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Contents
Introduction
If I want to have an astronomical telescope, could I make one?
How far away is the Moon? Is it the nearest body in the sky?
What is a Syzygy, and where can I find one?
Was the Moon ever part of the Earth?
Are there many legends about the Moon?
Is there a dark side to the Moon?
What is Harvest Moon, and do other full moons have names?
What is the meaning behind the expression ‘once in a blue moon’ and what exactly is a blue moon?
I always think that a full moon looks almost as bright as the Sun. Is this true?
Is our weather affected by the Moon?
I have sometimes seen a bright ring around the Moon, some distance from it. What is this and does the Moon ever cause rainbows?
I have heard that the phases of the Moon affect human behaviour. Is this true?
Is an eclipse of the Moon very different from an eclipse of the Sun?
Why has the Moon no air –and did it ever have any?
Is the Moon hot inside?
How were the Moon’s craters formed?
Who named the Moon’s craters?
If there are so many craters on the Moon, why are there not so many on the Earth?
Is it true that you will find Hell on the Moon?
Do volcanic eruptions happen on the Moon?
Is it true that the first really good map of the Moon was drawn by a German banker?
Is it true that a lunar crater vanished?
Could I ride a bicycle on the Moon?
If I go to the Moon, will I find it easy to climb the lunar mountains?
Is the Moon’s far side much the same as the side we see from Earth?
Is it true that a man once tried to reach the Moon by using rockets fixed to his body?
How many men have walked on the Moon?
Could I grow marigolds on the Moon?
Will there ever be cities on the Moon?
When we reach the Moon, will we able to fly around from one place to another?
I am told that we owe our very existence to the Moon. Is this true?
Does the Earth have a second Moon?
Is the Moon moving away from the Earth?
When do you think that we will set up the first proper lunar base?
Who first saw Mercury, and who named it?
Can you ever see Mercury in the middle of the night?
Mercury is closer to the Sun than Venus –but the surface of Venus is the hotter of the two. Why?
Could I live on Mercury?
Is there any life on Mercury?
When will I be able to go to Mercury?
If I could go to Mercury, would I be able to see the Earth?
Is there a spider on Mercury?
Can there be a planet closer to the Sun than Mercury?
Why was Venus given its name?
Why is Venus so bright, and can I see it in the daytime?
People often think that Venus may have been the Star of Bethlehem. Do you think that this is true?
Is Venus called ‘the Earth’s twin’?
If Venus is so like the Earth in size, why are conditions there so different?
Can Venus ever pass in front of the Sun?
Does Venus have a moon like ours?
Isn’t there a story about Napoleon and the planet Venus?
Is Venus closer to us than Mars?
How long is a ‘day’ on Venus?
Are there lands and seas on Venus?
Can I go for a walk on Venus?
Could I climb the mountains of Venus?
If I go to Venus, will I see dinosaurs?
Why is Mars red?
Are there any seas on Mars?
I have heard about the canals on Mars. Do they really exist?
What will the Earth look like from Mars?
If I stand on Mars and shout, will I be heard?
Will my magnetic compass work on Mars?
Do Marsquakes occur – and if so, would they be strong enough to damage any Martian bases we set up?
Could birds fly on Mars?
Does Mars have a pole star like ours?
If I am on Mars, in the open air, can I boil a kettle of water?
Could I go skating on Mars?
Are there any polar bears on Mars?
On Mars, do the polar ice-caps melt in the summer?
I have heard that Bigfoot has been seen on Mars. Is this true?
If we found living things on Mars, would it be safe to bring them to the Earth?
Would Martians be unfriendly?
When was the first spacecraft sent to Mars?
I have heard that someone once tried to send a telegram to Mars. Is this true?
Has anyone heard radio signals from the inhabitants of Mars?
If I go to Mars, will I be able to see shooting stars?
If we live on Mars, will our descendants be the same as us?
I know that Mars has two moons. If you were standing on Mars, would they look as bright as our Moon does to us?
What are Phobos and Deimos like?
Why are the moons of Mars called Phobos and Deimos?
If I stood on Deimos, would I be able to jump out into space?
What would happen if a comet hit Mars?
We sometimes see Venus and Mercury pass in transit across the face of the Sun. If I could go to Mars, would I ever be able to see a transit of the Earth?
Can we ever make Mars really like Earth?
Can you play cricket on Mars?
Why did astronomers originally think that there ought to be a planet whose orbit lay between those of Mars and Jupiter?
Is Bode’s Law really valid?
Has anybody ever been to an asteroid?
Has a spacecraft ever landed on an asteroid and then taken off again?
Is there a coal-black planet in the Solar System?
Do asteroids ever collide with each other? If so, would it be dangerous to go into the asteroid zone?
Is there a belt of asteroids closer to the Sun than the orbit of Mercury?
If I Ianded on an asteroid, could I walk around?
I know that the planets are named after mythological gods – Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Neptune –but what about Uranus?
Is Jupiter’s red spot a volcano in eruption?
Was Saturn ever thought to be a miniature sun?
