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100 PAGES OF EPIC DISCOVERY FOR KIDS AGED 7-11
Issue
Future
Gen us
r a l o S m e t s y S
CH WATEOS VWIDITH OUR TED MENITY G U A EAL ENCE R E RI EXP
ISSUE 1
Digital Edition
NETS A L P E H T OUGH R H T Y E ENTS N M I R E P JO U R X E ZLES, Z U P H TS T I C A W F G N I Z AND AMA
OVER
50
brain teasers & experimen ts
The Sun
Meteors
Mars
Asteroid belt + More!
THE SUN: OUR NEAREST STAR T he Sun is an enormous ball of gas, so huge everything else in the Solar System could fit inside it. It shines so brightly in the sky because it is very hot – on its surface the temperature is 5,500 degrees Celsius, and in the middle it is even hotter, about 15 million degrees Celsius! The Sun lies in the centre of our Solar System and is by far the biggest and most important thing in it. All the planets, asteroids and comets orbit the Sun. Our star gives us all the light and heat we need to live here on Earth. The Sun is a star. When you see stars in the sky at night, you’re looking at other suns – they’re just so far away out in space they look like tiny points of light. If you flew to a planet in orbit around one of those stars and looked back at our Sun, it would just be a tiny star twinkling in the night sky. The Sun was born around 4.7 billion years ago and formed out of a huge spinning cloud of dust and gas. The planets all formed out of what was left over. Unfortunately, the Sun won’t last forever: stars are born, live their lives and eventually die. When the Sun reaches the end of its time, it will swell up like a huge red balloon and then collapse down to a dead, cold ball – but that won’t happen for another 5 billion years or so, so don’t cancel any holidays, and you’ll still have to do your homework!
Photosphere The surface of the Sun we see from Earth. It often has dark magnetic storms on it, which are called sunspots.
Chromosphere
A transparent layer of very hot gas above the Sun’s surface. Temperatures here can reach almost 4,500 degrees Celsius!
HOW ARE STARS AND PLANETS DIFFERENT?
Corona The Sun’s ‘atmosphere’. It is extremely hot, almost a million degrees, but is so faint it can only be seen during an eclipse.
Stars are huge balls of gas that shine brightly because they are so hot. Planets are smaller and go around stars, reflecting their light
WHICH ONE IS THE ODD ONE OUT?
JUPITER 8
BETELGEUSE
SIRIUS
© Getty
Source: Wiki/ Dave Jarvis
Source: Wiki/ Dave Jarvis
© Getty
Now that you know the differences, can you spot the object that isn’t a star?
RIGEL
THE SUN: OUR NEAREST STAR
LIPSE HOW AN EC HAPPENS Inner Core
The very dense centre of the Sun where nuclear reactions occur, creating heat and light.
Scan with your phone or tablet
https://youtu.be/jxanWTR8-yM
Radiative Zone Energy and particles from the core flow through this densely packed zone very slowly.
Convection Zone The gas in this zone bubbles and churns slowly, like water boiling in a kettle.
HOW BIG IS THE SUN?
It’s hard to im ag how enormou ine just s is because it is the Sun bigger than Ea so much rth. It is much easier if you compare it to something bigg our planet, lik er than e Ju Jupiter is the piter. planet in our Sobiggest System. If it w lar as hollow, like an egg, Earth wouEaster inside it a thou ld fit sa times. And the nd so big that Ju Sun is pi would fit insid ter e thousand times it a million Earths – so a w inside the Sun! ould fit
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WELCOME TO THE INNER SOLAR SYSTEM I n cosmic terms the inner Solar System is a very busy and very crowded place – like a bustling city centre – where four small planets made of rock and their trio of even smaller moons whirl endlessly around a blindingly bright yellow star we know as the Sun. Meanwhile, icy comets swoop in from the darkness of the outer Solar System to screech around our star before returning to the shadows again. One of those four planets is our own: Earth. Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and its orbit is in just the right place for life to exist. If our planet was much closer to the Sun it would be too hot, and if it was much farther away it would be too cold. The closest planet to the Sun is little Mercury. It’s not much bigger than our own Moon, and is so close to the Sun it takes just 88 days to sweep around it. Venus comes next, a planet which is
often called ‘Earth’s twin’ because it is around the same size, but the two planets are not much alike at all! If you went there its air would poison you before you even had a chance to be burned alive by the high temperatures or squished by its high atmospheric pressure. After Earth comes Mars, a frozen, dusty planet twice the size of our Moon which has huge volcanoes and valleys. It’s thought that long ago Mars was a blue water world, like Earth, but its oceans and rivers all vanished, and today Mars is dry and dead. Beyond Mars the Solar System becomes a much less crowded, much darker and much colder place where everything is very far apart. Earth is our little oasis in space, the only place in the whole solar neighbourhood where we can live and walk around without a spacesuit to keep us alive.
