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.