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Beyond the Solar System: Exploring Galaxies, Black Holes, Alien Planets, and More; A History with 21 Activities (49)
Winner of:
NSTA-CBC Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 for 2014 list
Humans have gazed into the night sky for thousands of years and wondered, What are those twinkling lights? Though the sun, moon, and planets moved across the background of stars, the stars themselves appeared immovable, forever fixed in constellations. Only when astronomers began taking a closer look did anyone realize what a fascinating, ever-changing universe lies beyond our solar system—red giant and white dwarf stars, spiral galaxies, wispy nebulae, black holes, and much more.
In Beyond the Solar System, author Mary Kay Carson traces the evolution of humankind’s astronomical knowledge, from the realization that we are not at the center of the universe to recent telescopic proof of planets orbiting stars outside our solar system. In addition to its engaging history, this book contains 21 hands-on projects to further explore the subjects discussed. Readers will build a three-dimensional representation of the constellation Orion, model the warping of space-time caused by a black hole, see how the universe expands using an inflating balloon, and construct a reflecting telescope out of a makeup mirror and a magnifying glass. Beyond the Solar System also includes minibiographies of famous astronomers, a time line of major scientific discoveries, a suggested reading list, a glossary of technical terms, and a list of websites for further exploration.
NSTA-CBC Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 for 2014 list
Humans have gazed into the night sky for thousands of years and wondered, What are those twinkling lights? Though the sun, moon, and planets moved across the background of stars, the stars themselves appeared immovable, forever fixed in constellations. Only when astronomers began taking a closer look did anyone realize what a fascinating, ever-changing universe lies beyond our solar system—red giant and white dwarf stars, spiral galaxies, wispy nebulae, black holes, and much more.
In Beyond the Solar System, author Mary Kay Carson traces the evolution of humankind’s astronomical knowledge, from the realization that we are not at the center of the universe to recent telescopic proof of planets orbiting stars outside our solar system. In addition to its engaging history, this book contains 21 hands-on projects to further explore the subjects discussed. Readers will build a three-dimensional representation of the constellation Orion, model the warping of space-time caused by a black hole, see how the universe expands using an inflating balloon, and construct a reflecting telescope out of a makeup mirror and a magnifying glass. Beyond the Solar System also includes minibiographies of famous astronomers, a time line of major scientific discoveries, a suggested reading list, a glossary of technical terms, and a list of websites for further exploration.
144 pages, Paperback
Published June 1, 2013
18 people are currently reading
33 people want to read
About the author
Mary Kay Carson
112 books46 followersMary Kay Carson is an award-winning children’s nonfiction author. She has written more than thirty books for young people about wildlife, space, weather, nature, and history. Her recent non-fiction titles include Emi and the Rhino Scientist, about the Cincinnati Zoo's famous rhino mom; Exploring the Solar System, recipient of the 2009 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Children’s Literature Award; The Wright Brothers for Kids; Inside Tornadoes; and the Far-Out Guide to the Solar System series. The author also gives presentations at schools and libraries about space, animals, history, and writing.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 16, 2020
Yes, I have certainly been very much enjoying Mary Kay Carson's Beyond the Solar System: Exploring Galaxies, Black Holes, Alien Planets, and More (and have also and equally encountered much enlightening, much educational information and many both specific and more general details about both the history of astronomy from ancient Greece until now, interesting and sometimes if not even rather often unknown to me factoids about what lies beyond the reaches of our solar system, such as for example, the different types of stars and their various sizes and levels of energy, galaxies, black holes, questions about whether there is the possibility or perhaps even the probability of life on other planets, on so-called exoplanets beyond those celestial spheres that inhabit our solar system, as it has clearly been shown that if we are to ever find life elsewhere in the universe we need to consider looking far far beyond planets like Mars and even the moons of our gas giants, like Saturn's Titan or Jupiter's Europa).
