why do the stars shine?

GALAXYGALAXY‘S‘S

What makes up our galaxy? What is the Milky Way? What is the solar system?

You can find the answers to these and other questions about the planets and stars in Why Do the Stars Shine?

Michael McMahon

Shine?

WhyDoStars

the Shine?

WhyDoStars

the

WHY

IS IT SO?

Science?

Damm’s Galaxy er et småboksystem i engelsk for barnetrinnet. Systemet er tilpasset elever med engelsk som fremmedspråk og er svært godt egnet til veiledet lesing. Bøkene er nivå delte etter vanskelighetsgrad og tekstmengde og kommer i bokser med 616 bøker på hvert nivå.

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7 Movers 77

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1

Michael McMahon

and other questionsabout the solar system

Shine?

WhyDoStars

the

why do the stars shine.indd 1 30.06.11 16.54

Why do the stars s hine?

What is theMilky Way?


Questions about the stars . . . . . . . . . 4

Questions about the solar system . 10

It’s a fact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Can you believe it? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Who found out? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Find the answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Contents


4

about the starsQuestions

Q: What is the galaxy?

Q: Why do the stars s hine?

A: The galaxy is all the stars we can see in the sky – every constellation and all the star clusters we can see through telescopes . There are 200 billion stars in the galaxy .

A: Stars are balls of hot gas . They are a very long way away, so they look like sparkling points of light . A star begins to shine when it gets very hot in the middle and releases energy, producing heat and light .


5

Q: What is the galaxy?

Star clusters


66


7

Q: When and where can you s ee the Milky Way?

Q: What is the Milky Way? A: The Milky Way is the name of the galaxy that we live in . We call our galaxy the ‘Milky Way’ because from Earth it looks like a wide, white road leading into space .

A: The best time to see the Milky Way is on a clear winter night . The best place to see it is in the country, far away from bright lights . The closer you are to the equator, the more you can see .


8


9

More about stars• Starsarenot‘star’shaped.• Starsarebiggerthanplanets .• OurSunisastar.• Starsareborn,livefor

billions of years and then die .•Theychangesizeastheyuse

up their gas .• Astardieswhenallthegas

inside it is used up .


10

aboutQuestions the solar system

Q: What is the solar system?A: The solar system is made up of the Sun together with the eight planets, comets and small asteroids that orbit around it . At the edge of the solar system there are millions of ice balls .


11

about

Q: Where did the Moon come from?

A: The Moon was made millions of years ago . We do not

know for sure how it was made, but most scientists think that a small

planet crashed into the Earth . The collision blasted huge pieces of the Earth’s surface into space . These pieces of Earth came together in an orbit around the Earth and became the Moon .


It 's a fact

Gravity holds the planets, asteroids and comets in their paths around the Sun.

Jupite

rdis

tance

from Su

n: 77

8 milli

on km

one d

ay: 9

.8 Ea

rth ho

urs

one y

ear:

11.9

Earth

year

s

Mar

sdis

tance

from Su

n: 22

8 milli

on km

one d

ay: 2

4.6 Ea

rth ho

urs

one y

ear:

687 E

arth

days

Mer

cury

distan

ce fro

m Sun:

58 m

illion

km

one d

ay: 5

9 Ear

th da

ys

one y

ear:

88 Ea

rth da

ys

Venus

distan

ce fro

m Sun:

108 m

illion

km

one d

ay: 2

43 Ea

rth da

ys

one y

ear:

225 E

arth

days

Earth

distan

ce fro

m Sun:

150 m

illion

km

one d

ay: 2

3.9 ho

urs

one y

ear:

365.2

4 day

s

12


The biggest planet in the solar system is Jupiter . It is so big that all the other planets could fit inside it .

Jupite

rdis

tance

from Su

n: 77

8 milli

on km

one d

ay: 9

.8 Ea

rth ho

urs

one y

ear:

11.9

Earth

year

s

Mar

sdis

tance

from Su

n: 22

8 milli

on km

one d

ay: 2

4.6 Ea

rth ho

urs

one y

ear:

687 E

arth

days

Satu

rndis

tance

from Su

n: 1,4

29 m

illion

km

one d

ay: 1

0.7 Ea

rth ho

urs

one y

ear:

29.4

Earth

year

sU

ranus

distan

ce fro

m Sun:

2,875

milli

on km

one d

ay: 1

7.2 Ea

rth ho

urs

one y

ear:

83.8

Earth

year

sN

eptu

nedis

tance

from Su

n: 4,5

04 m

illion

km

one d

ay: 1

6.1 Ea

rth ho

urs

one y

ear:

163.7

Earth

year

s

13


1414

> SpeedwayThe Sun, Earth and the rest of the solar system travel around the Milky Way at up to 900,000 kilometres per hour (km/h) . Earth goes around the Sun at about 107,000 km/h .


15

> Halley’s CometHalley’s Comet is the most famous comet . It is named after Edmund Halley, who saw the comet in 1758 . People last saw it in 1986 .

Halley’s Comet

A comet is made of dust, ice and gases . It is like a dirty snowball with a tail .


1616

Mars


17

> Moon sizeThe Moon has the same surface area as the continent of Africa .

> The red planetMars is often called ‘the red planet’ because it looks red . The Romans named the planet Mars after their god of war because red is the colour of blood and fire .


