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Places in Space

Space is an exciting place! Our solar system is in space. It is made up of the sun and the eight planets that travel around the sun. Our solar system also has moons, stars, and other space objects.

In the Center

The sun is at the center of our solar system. The sun is a hot, bright star. A star is a ball of hot gas. It gives off heat and light. The sun is the star closest to Earth. That is why it looks different from other stars. Most stars look tiny and can be seen only at night because they are so far away.

Around the Sun

A planet is a giant ball made of rock or gas. Eight planets make up our solar system. You live on one of them—Earth! The others are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Each planet moves in a path around the sun. The path is called an orbit.

Around Earth

Earth has one moon. It travels in an orbit around Earth. The moon is made of rock. It is covered with deep holes called craters. The moon may look like it gives off light but does not. It looks bright when it reflects light from the sun.

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When you see the moon at night, it might look white. It might look gray or silver. Sometimes, it seems to shine and glow. But the moon does not (7)________ light the way the sun does. The moon is a ball of rock that gives off no light. It simply (8)________ light from the sun. That means light from the sun hits the moon and bounces off.

You may know that Earth orbits around the sun. But did you know that the moon orbits around Earth? It takes just about one month for the moon (9)________ Earth completely. If you look up at the night sky each night of the month, you may think that the size and shape of the moon is changing. (10)________, the size and shape are not really changing. The moon is still a round ball. (11)________ looks different at different times of the month because of (12)________ the sun's light is reflected and how much of the moon we can see from Earth.

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1. Astronomers have discovered an unusual solar system near Earth. It's made up of six planets orbiting a star. This system is rare because the planets' orbits appear to be coordinated. Scientists compare their movement to a perfectly timed symphony.

2. It's “precise, very orderly,” says Enric Pallé, an astronomer at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands.

3. The discovery was announced on November 29. It's based on data from two orbiting satellites, NASA's TESS, and the European Space Agency's Cheops. The newly discovered system is 100 light-years from Earth , about 600 trillion miles. That's close in space terms. Astronomers are calling the system a “golden target” for further study. It could offer an example of how systems across the Milky Way were formed.

4. All solar systems are thought to have started out like this one. But they rarely keep their perfect timing. Giant planets can throw off the orbits of other planets. So can meteor impacts. These things have happened in our solar system.

5. Hugh Osborn of the University of Bern in Switzerland says his team was “shocked and delighted” by the discovery. “My jaw was on the floor,” he says. “That was a really nice moment.”

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1. Tourists now pay big bucks to travel into space with astronauts! The first space tourist was Dennis Tito, an American businessman. In 2001, he paid about $20 million to ride on a Russian rocket to the International Space Station. The Space Station circles 220 miles above Earth. Tito stayed on the station for a week, hanging out with astronauts and eating space food. Another space tourist was Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian-born woman from the United States who went to the Space Station in mid-September 2006.

2. How safe is space travel? Apart from the risk of crashing, space tourists have some unique things to worry about. Earth's atmosphere protects us from dangerous radiation from the sun. Space travelers are exposed to more of the sun's rays. But the radiation probably isn't harmful to tourists spending only a few days or weeks in space.

3. A bigger problem might be space sickness. Without Earth's gravity to hold them down, visitors to the Space Station float around inside the craft. It may look fun on TV, but it can make first-time space travelers dizzy and sick. Luckily, the sickness usually wears off quickly. Then space tourists can enjoy their trip—and the amazing view of Earth.