And with regard to the main movers and shakers who during the 17th century were (and yes in my opinion obviously also succeeding) trying to prove that it is not the earth which moves around the sun, but vice versa (heliocentrism), I do indeed appreciate that Mary Kay Carson does in Beyond the Solar System: Exploring Galaxies, Black Holes, Alien Planets, and More not only present to her readers (to basically anyone from about the age of eleven or so onwards, as while Beyond the Solar System: Exploring Galaxies, Black Holes, Alien Planets, and More might have been primarily conceptualised for younger readers, it is also and totally a wonderful astronomy book for interested teenagers and adults, for EVERYONE) just a basic and sparse introduction to Nicolaus Copernicus, Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei but indeed and appreciatively that Carson also repeatedly points out and expands upon Galileo's issues with the Catholic Church and that he was in fact only rehabilitated and no longer declared a heretic in 1992 (I mean, how dare the papacy wait hundreds of years to do this) and that other more unfortunate scientists like Giordano Bruno were actually burned at the stake for daring to speak out against the Church's doctrine of supporting the ptolemaic system of the sun and the rest of the planets, of everything in the night sky revolving around the earth (although I do rather wish that Mary Kay Carson had also pointed out that one of the reasons for Giordano Bruno being burned as a heretic whilst Galileo got away with house arrest was most likely that Bruno was originally a monk and that he also had speculated and very publicly so about the possibility of life on other planets and that the earth might actually not be a specific creation of and by God).
But for me personally, the icing on an already most delicious cake is most definitely and certainly that the supplemental information section of Beyond the Solar System: Exploring Galaxies, Black Holes, Alien Planets, and More includes not only a handy glossary and an index, but also that the bibliographies, that the suggestions for further study and reading contain both book and online resources (and yes, while with a title like Beyond the Solar System: Exploring Galaxies, Black Holes, Alien Planets, and More, I did in fact kind of already expect to find adequate bibliographies included, I have nevertheless been most delightfully impressed by both Mary Mary Carson's general organisation of her presented sources and that they are also very much up to date and current, at least with regard to the publication date of 2013).
And finally, while I will probably not ever bother trying out the accompanying suggested activities, they do in fact and indeed look and feel factually engaging (providing a delightful and versatile combination of both simple and more complicated suggestions, with detailed but still simple enough instructions, perfect for both at home and also in-school, classroom use, and indeed a lovely way to render astronomy not just theoretical, but also a hands-on, an applied science). Four shining and glowing stars for Beyond the Solar System: Exploring Galaxies, Black Holes, Alien Planets, and More and yes, very highly recommended!
And with regard to the main movers and shakers who during the 17th century were (and yes in my opinion obviously also succeeding) trying to prove that it is not the earth which moves around the sun, but vice versa (heliocentrism), I do indeed appreciate that Mary Kay Carson does in Beyond the Solar System: Exploring Galaxies, Black Holes, Alien Planets, and More not only present to her readers (to basically anyone from about the age of eleven or so onwards, as while Beyond the Solar System: Exploring Galaxies, Black Holes, Alien Planets, and More might have been primarily conceptualised for younger readers, it is also and totally a wonderful astronomy book for interested teenagers and adults, for EVERYONE) just a basic and sparse introduction to Nicolaus Copernicus, Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei but indeed and appreciatively that Carson also repeatedly points out and expands upon Galileo's issues with the Catholic Church and that he was in fact only rehabilitated and no longer declared a heretic in 1992 (I mean, how dare the papacy wait hundreds of years to do this) and that other more unfortunate scientists like Giordano Bruno were actually burned at the stake for daring to speak out against the Church's doctrine of supporting the ptolemaic system of the sun and the rest of the planets, of everything in the night sky revolving around the earth (although I do rather wish that Mary Kay Carson had also pointed out that one of the reasons for Giordano Bruno being burned as a heretic whilst Galileo got away with house arrest was most likely that Bruno was originally a monk and that he also had speculated and very publicly so about the possibility of life on other planets and that the earth might actually not be a specific creation of and by God).
