Sean Raymond - Black Holes, Stars, Earth and Mars: Astronomy poems for all ages

Black Holes, Stars, Earth and Mars Astronomy poems for all ages Sean Raymond, PhD Illustrations by Owen Raymond Copyright 2020 Sean Raymond (poems) Copyright 2020 Owen Raymond (drawings) All rights reserved. For information about the author, please visit: https://planetplanet.net/about/ For more astronomy poems, please visit https://planetplanet.net/astronomy-poems/ The cover was designed by C.S. Fritz with Albatross Design Co. For Marisa and Zack, the two brightest stars in our sky. TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD Ever learn science from a rhyme? It happens here -- its about time. Rather than doubt, try it and see.

Ready to begin? Follow me. Doctor Sean Raymond and his son Thought: while you learn, why not have fun? This book came with that special plan. No way! You say. But yes, you can. Words. Drawings.

Thats their alliance. Theyve got it down to a science. They formed a team. They both took part. And even raised it to an art It has been said, and some will teach That stars above are out of reach. But in these pages, the stars are near.

No need to dread. No need to fear. Read with delight, and do ask, Why? As you journey across the sky All your questions they will explore With poems that you will adore. -NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON 1. INTRODUCTION Does anyone out there just hate all the stars? Despise every planet from Neptune to Mars? Loathe the mere sight of an asteroid or comet? Look at the Moon and just instantly vomit? Youre reading this book so that must NOT be you. I bet you like stars and love galaxies too.

Youre probably also a fan of sci-fi. I totally get that. Guess what? So am I. My name is Sean. Its a pleasure to meet you. Allow me to welcome you, thank you and greet you.

Im an American living in France. How did that happen? Well, sort of by chance. I got an astronomy job in Bordeaux (It turns out theres more than just wine here, you know!) The food ooh la la is the thing I like most. The croissants, the duck, the cheese and the toast. I live with my sons and a wonderful wife. OK, thats enough bout my personal life.

Ill leave you with this, before we get goin The sketches youll see were all drawn by Owen. I study planets and asteroids too. I work to discover how Earth and Mars grew And why other planets look different than ours. Ive even found planets around other stars. Theres thousands of planets, too many to list em. The eight we know best are in our Solar System.

Part of my job is to figure out how Those planets got where we can see them right now. In movies astronomers spend all their time, Staring through telescopes (not writing rhyme). But really most all of us work at computers. Astronomers, really, are normal commuters. We come to the office, not too picturesque And ponder the Universe right from our desk. So sit back, relax.

Lets go for a spin Well check out our Galaxy, outside and in. The very first chapters about the night skies And what you can see with your very own eyes 2 THE SKY A cool thing to do on a hot summer night Is to wander away from the bright city light, And check out the stars in the darkest of skies Youll see a few thousand if you have good eyes. The Moon is just awesome. So lets sing its praises. Monthly it goes through a spectrum of phases. First its all dark, then a small slice gets lit.

Then it grows and grows every night, just a bit. In two weeks at sunset the great full Moon rises. (A good time for werewolves and lots of surprises.) Then two weeks of shrinking the Moons new and then, The cycle of phases starts over again. And did you know lots of words come from the Moon? Month comes from Moonth. Also looney from Lune. Look up at the Moon.

Do you see those round cracks? Theyre craters resulting from massive impacts. Whenever an object from space crashes down The smash digs a crater down into the ground. Think the Moon looks big now? Well, way back in its youth The Moon was much closer to Earth. Thats the truth. The tides slosh Earths water around in the ocean, And also affect our Moons orbital motion. Pushed by the tides, the Moons drifting away (Four thousandths or so of an inch every day).

So back in our past the Moons orbit was nearer. (The same as youll read on your cars sideview mirror). So back then the Moon in the sky was gigantic, And gazing up at it was extra romantic! Look up at the stars all lined up in formation: Each pattern of stars forms its own constellation. Of course, the Big Dipper. Delphinus. Orion.

Theres Cassiopeia. And Leo the lion. Each of these pictures, it has its own story: A queen in the sky, or a warriors glory. Remember that theyre just connecting the dots. And how many ways to connect them all? Lots. All different cultures each have their own versions The Cherokee, Chinese, the Maori, the Persians.

The brightest of dots that you see way up yonder: Theyre stars, ancient Greeks thought, that just like to wander. But theyre Earths kindred planets, rounding the sun. And from our perspective they move. Every one. Venus is brightest of all in the sky At sunrise and sunset it catches your eye. Jupiter, Saturn are both pretty bright And Mars is the red one that shines in the night.

On really dark nights in the country youll spy A smeary band stretching its way cross the sky. Our own Milky Way! Now, the Romans and Greeks Named it that way cuz of those smeary streaks. Of course way back then they had no idea how That milky streak got there. A heavenly cow? The reason that strip is all smeary, youll find, Its billions of stars and their light has combined. The reason that smear is a strip in its shape: Our galaxys strikingly flat like a crepe. That long fuzzy smear is the place on the sky, The galaxys flatness lines up with your eye.

Did you know that clouds are the stars place of birth? A cloud up in space, not like clouds down on Earth. And one of these star-birthing clouds is real bright Its up in Orion, neath the belt, to the right. A thousand-odd newborn stars shining out loud. Theyre lighting up gas in their nursery cloud. A Subarus logo: a cluster of stars. A cluster of stars thats on millions of cars! In Japanese, Subaru means Pleiades.

Its up there in Taurus. Youll see it with ease. Thousands of stars stretch their way down its shoulder. Its like the wee stars in Orion, just older. My number one target when I go stargazing: Andromeda, well, its just simply amazing. The closest big galaxy kind of like ours Its bursting with hundreds of billions of stars! Its smudgy and faint and theres only a hint.

Youll see it without any help if you squint. But guess what? Andromedas not at all small Its six times the width of the full Moon, in all! Most of the best stuff thats up theres not bright. Your naked eye simply cant see it at night. Which brings us to telescopes please dont you doubt em. In fact I could write a whole poem about em. 3 TELESCOPES The Hubble Space telescope, once, on a lark Was facing a spot in the sky that was dark.