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space ATLAS
Written by Ji Duek and Jan Pala
Illustrations by Tom Tma

avoyage of discovery for young astronauts

for children

Ji Duek and Jan

ten by
t
P
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r
W
t i o n s b y To m T m a l a
a
r
t
s
u
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Ill

with 6 big folding pages that introduces young readers

to the wonders of outer space and reveals them afascinating story
of the creation of starts and planets. It is filled with beautiful
full-colour illustrations of the solar system, easy-to-follow charts
of major constellation, plus awealth of illustrated facts.
This remarkable atlas gives children aglimpse
into our exciting universe.
The child will learn the most important
information interesting and playful way.
Appropriate for the schools, too.
b4u publishing, 2013

space ATLAS

The Space Atlas is awonderfully illustrated new atlas

ISBN + EAN

b4u publishing

au

ts

s
ystem
r
a
l
o
s

Uranus

Venus

Jupiter

Neptune

Saturns moons
Saturn is orbited by the great
moon Titan, which is the only
moon in the entire Solar System
tohave a dense atmosphere.
Iteven rains there, but what falls
from the clouds is not water but
achemical called methane, which
flows into its great lakes.

co m e t

E a rt h
Mercury
S at u r n

Mars

Mercury
Mercury is the smallest
planet in the Solar
System. As it orbits
close to the Sun, where
sun rays fall it is heated
to a high temperature.
But where it is night,
Mercury is very cold.

Venus
Venus is completely
obscured by dense
clouds that float
in apoisonous
atmosphere. Several
space probes have
landed on Venus;
thuswe know that the
planets surface is hot
and glows red like a hot
stove. There are many
extinct volcanoes on
Venus. It is rather
ahell-likeplanet.

Earth
Earth is the most varied
planet. It has air and
water and is home
tohumans, animals
and plants. If you drove
from Earth to the Sun
in a racing car, the trip
would take you over
ahundred years! Earth
does not orbit the Sun
on its own but in the
company of the Moon.

Mars
Mars is a desert planet full
of sand. Like Earth, Mars
has ice near its North
andSouth Poles. Today
weare exploring Mars
carefully asit is just possible
that itishome to simple
lifeforms.

Jupiter
Jupiter is the largest planet
in the Solar System. It is
eleven times larger than
Earth. It is surrounded
by dense and colourful
cloud. Storms rage
constantly in Jupiters
atmosphere. These storms
which from space look
like oval smudges easily
outperform the Earths
most powerful tornadoes.
The largest storm is twice
as big as planet Earth!

Saturn
Saturn, the second largest
planet in the Solar System,
is adorned with beautiful
rings. These consist ofahuge
number of grains of dust
and ice, among which
are boulders as big as
houses. The rings are about
400,000kilometres in length
and several metres thick.
Just imagine if they had
the diameter of a football
pitch, they would be as thick
asasheet of paper!

The picture does not show all of the planets in the solar
system in relative size because if we shall portray all of the
planets in relative size, they would not get in the picture. Just
an example the planet Jupiter is 11 times larger than Earth.

Uranus
At first sight Uranus isaboring
planet. It looks like a blueand-green ball because
it isobscured by cloud.
Uranus is so far away from
the Sun that it cant beseen
in the night sky without a
telescope. Farbelow Uranuss
cloud cover is an icy ocean
comprising gases which are
similar to those in gas lighters,
although they are many
timescooler.

Neptune
To see Neptune, too,
you need a telescope.
The composition
ofthis planet is similar
tothat of Uranus.
Initsatmosphere you
can observe white
clouds of ice crystals
and great storms that
look like dark smudges.
Neptune is a windy
planet, where we find
the fastest wind in the
whole SolarSystem.

Moons

solar system

If a planet is orbited by another celestial body,

itis said that it has a moon. Earth has one. Some
planets, such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus andNeptune,
havedozens of moons.

Asteroids

The Solar System is our place in the

universe. It takes its name from the Sun,
which is at its centre. The Solar System
includes our own planet Earth and seven
other planets Mercury, Venus, Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The
Solar System also contains smaller celestial
bodies the moons of the planets, meteors,
asteroids and comets. Most of these orbit
the Sun, like the planets.