1818

> The names of planetsMost of the planets are named after Roman gods . Venus has the name of the goddess of love and beauty because it is the brightest planet . Mercury has the name of the messenger god because it moves fast across the sky .


19

> SupernovaA supernova is a star that destroys itself in a huge explosion . They are very bright and you can see them in the sky in the daytime .

A supernova


Can youbelieve it?

20

Mars Observer


21

Comet Halle-BoppWhen Comet Halle-Bopp was near the Sun for a year, it put 8 tonnes of water into space every second .

Disaster!The Mars Observer cost a billion dollars, but it only took one photo . It blew up in 1993 before it reached Mars .


2222

Time travelOn21December1968 Apollo 8 travelled to the Moon . It took only three days .

The Apollo spacecraft

The Moon


23

A black hole

Black holesWhen a huge star collapses, it creates an area of intense gravity – a black hole . A black hole eats up everything that comes near it, including light .

The Moon


2424

Energy from the Sun In one second the Sun sends out more energy than people have used in all history .

Always movingYou are moving at about 107,000 kilometres per hour all the time . That’s how fast the Earth is travelling around the Sun .


25


26

Whofound out?

Earth's orbit: Nicolaus CopernicusNicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) was a Polish mathematician and astronomer . In 1514 he said that the Earth turned on its axis and moved

around the Sun in one complete year . People did not

believe him, but Galileo and other

astronomers later helped to show that his idea was correct .


27

Supernova:Tycho Brahe Tycho Brahe (1546–1601) wasaDanishastronomer. In 1572 he saw a new star that was as bright as Venus . It was the brightest supernova for 500 years . People were very surprised by his discovery because they thought that stars never changed .


2828

Invisible darkness:Dr Vera Cooper RubinDrVeraCooperRubin(1928–)isanAmerican astronomer . She discovered that galaxies are surrounded by clouds of invisible dark matter . Astronomers still do not know what it is .


29

Discovering planets:Carolyn ShoemakerCarolyn Shoemaker (1929– ) is also an American astronomer . She has discovered more planets than anyone else . She has found more than 800 asteroids and 32 comets and co-discovered Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 . In 1992 this comet travelled too near to Jupiter and broke into 21 pieces .


30

Glossary

asteroids: small, planetary bodiesastronomer: a scientist who studies stars, planets and

space axis: the line around which a rotating body turns black hole: a region in space with extremely strong

gravity that eats up everything that comes nearblast: explode and throw things out in many directions collision: two moving objects hit one another violentlycomets: objects moving across the sky with bright tails

of light constellation: any pattern into which stars are grouped

and named equator: a line around the middle of the Earth, an equal

distance between the North Pole and the South Poleorbit: to move in a curved path around a planet or other

body in space planets: large round masses of rock and metal (for

example, Earth), or of gas (for example, Jupiter), which move around a star

Englis h–Englis h


31

axis: akse

billion: milliard

blast: sprenge

blow up: eksplodere, sprenge

change size: forandre størrelse

constellation: stjernebilde

crash into: kollidere med

dark matter: mørkt stoff

disaster: katastrofe

goddess: gudinne

gravity: tyngdepunkt

invisible: usynlig

Englis h–Norwegian engelsk–norsk ordliste:


messenger: budbringer

Milky Way: Melkeveien

orbit: bevege seg i bane rundt

probe: giver, sensor

release energy: avgi energi

scientist: forsker

sparkling: funklende, blinkende

speedway: her: fartsbane

star cluster: klynge/gruppe med stjerner

surface: overflate


Find theAnswers

1. What makes a star shine? 2. List three facts about the Milky Way. 3. List at least three facts about stars. 4. List the eight planets in the solar system. 5. What more is the solar system made up of? 6. Describe a comet. 7. What is a supernova? 8. What is a black hole? 9. What do you know about Copernicus? 10. What is Carolyn Shoemaker known for?

© CAPPELEN DAMM AS, Cambridge University Press og Denise Ryan & Associates 2011

ISBN 978-82-02-34865-6(gjelder hele boksen med Level 7-bøker)

Materialet i denne publikasjonen er omfattet av åndsverklovens bestemmelser. Uten særskilt avtale med Cappelen Damm AS er enhver eksemplarframstilling og tilgjengelig-gjøring bare tillatt i den utstrekning det er hjemlet i lov eller tillatt gjennom avtale med

Kopinor, interesseorgan for rettighetshavere til åndsverk.Utnyttelse i strid med lov eller avtale kan medføre erstatningsansvar og inndragning, og

kan straffes med bøter eller fengsel.

Original konsept: Cambridge University Press og Denise Ryan & Associates 2010

Redaksjon Cambridge University Press: Jean Glasberg, Hilary Ratcliff og Claire Lawrence

Redaktør Cappelen Damm AS: Toril Lindberg Tekst: Michael McMahon

Fotoliste:Alle bilder tilhører og er gjengitt med tillatelse fra NASA foruten disse:

s2 og s6: Shaun Lowe; s5n: Manfred Konrad; s26, s27, s28 og s29: Photolibrary

Design: Framnes Tekst & Bilde AS

Trykking/innbinding: Korotan, Ljubjana 2011

www.cdu.no

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why do the stars shine?

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