Our Solar System

Our Solar System was born almost 5 billion years ago at the edge of the Milky Way galaxy. In over fifty dramatic, full-color photographs and an easy-to-read text, award-winning author Seymour Simon takes you on a fascinating tour of the nine planets, dozens of moons, and thousands of asteroids, meteoroids, and comets that travel around our sun.

First, Simon explores the star at the center of our Solar System -- from the constant nuclear explosions at its core to the giant storms on its surface as geysers of flaming gas over a hundred thousand miles long rise and fall in just a few hours.

You will also learn about the four rocky inner planets, from airless Mercury to fiery Venus, her sister planet, Earth, and mysterious Mars. Then join the thrilling Voyager missions to explore the four gaseous outer planets: gigantic Jupiter, ringed Saturn, tilted Uranus -- the planet "lying on its side" -- and windy Neptune. You will finish your journey at distant Pluto, then visit the asteroid belt and examine comets, the "dirty snowballs" in space.

A companion volume to Simon's landmark series of individual books about each of the planets, the sun, stars, and other space sights, Our Solar System will introduce you to some of the most amazing mysteries in the universe.

Seymour Simon has been called "the dean of the [children's science book] field" by the New York Times. He has written more than 250 books for young readers and has received the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Lifetime Achievement Award for his lasting contribution to children's science literature, the Science Books & Films Key Award for Excellence in Science Books, the Empire State Award for excellence in literature for young people, and the Educational Paperback Association Jeremiah Ludington Award. He and his wife, Liz, live in Great Neck, New York. You can visit him online at www.seymoursimon.com, where you can read "Seymour Science Blog" and download a free four-page teacher guide to accompany this book, putting it in context with Common Core objectives. Many of Seymour's award-winning books are also available as ebooks.