Celestial bodies
that are not
aslarge as planets
butlarger than grains
ofdust, are called asteroids.
Asteroids orbit the sun and can
berocky, metallic or icy. Although
most of them look like enormous
potatoes, you could fit a big city on
the surface of the average asteroid.

Comets
Comets may look
like huge balls
ofdirty snow, but
they are as big as an
entire town. They roam the
Solar System and start to melt
when they get close to the Sun. They give
offwater vapour like a saucepan gives off steam,
and this creates their long tail, which can be
seen in the night sky from Earth. Some comets
return to the Sun regularly while others visit
itonly once.

rotates on its a
h
xis
rt
once in a da
Ea
y.

The Sun

The Sun is a star that shines in its

own light. We can see the planet
and all the other celestial bodies
only because the Sun illuminates
them for us. Thanks to its force
of attraction it holds the Solar
System together.

mallest planet in th
s
e
e
Th
ystem is Me
S
r
a
l
o
S
rcur
y,
the largest J
upit
er.

Rocky planets

The four planets that are

closest to the Sun are called
the rocky planets. Apart from
Earth these include Mercury,
Venus and Mars. They have
asolid surface you could
easily walk about on. All are
about the same size as Earth.
As they are close to the Sun,
the temperature on their
surfaces is quite warm.

Rings
All the gas giant planets have
rings, but in the cases of Jupiter,
Uranus and Neptune these are only
revealed by space probe. Saturn
isthe only planet with proper rings.

Gas giant planets

The four gas giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are
further away from the Sun than the rocky planets. They are much bigger
and the Sun doesnt shine on them so much, which is why they are very
cold. Unlike the rocky planets they do not have a solid surface; they are
formed of dense cloud over icy oceans. You could never walk on the
giant planets, but you could swim on them before you froze, of course.

the moon

Seen from the Moon, Earth

looks so small that astronauts
can barely make out the
outlines of its continents.

Lu n a 3
S e a o f Co l d

The far side

of the Moon
It takes the Moon more than
27days to make one trip
around our planet. While doing
this itstill rotates on its axis;
asone such revolution also
takes 27days, only one of its
halves known as the near
side of the Moon is turned
towards us. The far side of the
moon the half that is always
turned away from Earth can
be observed only by satellite.
Itwas first photographed
by the Luna 3 spacecraft
inOctober 1959.

Sea of Rain

Sea of Serenity

Apollo 15

O c e a n o f Sto r ms
C o p e r n i c u s ( c r at e r )

Apollo 17

Moon landing

This picture shows the Moon

landing sites of the Apollo and
Luna lunar modules. The names
of craters and other places
ontheMoon are given in blue.

Apollo 12
Luna 24

Apollo 14

People once believed that the

Moon affected the weather
onEarth. That is why maps give
its most striking features names
such as the Sea of Rain, the Sea
of Cold and the Ocean ofStorms.
The Moons craters bear thenames
of famous scholars, such as
Copernicus, Plato andAristarchus.
These craters are several
dozen kilometres
indiameter.

Apollo 11
Sea of Moisture

Luna 20

S e a o f Clo u d s

Apollo 16
Luna 16

Swindlers

These days swindlers sell plots of land on the Moon

topeople who dream of taking their holidays there.
But you cant really buy a piece of the Moon
theMoon belongs to all humanity.

People on the Moon

In 1969 Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin landed

on the Moon. Yet the computer that controlled
their spaceship was much worse and bigger than
the computers we have today in the most ordinary
mobile telephones. The moon has since been
visited by another ten US astronauts,
some of whom took an electric
caranddrove it on the Moons surface.

Moon rock
Astronauts have brought back from the
Moon a total of 400 kilograms of moon rock
(equivalent to about eight sacks of potatoes).
Specimens can be borrowed but they remain
the property of the United States of America.
But sometimes the Moon sends gifts down
to Earth meteorites, which are released
when craters are formed. Lunar meteorites
are traded like precious stones; a fragment
the size of a poppy seed might cost twenty
dollars or more.