Earth
Mars
© Getty
y Mercur
Venus
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WELCOME TO THE INNER SOLAR SYSTEM
BEFORE YOU BEGIN YOUR MISSION… Below are the names of some of the places you’ll visit on your journey through the inner Solar System, but can you fit them into the crossword?
MERCURY VENUS EARTH THE MOON MARS ASTEROID BELT INNER SOLAR SYSTEM
GIVE IT A GO! Guess the rover!
In the crossword, you’ll notice that some of the letters are in yellow squares. Unscramble the letters and you’ll get the name of a famous rover that you’ll meet when we get to Mars.
Write it here: O
TY
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EARTH BRAIN TEASERS SHOWS E R U T IC P H IC H W . 1 HERE? EARTH’S ATMOSP
A
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B
C
Answer: A
Earth is a rocky planet. Which of the following isn’t made of rock?
Mars
A
The percentage of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere
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ODD ONE OUT Neptune
The percentage of Earth’s surface that is covered in water
Venus
WHICH PICTURE SHOWS EARTH’S CRUST?
365
The approximate number of days it takes Earth to orbit the Sun
GIVE IT A GO!
B C Answers: Neptune, B
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Wet world
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The number of months in an Earth year
Discuss with your friends why it’s important that there is water on Earth. Does Earth have more water than land? Read the Earth chapter again if you are unsure.
EARTH: BRAIN TEASERS
WHICH PICTURE CORE? SHOWS EARTH’S
C
A B Answer: B
C
S WHICH PICTURE SHOW EARTH’S CONTINENTS?
18.6
B
How many miles the Earth goes around the Sun every second
A Answer: C
7,926
Earth’s surface is split up into seven large masses of land which are known as continents, each with its own mountains, rivers, streams, forests and deserts. The continents are surrounded by bodies of water called seas and oceans. The continents are split up into much smalle r areas called countries. Which continent do you live in?
Earth’s diameter in miles
A 1
3 4
5
2 6
Africa Asia Australia Antarctica Europe North America South America
C
All Images © Getty
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Answers: 4: Africa, 5: Asia, 6: Australia, 7: Antarctica, 3: Europe, 1: North America, 2: South America
Answer: C
B
W H IC H PICTURE SHOWS EARTH’S OCEAN?
CAN YOU MATCH THE CONTINENTS?
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JUPITER BRAIN TEASERS I SPY
Can you find all these things on the page?
JUPITER HAS 79 OF THESE
E FLEW THIS MACHIN CAN YOU SPO PAST JUPITER T THIS HUGE STORM ? IO N O O M ’S R E JUPIT THESE IN D E R E V O C IS COVERED IS D T IS T N IE C THIS S OONS M T S E G R A L R JUPITER’S FOU
CH R A E S D R O W e hidden words? th Can you find all
All images
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F G I A N T B G D V R A W A D U H R Z P T F M P V J O I S U O K N G N I R Y F E H N Q A B F U X J C Y D Y R N V D F G Q M S M E Q M C E O R T E U E P J O M B V L O R Z O O P E D L F G R O X M C T U E A S R G M B J X A N N T Y G H R J M W U U J S E G N M L P E Y J K T G V O H E W F I G E R A O R F X A T H E M S E S T O R D T E S T Y M G M A E O P R Y B Q W A X Y E V S P H E R O M T A M R N
© Adrian Ma
© Getty un
less stated
otherwise
Ice Giant s n o o M re e h Jupiter Atmosp Storms Io s e o n a lc o V s g Ganymede Rin
JUPITER: BRAIN TEASERS
JUP-SUDOKU!
Fill in each of the empty squares using numbers one to six. Remember, you’re not allowed to repeat a number within a row, column or square . We’ve filled in some squ ares already.
3
6
4
2
RED
Jupiter is classed as a ______ _________ planet DWARF
1 1
BLUE
STORM
1 5
EUROPA
The Great ____ Spot is a huge ______ in Jupiter’s atmosphere
2
5
IO
VOLCANOES
2
1
6
Jupiter’s moon _____ is covered in _______
GAS
GIANT
Jupiter is ________ times wider than Earth 14
3
11
10
Jupiter’s moon ____ is nicknamed the ______ moon EUROPA
PIZZA
IO
Jupiter’s largest moon is called _______ MIMAS
CALLISTO
GANYMEDE
The _________ of Jupiter contains a lot of _______ gas HYDROGEN
CRUST
ATMOSPHERE
The astronomer ______ discovered Jupiter’s four largest moons in 1610 KEPLER
COPERNICUS
GALILEO
Jupiter has a system of _____ and faint _____ RINGS
FAT
THIN
Jupiter is the _______ planet in the Solar System SMALLEST
MATCH JUPITER’S MOONS
LARGEST
HOTTEST
L
5
x4 images © NASA/JP
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COMPLETE THE SENTENCES
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URANUS BRAIN TEASERS DO THIS TOPSY-TURVY WORLD’S PUZZLES CONFUSE YOU?
