But here's another way to think about space. The galaxies of outer space are filled with stars. Does ten billion trillion stars mean anything to you? If everybody on earth - all six billion people - counted 1,000 stars per second for twenty-four hours a day, it would take 50 years to count all those stars. You could get tired just thinking about it.

Of course our Sun, which gives light, energy, and life to Earth, is only one of those trillions of stars. Now space seems like a much bigger place, doesn't it!

Just like a road map helps show the way to the beach, or a tour book tells you which sights to see when you visit a new city, Don't Know Much About® Space introduces the sights and places that we know exist in our great big universe. It asks and answers a lot of questions you may have thought of. It also asks some questions to which science has no answers yet! But one thing is for certain: space will be part of our future.


  Go to Quiz:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1. Who was the first scientific astronomer?
A: Hipparchus
B: Ptolemaeus
C: Galileo
D: Newton

2. What is "syzygy"?
A: a sneeze
B: what happens when a star is blown apart
C: a planet's orbit
D: when three bodies in space are lined up in a row

3. Which planets are on either side of Earth?
A: Mars and Venus
B: Mars and Mercury
C: Jupiter and Venus
D: Jupiter and Mars

4. What shape are stars?
A: oval
B: pentagonal
C: round
D: spiral

5. When did man first walk on the moon?
A: 1959
B: 1963
C: 1969
D: 1973