Ken Jennings - Outer Space

LITTLE SIMON

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Childrens Publishing Division

1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

www.SimonandSchuster.com

First Little Simon edition October 2014

Text copyright 2014 by Ken Jennings Illustrations copyright 2014 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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Jacket design by Elizabeth Doyle

Jacket illustration copyright 2014 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Designed by Elizabeth Doyle

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Jennings, Ken, 1974 author. Outer space / by Ken Jennings ; illustrated by Mike Lowery. First edition. pages cm. (Ken Jennings junior genius guides) Summary: Now you can become a junior genius with Ken Jennings first childrens series! With this book youll become an expert and wow your friends and teachers with out-of-this-world facts: Did you know that Mars has a volcano bigger than the state of Arizona? Or that theres a star with a diamond the size of our moon at its core? With great illustrations, cool trivia, and fun quizzes to test your knowledge, this guide will have you on your way to whiz-kid status in no time! Provided by publisher. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Outer spaceJuvenile literature. 2. Solar systemJuvenile literature. I. Lowery, Mike, 1980- illustrator. II. Title.

QB602.J46 2015 523dc23 2013042287

ISBN 978-1-4814-0171-5 (hc) ISBN 978-1-4814-0170-8 (pbk) ISBN 978-1-4814-0172-2 (eBook)

Good morning, my young friends! Im Professor Jennings, a certified expert on everything and, luckily for you, your personal guide on your journey to becoming a Junior Genius. Everyone can become a Junior Genius, if theyre interested in the world around them. Semper quaerens , thats our motto. Always curious.

If youre like me (and, obviously, you at least wish you were) you sometimes look up at the night sky and ponder the mysteries of the cosmos. How did the universe begin? Is there life on other planets? What lies in the dark heart of our galaxy? How do people go to the bathroom in space? Today were going to tackle those very questions by peering into the farthest reaches of outer space. The only telescopes you will need are my nearly limitless knowledge and your own imagination.

At the beginning of every Junior Genius book, we recommit ourselves to the pursuit of knowledge by saying the Junior Genius Pledge. Please rise, face this drawing of Albert Einstein, and place your right index finger to your temple. Repeat after me:

With all my fellow Junior Geniuses, I solemnly pledge to quest after questions, to angle for answers, to seek out, and to soak up. I will hunger and thirst for knowledge my whole life through, and I dedicate my discoveries to all humankind, with trivia not for just us but for all.

Were headed for space, Junior Geniuses. T-minus one page. Prepare for liftoff.

Have you ever complained about the Sun, Junior Geniuses?

Its too hot today!

Ugh, thats bright.

No more sunscreen, Mom!

Well, after todays lesson, I never want to hear you bad-mouth the Sun again! The only reason that life can exist on Earth at all, everything from figs to walruses to TV repairmen, is because of the light and warmth we get from our nearest star.

This is the Sun.

Wait, thats not right. Why would the Sun need to wear sunglasses? Think about it; how would that help? Lets try that again.

No Crayons Allowed

Please dont color this drawing with a yellow crayon, Junior Geniuses. Not only would that deface this fine book, it would also be scientifically inaccurate ! Sunlight only looks yellow to us because were seeing it through our atmosphere. From space the Sun is perfectly white!

When you look at the Sunwait, hold on. Public service announcement:

The light is so intense it can literally cook the retinas in your eyes. To observe the Sun, glance and then look away. Dont stare. There are health faddists called sungazers who claim they get all their nutrition from staring at the Sun a few minutes a day. But that really doesnt work, so please dont try this.

Okay. When you briefly glance at the Sun, youre actually looking back in time! Sunlight travels at the speed of light, which means it takes an average of eight minutes and twenty seconds for it to reach the Earth. So the Sun outside your window isnt actually where you think it is. By the time you see it, the real Sun has moved forward two Sun-diameters in the sky.

But were going to travel back in time even further: not eight and a half minutes but 4.5 billion years ! Thats when the story of our solar system begins.

Over 4 billion years ago a nebula a gigantic space-cloud of gascollapsed on itself, possibly due to the shock wave from a nearby exploding star. As it shrank, the whirling cloud began to spin faster and faster and grow hotter and hotter. It flattened into a big pizza-shaped thing called a protoplanetary disk , and soon thereafter (just 50 million yearsthats soon in cosmic terms!) the middle of the disk got hot enough to light its nuclear furnace. The Sun was born!