QUIZ
HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT URANUS?
Uranus is what type of planet? A: Dwarf B: Gas giant C: Ice giant
What colour is Uranus? A: Yellow B: Green C: Red
Which moon of Uranus has huge cliffs? A: Umbriel B: Titania C: Miranda
Which moon is the crater Wunda on? A: Oberon B: Umbriel C: Miranda
How Uranus would look from the window of a spaceship
ANSWERS: C, B, C, A, A, B
ANSWER : F
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A
B
This is how Uranus looked to Voyager 2 after it had flown past
C
This is how the Hubble Space Telescope saw Uranus’ rings
© NASA/JPL
A: Titania B: Miranda C: Oberon
Check out the images of Uranus and its many moons – which one is the odd one out?
© NASA/JPL/STScI
Which is Uranus’ largest moon?
WHICH IS THE ODD ONE OUT?
© NASA/JPL
A: 27 B: 28 C: 29
© NASA/JPL-Caltech
How many moons does Uranus have?
D
Uranus’ moon Miranda has strange grooves on its surface
URANUS: BRAIN TEASERS
WORD SCRAMBLE
JIGSAW
Using the numbers, piece the jigsaw puzzle pieces together to create the picture of Uranus. Which piece doesn’t fit?
Unscramble the words, then use the highlighted letters to form the phrase below
AU RUNS ICE TNAGI SNGIR NAME THE MAD RAIN LRAIE RONBEO TIATINA MULE RIB APE THERMOS 2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
FSLICF
ANSWERS: Uranus, ice, giant, rings, methane, Miranda, Ariel, Oberon, Titania, Umbriel, atmosphere, cliffs PHRASE: Uranus has rings
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SEARCH URANUS’ MOONS
E Oberon is the second-largest moon of Uranus
© NASA/JPL/USGS
© NASA/JPL
The astronaut has got into a muddle and lost the key to the spaceship. He can’t get home until he finds it. He must have left it on one of Uranus’ moons. Help him find it by working out the problems and following directions. Start on the spaceship
F Triton is the largest moon of Neptune
1. Go right 48 ÷ 4 =
6. Go down 24 ÷
2. Move up 42 ÷ 6 =
7. Move left 56 ÷ 8 =
3. Move left 12 x 4. Go down 7 x
= 36 = 28
5. Move right 30 ÷ 15 =
8. Go up 11 x
= 12 = 77
9. Move left 36 ÷ 9 = 10. Go down 36 ÷
= 12
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KUIPER BELT: OUR FROZEN BACKYARD T
he Kuiper Belt is a band of very old, icy and rocky objects that lies way out past the planet Neptune. It is like a much bigger version of the asteroid belt, and extends far out beyond even the farthest planet, perhaps to a distance that’s 50 times farther from the Sun than Earth. It’s where Pluto and most of the other dwarf planets can be found. So far we have found thousands of objects in the Kuiper Belt, but there are probably hundreds of thousands. Many astronomers think there could even be larger planets waiting to be found inside it, perhaps even some as big as Earth. Scientists are fascinated by Kuiper Belt objects because they are so old and have been changed so little since they were formed during the birth of the Solar System.
31
32
30
41 33
29
40 28 34 35 27 26
42 39
36 25
37 24
DOT TO DOT 65 43 38
23
64
63
44
45
62 46
61 47
22 21
88
49
58
50
51 5
17 16 15 14 13
The Voyager spacecraft of the 1970s were the first to reach and study the outer planets. They carried golden records with sound recordings of music, speech and animal noises from Earth on them.
48
59
20 19 18
VOYAGER
60
9 12
10 11
8
7
6
57
56
52 4
3
55
53 2
54 1
KUIPER BELT: OUR FROZEN BACKYARD LONG YEARS Kuiper Belt objects are so far from the Sun that they take hundreds of years to go around it.
DARK OBJECTS Kuiper Belt objects tend to be very dark grey, or even deep red in colour.
BIGGEST OBJECTS IN THE KUIPER BELT PLUTO Size: 1,476 miles
MINI MOONS
HAUMEA Size: 1,014 miles Haumea is shaped like a jelly bean and has faint rings around it.
MAKEMAKE Size: 888 miles Makemake is the second-brightest Kuiper Belt object and is a darkred colour.
GONGGONG Size: 760 miles Gonggong takes over 500 years to orbit the Sun and has a satellite called Xiangliu.
9000
Some objects in the Kuiper Belt have small moons orbiting around them.
Pluto is the largest Kuiper Belt object. It used to be classed as a planet, but is now known as a dwarf planet.
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