Do astronauts
wear diapers?
Although there is no
air on the Moon, there
are great changes in
temperature on its
surface from -180 to +120 degrees
Celsius. For this reason astronauts would
walk on the Moon in pressurized suits
and carry air on their backs, as divers do.
The biggest problem arose when they
needed to go to the toilet. So they wore
diapers. And didnt they itch? You cant
scratch your nose when youre wearing
a helmet, so they had special tools for
scratching fitted in their spacesuits.

the moon
Sometimes the Moon can
be seen in the sky in the evening,
sometimes in the morning. Sometimes
itis visible all night and only rarely does
it disappear from view entirely. The Moon
is an enormous, rocky, very cold globe that
orbits the planet Earth. It is the our planets
natural satellite, unlike the artificial satellites that
we fire into the skies on rockets. The Moon orbits Earth at a distance
of400,000 kilometres. If there were a highway from Earth to the moon,
it would take us almost half a year of non-stop driving to travel its
lengthby car; it would take an aeroplane about three weeks to make
thesamejourney without
The Moon
stops, of course.

The influence of the

Moon on Earth
Does the Moon have an
effect on people? Yes, but not
ontheir mood or health, and
it doesnt affect sleepwalkers.
A full moon may wake you
at night if it shines through
your bedroom window.
The important thing is that
the Moon (like the Sun)
has tides. It also provides
pleasant conditions all over
ourplanet.

1.

increase
in sea
level

Craters
At first glance the surface of the Moon looks
like a desert. But unlike Earth the Moon is
pockmarked with great holes and hollows
called craters. How were they formed?
Bycelestial bodies falling to the Moon
in thedistant past, causing an enormous
explosion and leaving
a circular pit at the
place ofimpact.

The Moon

Apollo 11

increase
in sea
level

How the Moon

was formed
No one knows quite
how theMoonwas
formed.
Itmayhavehappened
4,500,000,000years
ago, when Earth
collided with another
planet ofasizesimilar
to Mars (1).
Although that
planet was smashed
tosmithereens, its
fragments remained
to orbit Earth (2),
packing themselves
together to form the
Moon over several
thousand years (3).

The Moons biggest craters are visible from Earth without

atelescope. They look like black smudges. They were once
filled with dark lava from the Moons interior, which then
hardened. People used to think that the craters were seas
filled with water; although we
now know that this is not so,
we continue to call these
features seas. The size of the
Moons seas is comparable
with that of states on
Earth. They cover the
same area as France
orcertainUSstates.

Will we ever live on the Moon?

Probably yes! Thirty years from now there could be
abase there similar to those in freezing Antarctica.
And a hundred years from now wemay be building
small villages on the Moon. Itwould beinteresting
to live in them for sure. Just imagine on Earth the
highest you can jump ishalf ametre, but on the
Moon, thanks to its low force ofattraction, you can
easily jump two metres. Andifyou put on wings,
youcan fly!

Footprints on the Moon

The footprints of earthlings
remain visible in moondust
forseveral dozen million
years. As the Moon has no
atmosphere and there isno
water there, astronauts have
nothing towipe orwash
them away with.

2.

3.

As the Moon is smaller than

Earthits force ofattraction
isabout six times less.
Astronauts have been
able toexperience this for
themselves in their heavy
spacesuits they were able
tojump much higher onthe
Moon than would be
possibleon Earth.

Astronaut
muscleman
Would an astronaut
onthe Moon be able
tolift a large motorbike?
Yes, because it would
besix times lighter than
it is on Earth. It would
like lifting a bag of sand.

Taurus
This constellation is located near Orion.
Its brightest star Aldebaran is orangecoloured. It is easily seen in the night
sky from October to March.

