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SOLAR
SYSTEM
DIM
dim ( dim ) adjective
Having or giving little light, not bright
Once the sun had set, it was too dim to play outside.
EASILY
easily ( eas – i – ly ) adverb
Without problems or difficulties
Heather studied her spelling words, so she easily got a
perfect score on the test.
FARTHER
farther ( far – ther ) adjective
At a greater distance than something else
The mountains were farther away than the river.
MAIN
main ( main ) adjective
Most important
The book I needed for my science project was
at the library’s main branch.
PROBABLY
probably ( prob a – bly ) adverb
Most likely to happen or to be true
Ms. Fine will probably come back to school next week.
SOLAR SYSTEM
solar system ( so – lar sys – tem ) noun
The sun and all the planets, satellites, celestial bodies,
and comets that circle around the sun
Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system.
TEMPERATURES
temperatures ( tem – per – a – tures ) plural noun
The degree of how hot or cold things are,
as measured by a thermometer.
The temperatures on the sun are very high.
TELESCOPE
telescope ( tel – e – scope ) noun
A tool that makes faraway objects look larger and closer.
Lucia used her new telescope to get a closer look
at the craters on the moon.
CONSTELLATIONS:
PICTURES in the SKY
by Tyler Giliberto
Looking up at the night sky, you won’t see the sun
and all the planets that belong to our solar system,
but you may see the moon and some stars. Long ago,
people thought the stars made patterns in the sky that
looked like people, animals, and other things. These
groups of stars were called constellations.
Today there are 88 constellations.
SCORPIO
URSA MAJOR
Ursa Major or the “Great Bear”
is easily one of the best-known
constellations. Many ancient
peoples saw a bear in this
group of stars.
Some Native American legends say
that “the giant bear has three hunters
chasing it.” Inside Ursa Major, you can
find the Big Dipper. The Big Dipper is
a group of stars that looks like a cup
with a long handle.
ORION
Like Ursa Major, Orion is also
a famous constellation. In a Greek
myth, Orion was a great hunter.
He was killed when he stepped on
a scorpion.
The Greek gods felt sorry for Orion.
They put him and his dogs in the
sky as constellations. Then they put
all the animals he hunted near him.
They placed the scorpion farther away
so Orion wouldn’t be hurt by it again.
The main star of this constellation
marks Orion’s left shoulder and is
called Betelgeuse ( BEE – tuhl – jewz ).
Compared to Betelgeuse, most stars
look dim.
Betelgeuse
How bright stars appear depends on their distance
from Earth, how large they are, and their different
temperatures, or how hot they burn.
Scientists can use powerful telescopes to observe
the stars closely and find out more about them.
Scientists know that Betelgeuse
is 630 times larger than our sun
and shines 60,000 times brighter.
It is one of the largest stars anywhere
in the night sky, and probably one of
the most fascinating to study.