There are many of us who think it’s a waste of money exploring space (and possibly messing up other planets), when we have so much to do on this planet. But to know about our solar system is interesting. Satish Kumar once wrote that unless you know Nature, you cannot love her. And unless you love her, you won’t be able to protect her. So let’s find out more.
The Little Book of Space is a short, informative and engaging guide to the wonders of the universe, to fascinate and inspire readers of all ages. There has never been a better time to learn about space. As fresh discoveries are made, we don’t need to have Einstein-level training to grasp the science, and ponder the big questions. This little book covers everything including:
- The Big Bang
- The formation of planets in our solar system
- How to spot planets in the night sky
- A timeline of firsts and major events
- How big is the universe and how was it formed?
- How many meteorites crash into Earth each day?
- Could humans one day live on Mars?
- Are we alone in the universe?
What is the Solar System?
The solar system is simply all planets that orbit the sun. Earth is just one part, there are lots of other planets and the smaller more recently discovered planet Pluto, along with asteroids and comets. Formed from a cloud or gas and dust billions of years ago, we are 93 million miles away from the Sun, and each planet orbiting it has a different temperature (we are way hotter than Uranus for example). We also only have one moon, there are over 100 more. One of the few planets we can see is Venus, which often looks like the first ‘star’ at night. After the moon, it’s the brightest light in the sky.
The US and USSR have together spent billions of dollars exploring space with shuttles (many people have exploded in mid-air), and it causes awful pollution. Many innocent animals have also died as ‘guinea pigs’ being sent to space. Laika the dog only survived a few hours (dying of overheating and panic) and rhesus monkeys have died (one died when the parachute failed to work, and his capsule slammed hard to the ground).
We presently have a world that does not live in peace, where 800 million people starve and another 800 million eat to the point of dying, we have bullies, animal abuse and environmental degradation on a mass scale, corrupt leaders and all kinds of problems. But rather than using money to sort these out, governments send astronauts into space, to ‘explore and learn’.
Our best bet is to take care of this planet that we already have. We are just dust compared to the vastness of teh universe. Nojus Tumenas
The energy radiated by the Sun is 400 million million million million watts. That is a million times the power consumption of the US every year, radiated in one second. And we worked that out, by using some water, a thermometer, a tin and an umbrella. And that’s why I love physics. Professor Brian Cox
Forget scientists. The next space launch we should send up painters, poets and musicians/ I’d be more interesting in what they discover, than anything that takes place in a test tube. James Rozoff
I’m sure the universe is full of intelligent life. It’s just been too intelligent to come here. Arthur C Clarke
