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Overview
About the Series
Do you ever wonder what you are really seeing when you look at pictures transmitted from space? Do you marvel at today's discoveries? Can you imagine how we ever got this far? Blastoff! sets out to satisfy the curiosity of the budding astronomer in us all, planet by planet. Each title begins with a fascinating history of the planet's discovery by groundbreaking scientists who worked without the advantages of today's technology. Readers then reap the benefits of that same technology by blasting off to explore in accessible detail each planet's surface, atmosphere, and satellites. A discussion of future possibilities concludes each book.
Highlights and features:
- Dazzling, full-color photographs
- Latest information on planetary discovery made readily accessible
- Helpful sidebars and fact boxes
Synopsis
About the Series
Do you ever wonder what you are really seeing when you look at pictures transmitted from space? Do you marvel at today's discoveries? Can you imagine how we ever got this far? Blastoff! sets out to satisfy the curiosity of the budding astronomer in us all, planet by planet. Each title begins with a fascinating history of the planet's discovery by groundbreaking scientists who worked without the advantages of today's technology. Readers then reap the benefits of that same technology by blasting off to explore in accessible detail each planet's surface, atmosphere, and satellites. A discussion of future possibilities concludes each book.
Highlights and features:
- Dazzling, full-color photographs
- Latest information on planetary discovery made readily accessible
- Helpful sidebars and fact boxes
Children's Literature
Add this book to any science curriculum to get the scoop on the distant planet Neptune. Like Earth, Neptune is known as a big blue planet. This book pulls the reader in with discussion of the planet's mysterious discovery, which came about not as a "seen" planet, but as one found on paper. To understand this, the reader is told of the planet Uranus and its unusual orbit. Astronomers searched for years to explain the orbit of Uranus before finding it was being pulled from a logical orbit by another body. That body was Neptune. This fourth book in the "Blastoff!" series offers a lengthy historical explanation of the discovery of the planet. In addition to its difficult discovery, Neptune is also a planet that seems to change position in the planetary line up. However, this is only because Pluto moves, sometimes making Neptune the eighth planet and sometimes the ninth. Besides learning of these unusual characteristics of Neptune, the reader is also given plenty of information about the planet's make-up and its moons. Satellite explorations are also covered. Illustrations and photos add to the text, as do a glossary, book list and web sites. 2002, Benchmark Books/Marshall Cavendish, $27.07. Ages 10 to 16. Reviewer:Nancy Garhan Attebury