Stars and constellations

If you look at the night sky in fine
weather, youll see a lot of small lights.
Most ofthese will be stars, but there
may some planets among them. With
a bit ofluck you may spot an artificial
satellite, ameteor or a flashing aircraft.
Stars arehuge balls of hot, glowing
gases. Onthe surface of a star the
temperature is higher than incandescent
iron. Yetastars surface is its coolest part!
Atitscentre the temperature can reach
one hundred million degrees Celsius!

In the past people in Europe, Asia, Australia and

America gave different names to the same groups
ofstars. In the Great Bear (Ursa Major) constellation,
for instance, the Burmese saw a crab, while Finns saw
in it a salmon, Indians seven sages, American Indians
aplough and Egyptians a crocodile.

Centaur
The brightest star in the constellation
Centaur is called Alpha Centauri. It
contains an enormous star cluster.
Centaur lies on the plane of the Milky
Way.

Stars are extremely large much larger than planet Earth.

Unlike the Sun they are very far away from us. If Earth were
the size of the full stop at the end of this sentence, the
typical star would be as big as an orange.

r e d d wa r f

Stars that are smaller than theSun are

known as red dwarfs. Theyshine for
dozens of billions of years. Astar that
islarger than our sun may explode
at the end ofitslife. Such a massive
explosion isknownasasupernova.

Little Bear
Inconspicuous constellation whose
brightest star Polaris is found all
night long over the northern
horizon. Polaris is also known as the
North Star and it shows us which
way is north; otherwise it is not
anespecially conspicuous star.

Great Bear
This constellation is visible throughout
the year. It includes the famous
Plough. It helps us find the Little Bear
(Ursa Minor) constellation and the
starPolaris.

Cygnus
Constellation which lies on the plane ofthe
Milky Way. It looks like a large cross. Its brightest
star is Deneb. Deneb is the largest and most
distant star that can be seen in the sky
without use of a telescope. You will find
Cygnus inthe night sky from May to November.

Southern Cross
The stars of the Crux constellation
which is located on the Milky
Way form an obvious star shape.
The dark mark we find immediately
next to the constellation is called
the Coalsack.

Leo
This constellation is composed of a number
of prominent stars. It is surrounded by many
galaxies, but these cannot be seen without
atelescope. Its brightest star is called
Regulus. We see Leo in the night sky from
FebruarytoMay.

Cassiopeia
Five bright stars grouped
together in the shape of the
letter W. Itis bordered
by the constellation
Andromeda, part
ofwhichisanearby
galaxy. This issobright
that it can be seeninthe
night sky withoutatelescope.
Cassiopeia ismostclearly
visible between September
andDecember.

S u p e r n o va

Orion
Seven bright stars grouped in the shape
of an hourglass or a butterfly in flight.
Itcontains an enormous nebula that can
be seen with a small telescope. Orions
brightest star, which is orange in colour,
iscalled Betelgeuse. This constellation
is easy to see in the night sky from
OctobertoMarch.

Southern Sky

Northern Sky
Orion

o RION
Canis Minor
Canis Minor

Lepus

Cancer

Monoceros
Ta u r u s

Perseus

Canis Major

Pyxis
S e x ta n s

Cetus

Southern Cross

Leo

G r e at B e a r

Cassiopeia

Phoenix

Little Bear
Pegasus

C a p r i co r n

C e n ta u r

B o t e s

Co rv u s

Cygnus

D r aco
S a g i t ta r i u s

Delphinus

The Sun is the star closest to Earth

soclose that it outshines all other stars,
just as a streetlamp lights up the night
sky. It is better to look at the stars in the
country, where there arenostreetlamps.

Serpens

Ophiuchus

As Earth travels
around the Sun, at
different times of
the year we have
different views
of the universe.
This is why some
constellations are
clearly seen in
spring and others
in summer, autumn
or winter.

Southern Sky

Northern Sky
Orion

o RION
Canis Minor
Canis Minor

Lepus

Cancer

Monoceros
Ta u r u s

Perseus

Canis Major

Pyxis
S e x ta n s

Cetus

Southern Cross

Leo

G r e at B e a r

Cassiopeia

Phoenix

Little Bear
Pegasus

C a p r i co r n

C e n ta u r

B o t e s

Co rv u s

Cygnus

D r aco
S a g i t ta r i u s

Delphinus
Serpens

Often the shapes of clouds remind us of something; it is the same

with stars. In history different groupings of stars have reminded people
ofdifferent things, such as epic heroes, animals or everyday objects.
Itwas by these associations that the constellations developed.

