EXPLORING OUR UNIVERSE SPACE EXPLORATION KELLY DOUDNA Checkerboard Library An Imprint of Abdo Publishing abdopublishing com
MISSION EXPLORING SPACE Have you ever wondered what's in space Maybe you'd like to become an astronomer You can get started in your own backyard Track the path of the sun across the sky Notice how the moon changes from one night to the next Looking Near For centuries we have studied space from the ground In 1609 Galileo Galilei used a handheld telescope Today astronomers use huge mountaintop telescopes Looking Far We can also explore space directly The National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA first landed humans on the moon during the Apollo missions Today astronauts study on the International Space Station ISS
On a clear night with little light pollution you can see about 2 000 stars With a telescope you can spot even more Reaching for the Stars Astronomers collect data from the farthest stretches of the universe They can't observe everything directly But they can use math and physics to make guesses These guesses can teach us about our universe's past and future
