by Guy Holt
Come on a mission of discovery, as we depart planet Earth for the farthest reaches of the Solar System. Along the way learn all about the planets, moons, asteroids and comets that are our nearest neighbours, as well as the many amazing scientific achievements of humankind.
The size and distances of our solar system are immediately understandable with this clever design. Any young astronomer will be hooked.
The links to curriculum are out of this world.
Stellar teacher support and classroom activities available for download.
ISBN 9781742033303
RRP $27.99
Paperback 56pp
Format 260mm x 290mm + flaps
Photographic junior non-fiction
Category: Deep Space, Space Exploration, Solar System
Below is comprehensive information and a list of sources used in the making of How Far is Deep Space
The following information is taken from the final page of the book:
The measurements in this book are indicative only. The heights or altitudes of many features or objects, natural or artificial, vary in time and due to a range of factors, including seasonal variations, when the measurement is taken and the latitude the measurement is made from. There can be considerable variation in the perihelion, aphelion and average measurements for any celestial body.
Authoritative sources differ in the measurements they provide and these measurements are updated by these sources when new scientific information is made available. I have chosen the figures that best fit the story that I am telling in this book in ways that young readers will best understand and remember.
Near the Earth I have often chosen maximum measures for natural phenomenon as they are often being compared on page to records achieved by humans or records for wildlife.
Numbers: As distances in space can be incomprehensibly large, along with the fact that most celestial objects are in constant motion, we have chosen to round figures for the benefit of the reader. The discrepancy in exactitude becomes more evident the further the reader moves away from Earth, as distances move into the millions and billions of kilometres. Rounding has been done to a maximum of two decimal places.
Atmospheric layers: Finding definitive figures regarding the layers of Earth’s atmosphere proved problematic. As mentioned in the text, the height and range of these layers can vary for a variety of reasons. For the sake of convenience we have chosen even numbered maximums (20, 50, 90, 600 and 10,000) as indicated by a variety of sources.
Artificial objects orbiting the Earth: For the sake of consistency, we have chosen to use the apogee distance of artificial objects that are orbiting/have orbited the Earth.
Planets: When calculating the distance of planets from Earth, we chose the semi-major axis figures as given by NASA on 25/04/14. As celestial bodies are in constant orbit around the Sun, and for the sake of the reader’s comprehension, we decided to place all planets and the Sun on a single, straight line in order to reach our final calculation.
Your weight on other planets: Measurements for this table were calculated at the following website on 04/08/14: http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/weight/
- 10,898 m: Mariana Trench – National Geographic
- 8605 m: Puerto Rico Trench – Oceanário de Lisbon
- 7062 m: Deepest submersible – Global Times
- 3682 m: Ocean floor – Live Science
- 1800 m deep – from the upper edge of the canyon: Grand Canyon – BBC and Live Science
- 6.5 km: Lancaster Bomber – Mason, Tim (1998). The Secret Years: Flight Testing at Boscombe Down 1939–1945
- 8.8 km: Mount Everest – Australian Geographic
- 11 km: Commercial aircraft cruising–height – Boeing, Wikipedia and Wikipedia
- 11.3 km: Rüppell’s griffon vulture – The Wilson Bulletin (Wilson Ornithological Society)
- 15.5 km: Highest manned glider – Perlan Project
- 20 km: End of Troposphere / Start of Stratosphere – NOAA
- 22 km: X-1 aircraft – NASA and Wikipedia
- 24 km: Lego-naut – The Guardian
- 27 km: Typical weather balloons – infoplease
- 30 km: Ozone layer – EPA and hypertextbook.com
- 39 km: Highest skydive – Space.com
- 41 km: End of Biosphere – Journal of Cosmology
- Biosphere – Encyclopaedia of Earth
- 50 km: End of Stratosphere / Start of Mesosphere – Windows to the Universe and NOAA
- 53 km: Highest unmanned balloon – JAXA
- Atmospheres of Earth – NOAA
- 80 km: Astronaut – NASA
- 90 km: End of Mesosphere / Start of Thermosphere – NASA
- 100 km: Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis – Northern Lights Centre and UNC
- 100 km: Kármán line / Outer space – i09
- 120 km: Mars Probe – NASA
- Space probes – Dictionary.com and NASA
- 160 km: Beginning of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) – Princeton
- 327 km: First person in space – Physics Buzz
- 427 km: International Space Station (ISS) –
- 442 km: Skylab Space Station – Howstuffworks and Wikipedia
- 600 km: End of Thermosphere / Start of Exosphere – NASA and NOAA
- 610 km: Hubble Space Telescope (HST) – NASA
- 1660 km: Furthest travelled by dog – NASA
- 2000 km: End of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) / Start of Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) – Princeton and NASA
- Wormhole – Space.com
- Exosphere – Wikipedia
- 10,000 km: End of Exosphere – NOAA
- 20,200 km: GPS satellites – GPS.gov
- Medium Earth Orbit – NASA
- 35,786 km: End of Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) / Start of High Earth Orbit (HEO) – NASA
- 35,786 km: Communications satellites – Princeton
- High Earth Orbit – NASA
- 50,000 km: End of Magnetosphere – NASA
- Magnetosphere – Merriam-Webster
- 12 men on the Moon – Universe Today
- 324,600 km: Asteroid 2005 YU55 – Space.com
- 384,400 km: Moon – Space-facts.com and Sky & Telescope
- 400,171 km: Furthest travelled by human beings – Space.com
- 1.5M (million) km: Earth–Sun Lagrangian Point 1 – NASA
- 2.26M km: Lexell’s Comet – minorplanetcenter.net
- 8.98M km: 45P/Honda–Mrkos–Pajdušáková Comet – minorplanetcenter.net
- Your weight on other planets – Exploratorium.edu
- 22.4M km: Halley’s Comet – Space.com
- 41.4M km: Venus – NASA
- 78.30M km: Mars – NASA
- 78.30M km: Curiosity Rover – NASA
- 91.70M km: Mercury – NASA
- Astronomical Unit (AU) – Universe Today
- 149.60M km: Sun – Space-facts.com
- 225.70M km: Tempel 1 – NASA
- 299M km: Inner Edge of Main Asteroid Belt – NASA
- 413M km: Ceres – Space.com
- Inner Solar System – NASA and Wikipedia
- 596M km: Juno Probe – NASA
- 600M km: Outer Edge of Main Asteroid Belt / Start of Outer Solar System – NASA
- Outer Solar System – NASA and Wikipedia
- 629M km: Jupiter – NASA
- 1.28B (billion) km: Saturn – NASA
- 1.41B km: Cassini–Huygens Probe – NASA
- 2.72B km: Uranus – NASA
- 4.3B km: New Horizons Probe – NASA
- 4.35B km: Neptune – NASA
- 4.49B km: Outer Solar System / Inner Edge of Kuiper Belt – NASA
- Kuiper Belt – NASA
- 5.72B km: Pluto – NASA
- 12.56B km: Termination Shock – NASA
- Termination Shock – NASA
- 15.64B km: Voyager 2 Probe – NASA
- Magnetic Superhighway – Space.com
- 18.1B km: Magnetic Superhighway – Wikipedia
- 19.1B km: Voyager 1 Probe – NASA
- 21.24B km: End of Heliosphere –
- Heliosphere – NASA