From Europe, Asia or North America we see different stars

and constellations than we do from Australia, Africa or South
America. Planet Earth blocks our view of the Antipodes.
Ofthe 88 constellations, from Europe we can see only sixty.

Ophiuchus

Sputnik
Before people dared to fly
into space, they sent up
a variety of instruments
known as artificial satellites.
The first satellite, known as
Sputnik, was launched into
space on a Russian rocket
in 1957. It operated for
about three weeks, its only
task to transmit short beeps
by radio.

Telescope
Telescopes, too, can orbit planet Earth
assatellites. They are not directed at Earths
surface, but into space. Such cosmic
observatories have lots of advantages.
Asit is forever dark in space, the stars
can beobserved continuously with no
disturbance from clouds and bad weather.

spacecraft

Apollo 11
The return module of Apollo 11, in which
Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz
Aldrin returned to Earth after their conquest
of the Moon. They landed on the Moon on
20 July 1969, stepping onto its surface one
day later. They landed this module in the
Pacific Ocean on 24 July.
Vostok
In 1961 Yuri Gagarin became the first
cosmonaut. He travelled into space
on the Vostok 1 rocket and returned
just two hours later. Even though he
orbited the planet only once, this was
an extremely heroic act, as no one
could be sure that he would survive
such an excursion.

Spacesuit
People can take walks in space if they
wear special pressurized suits. In 1965
Alexei Leonov was the first cosmonaut
toleave the cabin of his spaceship. He had
quite an adventure his spacesuit inflated
and he almost failed to make it back
tohisspaceship!

Satellite
If in the night sky you see a glowing dot moving
aboutamong the stars, this is probably a satellite.
Unlike an aeroplane it does not flash and it leaves no
trail. It crosses the sky in several minutes. The brightest
satellite is the International Space Station; you can find
forecasts of its flight-times on the Internet.

Space shuttle
People have travelled to space in space
shuttles as well as rockets. A shuttle is alarge
aeroplane that carries a rocket into space.
Once in orbit the rocket is detached from
the shuttle; some time later the astronauts
land back on Earth as though in an ordinary
aeroplane. Space shuttles have many
advantages. They are more spacious than
the cabin of a rocket and they have so much
cargo space that a whole satellite can fit
inside. Most importantly, they can make
repeated trips into space, whereas most
rockets can be used only once. But space
shuttles are very expensive to operate.

Satellites move around in orbit and can fly

around Earth in less than two hours. Some
satellites photograph Earths surface, while
others monitor the weather, relay telephone
calls, broadcast television signals or establish
Internet connections. Many satellites are
military installations, although they have
no weapons; they are used to monitor
enemies, give aircraft their bearings
or perform tasks of intelligence.
Weather forecasts, GPS navigation,
cable television and perhaps
even this book would not exist
withoutsatellites.

Space flight
In order to reach space, you have to overcome the
gravitation of planet Earth. You feel this force when you
jump into the air; in the blink of an eye Earth brings you
back down. And to reach space you have to fly at least
one hundred kilometres high, which is impossible for
an aeroplane. The only way of getting into space is by
space rocket. A space rocket is enormous taller than
a five-storey building. Rockets may take off slowly, but
soon they reach speeds of several kilometres a second
much quicker than a bullet fired from a pistol.

The first cosmonauts

These were not people but
animals. Laika the dog took
a trip into space as early
as 1957. One of the first
creatures to return from
space was the chimpanzee
Ham. His reward was an apple
and retirement spent in a zoo.
Thanks to animals, people
overcame their fear of space
so that they could go up
there, too.

Rocket engine
A rocket flies upwards by
expelling the hot gases
that burn in its engine. The
principle is the same as
when you inflate a balloon
and then let out the air; as
the air escapes, the balloon
is propelled forward.

