Paisley’s hand shot up The astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus discovered that in 1543 Ah yes Paisley that is correct Thank you for that contribution Mrs Beaker said Our galaxy is known as the Milky Way Our solar system is inside the Milky Way It is made up of all of the planets that orbit the sun along with stars moons comets asteroids smaller minor planets Go Pluto Rosalind yelled Rosalind was the class Yes As we all know Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet There are eight actual planets Who would like to name them Paisley’s hand shot up again but Mrs Beaker called on Ben Everyone knew Ben loved astronomy His parents had named him after the astronomer and mathematician Benjamin Banneker Ben also loved clocks inventing things and the creepy crawly creatures in the ant colonies and worm farms he kept in his closet instead of clothes Paisley and Ben were not only best friends they’d been next-door neighbors clown 8
since they were both in diapers Ben cleared his throat Starting from the sun Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus and Neptune Would you like their sizes and distances from Earth Not right now Although I’m sure you know them by heart Thank you Ben We will start with the gas giants Arjun is a gas giant said a boy named Colton Several boys behind Paisley snickered Paisley rolled her eyes The gas giants are the four farthest planets from the sun They are made of a swirling mix of gases like hydrogen and helium with a liquid metal or rock core And Uranus and Neptune are made up of ammonia and methane Ben added Methane is what gives them their blue color Yes that’s right once again Mrs Beaker said with a sigh She always seemed a bit disappointed when Paisley and Ben knew all the answers already Let’s begin with Jupiter shall we Are there aliens on Jupiter Rosalind asked 9
Raise your hand please Mrs Beaker said Rosalind raised her hand Are there aliens on Jupiter Well we don’t really know Mrs Beaker said But isn’t it possible Sumi asked Sumi had straight black hair to her chin and brown eyes that always sparkled with mischief She and her identical twin Suki pulled pranks told jokes and switched places whenever possible Paisley was the only person who could tell them apart every time Well I don’t know Suki I suppose it’s possible Sumi smiled sweetly and winked at Paisley Why did the alien spit out the clown Rosalind asked She paused for effect Because he tasted funny Ha ha Good joke Whitney-Raelynn said But aliens couldn’t live on Jupiter There’s nothing but gas to walk on Colton snickered again But aliens on Jupiter could have less mass Paisley said They could be so light they float They could breathe helium or hydrogen instead of oxygen 10
Don’t be so dork-tastic Atoms Whitney-Raelynn countered Jupiter is like negative two hundred and ninety degrees The whole planet is a massive storm Life forms need water and oxygen neither of which are on that planet There are no life forms on Jupiter But the life forms could have a totally different design than human beings Paisley said It’s so narrow-minded to think they would have to breathe the same stuff we do 11
