Space

A star is a giant ball of hot, glowing gas, far away in space. Our Sun is a star too, just the closest one to us, which is why it looks so big and bright.

The Sun is a huge star that makes light and heat, and some of that warmth travels all the way to us. Even though it is very far away, it is so powerful that we feel it on our skin.

Starlight travels a long way and then passes through the moving air around Earth. The air bends the light a little as it dances, so the star seems to twinkle.

The stars never really leave, they are up in the sky all day long. The Sun is just so bright that its light fills the sky and hides the faraway stars until night.

The Moon does not really change shape, it is always round. As it circles the Earth, the Sun lights up different parts of it, so we see a little sliver one night and a full circle another.

The Moon does not make any light of its own. It shines because sunlight lands on it and bounces back to us, like a mirror catching the Sun.

The Moon is very, very far away, so no matter how far you walk, you cannot leave it behind. Because it stays the same size as you move, it looks like it is following you.

The Moon is up in the sky at different times, and sometimes it is there while the Sun is still out. When that happens, you can spot the pale Moon in the bright blue daytime sky.

Jupiter is the biggest planet that circles our Sun, far larger than Earth. It is so huge that more than a thousand Earths could fit inside it.

Mars is covered in dust full of iron, the same stuff that makes metal go rusty. That rusty dust gives the whole planet its reddish-orange colour.

Eight planets travel around our Sun, and Earth is one of them. They come in all sizes, from small rocky ones to huge ones made mostly of gas.

In space there is no floor below us to fall onto, so there is no "down" for the Earth to drop to. Earth simply keeps floating and circling the Sun, held by a gentle invisible pull called gravity.

In space everything floats, so astronauts cannot lie down in a normal bed. They zip themselves into sleeping bags attached to the wall, so they do not drift around while they sleep.

Astronauts eat food from special pouches so it does not float away and make a mess. A lot of it is dried first, and they add water to make it soft and tasty again.

Way out in space, the pull of gravity is so gentle that nothing feels heavy any more. With almost nothing holding them down, astronauts and everything around them simply float.

A rocket burns fuel and pushes a huge blast of hot gas downwards, very, very hard. That push sends the rocket shooting upwards, high enough to reach space.