First woman in space

The first woman to travel
to space was Valentina
Tereshkova, in 1963. She
spent three days there.

Rocket
Although a rocket
isenormous, most of it
isoccupied by rocket fuel;
there remains little room for
cargo or astronauts, who
sit right at its tip in a small
spaceship. In the course
of the flight the rockets
lower parts are gradually
disconnected. Only the tip
reaches space.

Zero gravity
Astronauts in orbit experience a state of zero
gravity. They float freely in space and inside their
spaceship. It is possible to try out zero gravity
onEarth, too, using special aeroplanes. Astronauts
train underwater, in large pools. Floating inwater
issomething like zero gravity; you can turn
yourselfupside down.

G-force
When you are in a car that pulls away quickly or on
arollercoaster, you are forced back in your seat as if by
aninvisible hand. Astronauts live through something similar
when a rocket takes off. But as a rocket moves faster than
a car, astronauts have it much harder. They may even lose
consciousness briefly at the moment of launch.

Cosmic inventions
A number of inventions are connected with
space flight. The rocket engine nozzle served
as a model for the preservation of frying
pans. Smoke detectors first appeared at space
stations. Barcodes served for the labelling of
spaceships, while the Velcro helped hold down
various objects in a state of zero gravity.
First human in space
In 1961 Yuri Gagarin became the first
cosmonaut, in the rocket Vostok 1.

ISS
In order to live in space people have
tobuild spaceships to protect them from
the harsh environment. The biggest is the
International Space Station, known as the
ISS. It is so big that it would barely fit inside
afootballstadium.

ational Space
n
r
e
Int
Station

P ro g r e s s f r e i g h t e r s pac ec r a f t

Space station
A space station is composed of separate
parts called modules, which are fixed to each
other like a construction kit. Some modules
contain laboratories, others astronauts
accommodation or stores. The International
Space Station as a whole is as big as a tenroom flat. This may seem large, but outside
there is nowhere for the astronauts to go!

So l a r pa n e l s u s e s u n l i g h t to
produce electricity for the
w h o l e s tat i o n .

A s t r o n a u t s l i v e , e at,
sleep and exercise here.

Russian
research
and service
module

In the cupola there

i s a l a rg e pa n o r a m i c
w i n d o w t h at g i v e s
b r e at h ta k i n g v i e w s
o f s p a c e a n d E a r t h .

So l a r pa n e l s u s e s u n l i g h t to
produce electricity for the
w h o l e s tat i o n .

ISS orbit of Earth

The International Space Station flies around Earth at
a speed of 30,000 kilometres per hour and a height of
400 kilometres. This is about forty times higher than
the altitude of commercial aircraft. The ISS orbits Earth
once every 90 minutes, meaning that astronauts see
sunrise and sunset sixteen times in one Earth day! This
is difficult to get used to; they tend to sleep only 5 6
hours per day.

Soy uz e sc a p e
module

Escape module
When the time comes for the astronauts
to return or they are in some kind of
danger, they get into a small spaceship
and head for Earth. As the spaceship
passes through Earths atmosphere its
surface reaches a temperature of several
thousand degrees Celsius. It is protected
by a special shield to ensure that it does
not burn up. It makes its final landing,
somewhere in the steppes of Asia, using
parachutes.

Journey into orbit

The journey to the space station is an
adventure in itself. Three astronauts
squeeze into a small cabin, where they have
practically no elbow room. After ignition of
the rockets engines they reach orbit after
twenty minutes. It takes them several hours
more to reach the space station.

Energy
One of the few things not
transported to the space
station is electrical energy.
Itisproduced by solar power,
as on Earth. The solar power
plant is created by large shiny
panels that stick out in all
directions from the space
stations escape module.

