George had an amazing adventure this week riding a comet through the solar system! I wish I could do that, although I think it w
ould be very scary too! Would you have jumped out into space with Annie? Comets are mysterious objects that come zooming in past the sun and then zoom back out to travel to the far reaches of our solar system. They are big balls of dirt and snow that melt as they get close to the sun. One comet even crashed into the planet Jupiter in 1994! There are many comets in our solar system – some of them come around quickly and others take hundreds of years. Have you ever heard of Haley’s Comet? It can be seen from Earth every 76 years – the next time will be in 2062. How old will you be that year? If you want to learn more about comets, look at the chart in chapter 11.
One planet that George saw on his amazing ride was the planet Saturn. Most people recognize Saturn because it has rings – thousands of rings. This makes Saturn look very different from the other planets in our solar system. Lots of movies and cartoons show people walking or driving on Saturn’s rings, but that would never work. The rings are made out of dust and gas and ice crystal – they are not solid!
Hope you enjoy the book!
Jill
