My first voyage through the solar system

PUBLISHER WEEBLE

My first Voyage through the Solar System

Fernando G. Rodriguez

My first Voyage through the Solar System © 2012 Publisher Weeble This book is distributed in digital format. All rights reserved.

Author: Fernando G. Rodríguez. editorialweeble@gmail.com Ilustrations: Fernando G. Rodriguez Translation: Amanda D’Singh Madrid, Spain, September 2012 i

For all those children, and those who are no longer children, who like gazing up into the sky on a starry night.

Index The encounter The adventure of the voyage Return to Earth

The encounter

Ă lvaro was a boy who lived on planet Earth, just like the rest of us.

He lived happily with his parents, enjoyed playing and going to school.

However, he could not possibly imagine the adventure that he was going to have...

One day, a spaceship from another planet headed towards Earth.

It looked like a very beautiful planet, so blue, with so much sea, that it decided to land on it...

Our alien friend looks nothing like us.

He has two eyes on the top of his head, a green body and purple-coloured hands...

He looks very different to us, but... he seems friendly.

Our alien friend began to look for someone that he could talk to.

In the distance, he could see a boy playing in a park.

“Yes,” he said, “I will speak to him and he will be my friend.”

“Hello earthling,” said our green friend, “What is your name?”

“I’m called Álvaro,” he answered, with a shaky voice.

“Do you live on planet Earth, Álvaro, my friend?”

- “Yes,” he replied. “It’s my planet.”

“Have you ever visited any other planets?” our alien friend asked him.

“No, never,” said Álvaro.

“I have a fun idea.”

“What do you mean?” asked Álvaro.

“If you come on board my spaceship, I will take you on a voyage to discover your Solar System.”

“Okay,” said Álvaro, without giving it a second thought.

And they both headed off in the direction of the spaceship...

The two of them boarded the spaceship and it soon took off.

“By the way, my name is PrufProf-X60,” said our alien friend.

The adventure of the voyage

“First of all, I will show you the whole Solar System,” said PrufProf-X60.

“Look Álvaro, the Sun, which is a star, is in the middle and the planets circle around it.”

“Wow!” Álvaro was amazed to see all of the planets moving at once. “And, how many planets are there?”

“There are eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. People used to say that Pluto was also a planet, but now you know that it is not.”

“Let’s start by looking at the Sun. It is an enormous ball of fire which provides energy and heat. It sometimes produces solar flares.

It was formed about 4.5 billion years ago.

We cannot get too close because the spaceship would melt like an ice cream.”

“Look, this is Mercury, the planet that is closest to the Sun. It is the smallest planet in the Solar System and it creates a lot of heat. Its temperature is around 350 degrees Celsius during the day and -150 degrees Celsius at night.

There are lots of craters on its surface.�

“This is Venus, the second closest planet to the Sun. It is similar in size to Earth. It has a very hot atmosphere.

Venus is the brightest point in the night sky after the Moon.

On Venus, each year has 224 days.�

“Now, Álvaro, you already know this planet, it’s yours. Look, it has a satellite that circles around it. It is called the Moon.

It is 150 million kilometres from the Sun, and is the third closest planet to it.

- 75% of the planet’s surface is covered by water.”

“Look at Mars, the red planet,” said PrufProfX60.

“It is smaller than Earth. The Martian year lasts 687 Earth days.

Mars has no oceans and has lots of craters made from meteorite impacts.

Several unmanned spacecraft have landed on Mars: Viking, Phoenix Mars Lander, Opportunity and Curiosity.

Mars has two small satellites: Phobos and Deimos.”

“Now we must be careful!

Between Mars and Jupiter, there is the asteroid belt, which contains enormous rocks which do not stop moving.

If one of them hits the spaceship, it will destroy us...�

“Jupiter, the biggest planet in the Solar

System.

It is a gas planet made up of hydrogen and helium. One year on Jupiter lasts almost twelve Earth years.

It has a great red spot, an enormous anticyclone, which is more than twice as big as Earth.

Jupiter has 65 satellites. The largest are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.�

“Saturn is the second biggest planet in the Solar System. It is 740 times bigger than Earth.

It is the only planet with a system of perfectly visible bright rings around it. The particles of these rings circle at 48,000 kilometres per hour.

It is another gas planet made up of hydrogen and helium.

Saturn has 62 satellites. The largest are Titan and Enceladus.�

“Look Álvaro, there is Uranus, the third biggest planet,” said PrufProf-X60. “We are now a long way from the Sun, almost three billion kilometres away. Its light and heat can barely reach us. The average temperature on Uranus is -205 degrees Celsius.

One year on Uranus lasts Earth years.

almost 84

It also has a system of very dark rings.

Uranus has 27 satellites. The largest are Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon.”

“Neptune, the last planet on our voyage. The most distant planet in the Solar System. It is 4.5 billion kilometres from the Sun and is a bit smaller than Uranus.

It has a great dark spot, similar to that of Jupiter, which is as big as Earth. The average temperature on Neptune is -220 degrees Celsius.

One year on Neptune lasts almost 164 Earth years.

Neptune has 13 satellites. The largest and coldest of them is Triton.�

“And this is where the journey ends,” said PrufProf-X60.

“Beyond are the dwarf planets, including Pluto, and the rest of the Universe, full of thousands of distant stars.” Álvaro had remained silent the whole time. It was all new and wonderful to him.

“That was great! Thank you, PrufProf-X60.”

Return to Earth

PrufProf-X60’s spaceship headed quickly back towards Earth.

“There it is,” screamed Álvaro in delight.

And the spaceship landed gently in the same park where Ă lvaro had been playing.

His mother would be worried and looking for him...

Eventually, Ă lvaro and his mother found each other and gave each other a big hug. They were both very happy to see each other again...

Now all that remained was to say goodbye to PrufProf-X60. They had both had a fantastic time, and promised each other that they would go on more trips together.

PrufProf-X60 had to return to his planet.

“Goodbye Álvaro!” shouted PrufProfX60 from the spaceship, “We’ll see each other again!”

“Goodbye PrufProf-X60!” replied Álvaro. “Until our next adventure!”

The end

© 2012 Publisher Weeble This book is distributed in digital format. All rights reserved.

Author: Fernando G. Rodríguez editorialweeble@gmail.com Ilustrations: Fernando G. Rodriguez Translation: Amanda D’Singh Madrid, Spain, September 2012