Titan has seas on its surface. Could fish live in them?
Is it true that one King of England was deeply interested in astronomy?
Why did astronomers once think that there were no planets beyond Saturn?
How long is a year on Uranus?
Could I go for a walk on Uranus?
I know that Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System, but which is the smallest? Is it Pluto?
Could I go for a walk on a comet?
When will I next see Halley’s Comet with the naked eye?
Could I buy a bottle of Comet Wine?
Can a comet simply vanish without trace, and for no apparent reason?
When will I next be able to see Comet Arend-Roland, which was bright in April 1957?
Have comets ever been seen to break up?
Every August we see shooting stars – the Perseid shower. If I go out to watch them, am I in any danger of being hit by one?
What is the ‘false dawn’?
Does the Sun have any other name?
Is it true that people were once forbidden to believe that the Sun was the centre of the Solar System?
Do we have summer when the Earth is at its closest to the Sun?
I know that light travels very quickly. How long does it take to travel from the Sun to the Earth?
Why is it so dangerous to look at the Sun through a telescope?
All this being so, how can we use a telescope for solar work?
When the Sun is low down, is it safe to look straight at it through binoculars?
Is the Sun burning? If not, how does it shine?
Does the Sun have a solid surface underneath a top layer of hot gas?
If I could stand on the Sun, would I feel very heavy?
Does the Sun spin round on its axis, in the same way as the Earth?
Does the Sun have air like ours?
What are the dark lines in the spectrum of the Sun, and why are they called Fraunhofer lines?
Are sunspots really raised spots on the Sun?
But what exactly are sunspots, and how are they produced?
Have there been long periods when there were almost no sunspots? If so, did this affect the Earth?
I have heard that there was a famous astronomer who believed that there were people living inside the Sun. Surely this cannot be true?
At a total solar eclipse, the Moon just covers the Sun. The Sun is much larger than the Moon, but in our sky they appear the same size. Is there any special reason for this?
On 11 August 1999 there was a total eclipse of the Sun. I went to Falmouth, in Cornwall, to observe it, but I was clouded out. Would I have been luckier if I had stayed at my home, Selsey in Sussex?
Why are eclipses of the Sun so much less common than those of the Moon?
If I look at the Sun through my telescope, will I be able to watch the outbursts called flares?
Does the Sun lie in the middle of the Milky Way Galaxy, and what is a cosmic year?
Is it possible that there is a planet on the far side of the Sun, moving in the same orbit as the Earth, so that we can never see it?
Will the Sun go on shining for ever?
Can we ever build a gun to fire supplies from the Earth to the Moon?
Could I get into a spacecraft and fly from here to Alpha Centauri?
Can there be dinosaurs on other planets?
If an alien landed here, would I be able to understand him and talk to him?
There are many wars going on at the present time. Do you think there may be planets on which all life has been wiped out in this way?
We are sending radio messages into space, hoping that someone will answer. Some astronomers call this dangerous. Do you agree?
Children learn about science from a very early age – astronomy in particular. But when did it begin, and who were the first great astronomers?
Did you ever know Sir Arthur Clarke, the man who predicted communications satellites?
What happened to the first Russian space station, Mir?
When will Earthmen be able to travel to other Solar Systems?
Have there been any astronomers who have been universally disliked?
Do all stars have their own names?
I was born on 4 March, and I am told that my ruling star sign is Pisces. What does this mean, and is it important?
Why are the stars divided into constellations, and who named them?
Could I make up a constellation, and name it?
Which are the largest and smallest constellations in the sky? And why aren’t they all the same size?
Do any of the constellations look anything like the objects after which they are named?
The Centaur is a bright constellation in the southern sky. What was a centaur? Was it a dinosaur?
If I go to Australia, will I be able to see the Pole Star?
If I look at the stars on a clear night, I see a few which look red. Why is this, and which are the stars?
Do stars ever change colour?
If I go outdoors tonight, will I be able to see the star known as the ‘Wonderful Star’?
Have I a chance of seeing a supernova in our Galaxy?
I know that the nearest star is Alpha Centauri, just over four light-years away, but can there be any small stars which are closer than that?
Why is the star Alpha Centauri so famous –and where can I see it in the sky?
If I could manage to take a trip to Alpha Centauri, would I be able to see the Earth?
Is it true that there is a star named Beetlejuice?
If I went out to a planet in the system of Deneb, would I be able to see the Sun and the Earth?
Is there an owl in the sky?
Is there any danger than another star will move into the Solar System? If this did happen, what would be the effects on the Earth and the Sun?
If I could go to a planet moving round a planet in the Andromeda Spiral, would I be able to see the Sun?
Have we ever transmitted a radio message to a star thousands of light-years away?
Will our Galaxy ever collide with another – and if so, will we be able to watch?
If I could be around when the Andromeda Galaxy collides with the Milky Way, what would I see?
What is dark matter, and who discovered it?
Is it true that the cosmic microwave background radiation was once thought to be due to pigeons?
At the moment of the Big Bang when the universe was created, was there really a loud bang?
Will the universe ever come to an end?
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