Humans in space
Humans live on planet Earth. When they
head into space, they must take stores of
air, water and food with them. Without
air they can survive for several minutes
only, without water for several days and
without food for several weeks. They
need protection against high and low
temperatures. The Sun is able to heat
them up to 120 degrees Celsius, which is
a temperature higher than that of boiling
water. But when the Sun is not shining,
temperatures can drop to -250 degrees
Celsius. It is not unlike sitting around the
campfire in summer though the fire
warms your face, your back is cold.
Toilets in space
Toilets in spacecraft are a little like those in
aeroplanes. The men urinate into a special
tube. When they need to do a number two,
they fasten themselves to the toilet, which
then sucks everything away.

Food
Astronauts eat three times a
day. In a small kitchen they
heat up canned food or pour
hot water over dried food.
Apart from spoons, forks and
knives they need another
tool scissors to cut into
the bags the food is packed
in. Kitchen utensils are
disposable, so they are not
washed.

Diet
Space food is nothing special. It
is important not to make crumbs
in conditions of zero gravity an
astronaut could breathe these in,
or they could float into someones
eye! Astronauts can use ketchup,
mustard or mayonnaise normally,
but salt and pepper are mixed with
water to stop them from flying
about the station. Astronauts have
coffee, tea, juice and lemonade to
drink.
Hygiene
The water in the small shower does
not fall downwards. Astronauts wash
in a mist! Or they use wet wipes or
washcloths. For teeth-cleaning they
have a special toothpaste that they
can swallow. At the station, water is
so valuable that urine and sweat are
purified. Sometimes it is better not to
think about where your drinking water
comes from.

Sleep in space
Astronauts sleep in sleeping bags attached to the wall by Velcro
to stop them from flying about the station. They use ear-plugs
because of the noise made by all the instruments. And as it is
light at the station even at night, they wear masks over their
eyes.

Exercise
Zero gravity is dangerous for
human muscle and bone. So as
to return to Earth in full health,
astronauts must exercise for
several hours each day. For
this reason the station has an
exercise bike, a treadmill and
other apparatus.

Laundry
It is warm in the station,
so astronauts wear
T-shirts and shorts. As
there is no washing
machine, clothing is
for single use only.
Underwear and T-shirts
are changed every three
days, sweatpants every
two weeks. Dirty laundry
is loaded into a transport
ship and left to burn up
in Earths atmosphere.

Taking a walk in space

When an astronaut wishes to step outside
the station he has to put on a special
spacesuit, which is a little spaceship in itself.
It contains a store of air and water, devices
for heating and cooling and a walkie-talkie.
When an astronaut is roaming beyond the
station, he is attached to a rope like a rockclimber to prevent him from flying off into
space.

How do you become an astronaut?

Future astronauts need to study hard at primary school particularly
mathematics, physics, English and Russian. They need to go on to
secondary school and university, and they should not forget to do lots of
sport there are no chubby people aboard a space
station. Their full-grown height should be between
160 cm (5 ft 2 in) and 190 cm (6 ft 2 in). If you wish
to become a pilot of a spaceship, you must first
become a jet-plane pilot. If it works out for you, you
may end up not only at a space station but by flying
to the Moon or Mars. Why not give it a try?

Galaxies
In the universe there are a great many galaxies,
and these are extremely distant from each other.
Some galaxies are shaped like pancakes, others
like rugby balls, while many look as though they
have been torn to pieces. Galaxies feed on each
other, hence the expression galactic cannibalism.
Our galaxy, for instance, once swallowed several
smaller ones.

Binary stars
Stars do not tend to stand alone. Often they form an
inseparable pair, called a binary, or a larger group,
called a star cluster; a cluster may be composed of
dozens or even hundreds of thousands of stars. So
the stand-alone Sun is rather exceptional.

distant
e
h
T
universe

Nebulae
In space there are huge clouds of dust
and gas. When these warm up they form
glowing nebulae. In some nebulae new
stars are formed, while others are remnants
of extinct stars. One day our Sun, too, will
disperse into a nebula.

Black holes
Black holes are very strange objects. They
act rather like cosmic vacuum cleaners,
swallowing whatever comes near to them.
Their powers of attraction are so great
that nothing escapes them, even light.
That is why they are black.
Milky Way
The Milky Way, which we see in the night sky,
has nothing to do with milk, of course. It is in
fact formed by millions of distant stars which
are so small that they blend together. The dark
marks we observe in the Milky Way are caused
by dark nebulae of dust that hide distant stars
from view.

