Ryers Readers - EXTRA EPISODE! - There was an Old Astronaut who Swallowed the Moon

Episode Date: May 13, 2024

Hi Friends! Let’s sit back, relax, grab some moon juice, and learn all about space!

Let's do this! Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. Don't forget to rate and follow so you never miss out on all the Ryers' readers fun. This past Friday, we read a super fun story titled There Was an Old Astronaut Who Swallowed the Moon by Lucille Calandro. Now, this book is extra cool because it is chock full with fun facts about space. Let's grab our spacesuits and learn some of the things we can find in our solar system. Number one, the moon. The moon is Earth's closest neighbor, but it is still 238,8,85 miles away. It is the brightest object in the night sky because part of it faces the sun and reflects the sun's light. The moon orbits Earth.

It takes about 27 days for it to go all the way around. As the moon travels around the Earth, it looks like it's changing shape, but it isn't. As it moves, the sun lights up the part of the moon facing the sun. These different shapes are called the phases of the moon. Number two, stars. A star is a huge round ball of very hot gas. It is about 50 times hotter than boiling water. Stars don't really twinkle.

When light from a star enters our atmosphere, the wind and temperature affect how we see the brightness and position of the star. That's why it looks like it's twinkling. The stars that you see in the night sky are only a small fraction of the more than billions of stars that exist in our universe. Number three. Number three, planets. Planets are natural objects that orbit around stars.

Our solar system has eight planets. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. These planets orbit around a star, our Sun. Mercury has no moon because it's low gravity. Venus is the hottest planet. hottest planet in our solar system. Mars is the only planet, except for Earth, that has polar ice caps. Jupiter has 79 moons.

Four of them were discovered by Galileo in 1610. Saturn has rings of ice surrounding it, but Neptune is actually the coldest planet. It takes Neptune about 165 Earth years to orbit the Sun. One year on Uranus equals 30,687 Earth days. Number four, comets. Comets are balls of ice and dust. They are very rare and orbit in very distant parts of space. When they orbit closer to the sun, the heat from the sun creates streams of gas that we see as a tail.

One of the most famous comets is Haley's comet. which returns to Earth about 75 years. You'll have to wait until 2061 to see it. Number 5. Meteorodes A meteoroid is a piece of rock, metal, or ice flying in space. A meteoroid that burns up as it passes through Earth's atmosphere is known as a meteor. We commonly call meteors shooting stars.

Meteors are bits of rock and ice. ice ejected from comets as they move in their orbits about the sun. When hundreds of meteors pass across the night sky at the same time, we see it as a meteor shower. When a piece of meteoroid lands on Earth, it's called a meteorite. Number 6. Rockets are the vehicles that launch or move spacecraft into orbit. travel at least 25,000 miles per hour to reach the moon and planets. The rocket engine burns fuel that turns into gas.

As the gas leaves the back of the rocket, the power moves the rocket forward. Think of letting air out of a balloon. As the air escapes, the balloon moves in the opposite direction. Number 7. Satellites. A satellite is any object that orbits another bigger object. There are natural satellites and man-made satellites. Earth orbits the Sun, so it's a natural satellite.

The Moon is a natural satellite because it orbits Earth. Man-made satellites are launched into space to complete certain jobs. Weather satellites help us understand climate and also predict weather changes. Global positioning systems like GPS satellites help you with directions. Satellites affect everyday life. Pretty cool, huh? Thank you for joining me on this super special extra episode. I hope you learned something new and interesting about our solar system.

Don't forget to check this episode's question section on Spotify. I would love to hear your answers. Bye friends!