Tour of the Solar System. Este artículo no está disponible.Tour of the Solar System

What is the solar system really made of? How did the planets form? Could there be life on one of Jupiter's moons? Why is Venus hotter than Mercury even though it is farther from the Sun? And what is waiting for us beyond Neptune in the frozen outer reaches of the solar system?
Tour of the Solar System answers all of these questions and dozens more, taking middle grade readers on the most comprehensive journey through our cosmic neighborhood ever written for their age group. With fourteen deeply researched chapters, a 32-word glossary, and fascinating Did You Know? features throughout, this book gives readers ages 8 to 12 the complete scientific story of the solar system at exactly the level they are ready for.
Fourteen chapters cover every world in the solar system in depth:
Chapter 1 takes readers back 4.6 billion years to the birth of the solar system itself, explaining how a collapsing cloud of gas and dust gave birth to the Sun and all the planets, and why our solar system has the unusual architecture that makes Earth a good place for life.
Chapter 2 explores the Sun in full scientific depth: the nuclear fusion process that keeps it shining, its internal layers from core to corona, the mystery of why the corona is a million degrees hotter than the surface.
Chapters 3 and 4 explore Mercury and Venus, two of the most extreme worlds in the solar system. Mercury swings from 430 degrees Celsius in the daytime to minus 180 degrees at night and yet harbors ice in permanently shadowed craters at its poles. Venus is even hotter, locked in a runaway greenhouse effect that may hold important lessons for Earth's own climate.
Chapter 5 explores Earth as a planet, examining what makes it genuinely unusual: its position in the habitable zone, its plate tectonic system that regulates carbon dioxide over millions of years.
Chapter 6 explores Mars in detail, covering its ancient river systems and dried lake beds that prove it was once warm and wet, the question of whether life may have existed there.
Chapter 7 covers the asteroid belt in depth, explaining why no planet formed there, the different types of asteroids and what they tell us about the early solar system.
Chapters 8 and 9 explore the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn. Jupiter's metallic hydrogen interior and powerful magnetic field, the centuries-old Great Red Spot.
Chapter 10 takes readers to Uranus and Neptune, the ice giants, exploring Uranus's mysterious 98-degree tilt, Neptune's 2,100 kilometer per hour winds, the tragic story of Triton's doomed retrograde orbit, and the scientific case for a dedicated orbiter mission to these least-explored planets.
Chapter 11 covers the outer solar system, from Pluto's surprising complexity revealed by New Horizons to the dwarf planets Eris, Haumea, and Makemake, the Kuiper Belt, the hypothetical Oort Cloud, and the ongoing search for the proposed Planet Nine.
Chapters 12, 13, and 14 complete the tour with the history of comets and their role in delivering life's ingredients to Earth, a complete history of solar system exploration from Pioneer and Voyager to Cassini and New Horizons and Perseverance, and a look ahead at the future of solar system science including human missions to Mars, the search for life on Europa and Enceladus, and next-generation telescopes.
Written for middle grade readers in grades 3 through 7. The text is detailed enough to genuinely educate without being overwhelming, using real scientific terminology, accurate data, and up-to-date mission information, while remaining accessible and engaging throughout. Perfect for school reports, science projects, or any young reader who wants to understand the solar system at a real scientific level.
The solar system is your neighborhood. This is your complete guide to it.