for instance, space probes can be heard creaking.

oBSerVatoryDo you want to look at the stars and nebulae through a really big telescope? Then visit an observatory theres bound to be one not far from where you live. If you wish to see an artificial sky, you should go to a planetarium.