Heidi Fiedler - The Know-Nonsense Guide to Space: An awesomely fun guide to the universe

2018 Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc.

First Published in 2018 by Walter Foster Jr., an imprint of The Quarto Group.

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Digital edition: 978-1-63322-519-0
Hardcover edition: 978-1-63322-518-3

Digital edition published in 2018

Written by Heidi Fiedler

Illustrated by Brendan Kearney

If outer space seems too far to worry about, or youre looking for a funny guide to astronomy, youre in the right place. This book tackles the key concepts you need to know about the solar system, galaxy, and beyond.

Whether youre curious about Neptune or want to know more about telescopes, this book will help you navigate the space between the stars.

Learn about the planets in our solar system.

Dive into a black hole.

Find out where astronauts want to go next.

Sound like nonsense? Fear not! By the end of this book, youll be clear on the difference between a comet and an asteroid, understand why Pluto isnt a planet, and learn what makes the Milky Way so milky. Soon youll go from knowing nothing about space to being a total know-it-all!

Earth, other planets, moons, asteroids, and more whirl around the sun. This vast place in space is our solar system, and everything caught in the suns gravity is part of the system. From above, it may look like an oversized game of marbles. But zoom in, and youll find dazzling details, intriguing mysteries, and interstellar nonsense of the highest order.

*Planets not to scale

THE SUN

The sun is the star that everything in the solar system revolves around.

There are over 100 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, but our planet revolves around just one: the sun. From Earths point of view, the sun is the most important star in the sky. It makes up 99 percent of the solar systems mass, gives off light and heat, drives the weather on Earth, and supports lifeincluding us! Like other stars, the sun is a gigantic, hot ball of glowing gas. About one million Earths could fit inside the sun. Temperatures at the core reach 27 million degrees Fahrenheit (15 million degrees Celsius), and the outer layer, known as the corona, reaches temperatures of 3.5 million degrees Fahrenheit (2 million degrees Celsius). The suns gravity affects everything in the solar system, from the largest planets to the smallest asteroid. Its no exaggeration to say everything revolves around the sun.

MERCURY

Mercury is the closest planet to the sun.

Hee! Hoo! Hot! If youve ever tiptoed across scorching hot sand at the beach, you have some idea of what it might be like to land on Mercury. A small, dense, and intensely hot planet, Mercury is a difficult place to study since it orbits so close to the sun. So much of this airless place remains a mystery. We do know the surface is covered in craters and deep wrinkles. Below the surface theres a large, metallic core. And because of the way the planet spins around the sun, you might see a double sunrise if you stood on the surface. The sweltering sun first appears in the sky, moves back toward the horizon, and then starts rising again. That might leave you feverish!

VENUS

Venus is the planet closest to Earth.

When youre a heavenly body named after the ancient Roman goddess of love and beauty, you might expect aliens to swoon. But any swooning that happens on Venus is more likely caused by how intensely hot the planet is. The thick atmosphere traps heat, so temperatures can reach over 800 degrees Fahrenheit (427 degrees Celsius) on the second planet from the sun. The atmosphere is also poisonous, and acid rains down from a thick layer of clouds. And at the very top of Venuss mountains, there is a layer of snow. But not as we know it! Snow on Venus is made from frozen metal.