The origin of the universe and Earth in one day

The universe is 14 billion years old, as the Big Bang took place 14 billion
years ago. The Sun and planet Earth were born 5 billion years ago. The
ancestors of humans appeared on our planet 4 million years ago. Imagine
that the history of the entire universe were represented by a single day. If
the universe began at midnight, the Solar System including Earth was not
created until 4 oclock in the afternoon. And the entire history of humanity
took place in the last seconds before the next midnight. If we were to
reduce the evolution of Earth to 12 hours, it would look exactly as it does in
this diagram:

Time: 00.00:
Pl a n e t E a r t h
( a lo n g w i t h
t h e S u n a n d a ll
the planets) is
formed from
c lo u d s o f g a s
a n d d u s t.

The last three

hours of Earths
evolution

11

12
1

Time: 01.49:
E a rt h s s u r fac e
co o l s ; t h e
o c e a n s o r i g i n at e .

10

9
Time: 09.05:
V i r t u a lly t h e
entire planet is
frozen.

Time: 00.07:
The Moon is
formed after
E a r t h c o ll i d e s
with a giant
c e l e s t i a l b o d y.

Time: 02.40:
The first living, microsco p i c o rg a nisms appear.

8
7

5
Time: 03.50:
the oldest
known fossils

Time: 07.30:
The rudiments
o f t o d ay s
co n t i n e n t s a r e
formed.

Time: 06.12:
B ac t e r i a p ro d u c e
so much oxygen
t h at a l m o s t e v e r y thing is poisoned.
T h e o z o n e l ay e r
o r i g i n at e s .

The universe is everything stars, planets, nebulae, galaxies,

everything around us and in us. Everything that can be seen
by a telescope or microscope. People, too, are part of the
universe. What is near and what is far away? Is the Moon far
away? The stars are many times further away! What is large
and what is small? Planet Earth is enormous, but compared to
the stars it is just a speck. It is the same with objects in space
though they may look small, probably they are huge and seem
small to us only because they are extremely far away.

The universe

Size
Seen from Earth, the Sun and the
Moon are the same size. In fact the
Sun is 400 times bigger than the
Moon. But because the Sun is 400
times further away than the Moon,
from Earth the disc of the Sun has the
same diameter as that of the Moon.

Observatory
Do you want to look at the
stars and nebulae through a
really big telescope? Then visit
an observatory theres bound
to be one not far from where
you live. If you wish to see an
artificial sky, you should go to a
planetarium.

The expansion of the universe

The universe was created by an event we know as the Big Bang.
We dont exactly what happened, but at that time the stars and
planets began to form and time started. Since that time the
universe has got bigger and bigger, inflating like a balloon.

The universe is absolutely silent. If an

astronaut in orbit were to remove his
helmet and shout at the top of his
lungs, no one would hear him. The
situation is different on planets with
an atmosphere. On Mars, for instance,
space probes can be heard creaking.
Our galaxy
The Galaxy is composed of
stars, nebulae and star clusters.
Our Galaxy contains about 500
billion (500,000,000,000) stars. If
each star were transformed into
a grain of sand, all the stars of
our Galaxy would form a heap
of sand the size of a passenger
car.

The entire Solar System and

allthe stars you see in the night
sky are parts of our Galaxy.
From a great distance it looks
like a giant Catherine wheel.
As we, too, are part of the
Galaxy, we are looking at it
fromwithin.

The temperature in space

Space is extremely cold. The
temperature in space is typically
-270 degrees Celsius about
twenty times lower than in a
deepfreeze.

Are we alone in the

universe?
It is difficult to say. So far we
know of only one planet Earth
that has animal- and plantlife. But it would be strange
if we were in the universe
alone. Perhaps one day we
will discover some cosmic
neighbours. Indeed, this is one
of the reasons why we explore
our home the universe.