But for me personally, the icing on an already most delicious cake is most definitely and certainly that the supplemental information section of Beyond the Solar System: Exploring Galaxies, Black Holes, Alien Planets, and More includes not only a handy glossary and an index, but also that the bibliographies, that the suggestions for further study and reading contain both book and online resources (and yes, while with a title like Beyond the Solar System: Exploring Galaxies, Black Holes, Alien Planets, and More, I did in fact kind of already expect to find adequate bibliographies included, I have nevertheless been most delightfully impressed by both Mary Mary Carson's general organisation of her presented sources and that they are also very much up to date and current, at least with regard to the publication date of 2013).
And finally, while I will probably not ever bother trying out the accompanying suggested activities, they do in fact and indeed look and feel factually engaging (providing a delightful and versatile combination of both simple and more complicated suggestions, with detailed but still simple enough instructions, perfect for both at home and also in-school, classroom use, and indeed a lovely way to render astronomy not just theoretical, but also a hands-on, an applied science). Four shining and glowing stars for Beyond the Solar System: Exploring Galaxies, Black Holes, Alien Planets, and More and yes, very highly recommended!
June 18, 2015
Great overview of the study of astronomy, from the earliest days when we believed Earth was the center of the universe and all other bodies rotated around it to the modern day study of dark matter. Includes lots of sidebars, experiments, glossary and bibliography of websites and books for those who want to learn more.
This will be an awesome resource for both students and educators.
This will be an awesome resource for both students and educators.
December 1, 2013
Beyond the Solar System: Exploring Galaxies, Black Holes, Alien Planets, and More” is part of a large series of non-fiction books from the Chicago Review Press. Each of the books contains lots of photographs and 21 activities to help kids learn more about the topic covered by the book.
In this particular book, the activities are especially valuable, because this is a tough subject. The author takes on relativity, parallaxes, the electromagnetic spectrum and more, but somehow manages to make these topics fairly understandable even to those with older brains. [On a personal note, I had terrible trouble understanding parallax until I took some golf lessons. It turns out physics is quite relevant to golf.] Frankly I was amazed at the topics the author tackled, from inertia to dark energy, without getting bogged down in abstruse explanations or scaring anyone off with mathematical formulae.
The author surveys the history of exploring the universe in a chronological fashion, beginning with a timeline that she then expands upon in subsequent chapters. I love how she presented the story of Johannes Kepler, the great 16th Century astronomer who posited the three laws of planetary motion; she credits his mother with inspiring his great interest in the heavens. She is also careful to mention the wives of astronomers who did a lot of work to aid their famous husbands.
And in fact, an unexpected bonus of this book is that the author gives great coverage to the many pioneering but usually ignored women in cosmology, including Caroline Herschel, Annie Jump Cannon, Jocelyn Bell-Burnell, and Margaret Geller.
[This is not to say this is a “feminist” book by any means; however, in the sciences, it is so normal to see women ignored or glossed over, that this author’s more balanced treatment shone like a thousand suns for me.]
The images in the book are terrific, thanks in part to the fabulous space telescopes Hubble and Chandra.
Some of the activities are a bit complicated, like the construction of a reflecting telescope, and some a bit contrived - why go to all the trouble to make a contraption that shows space-time warping when you can just jump on a bed? [Get an adult (a massive object) and a couple of kids (little planets) to rest on a bed and you will see how the indent made by the adult pulls the kids into the depression caused by the adult. This shows the effect we commonly think of as gravity.] But budding scientists attracted to this area of study may not mind all the effort, and the rewards are certainly great.
Evaluation: This book, like the others in this series, is terrific. Besides the entertaining narration of the main story, there are plenty of photos and graphics and sidebars and boxes that mix it up and keep it interesting. In the back there is a glossary and an annotated list of links to additional resources on the Web.
Highly recommended!
In this particular book, the activities are especially valuable, because this is a tough subject. The author takes on relativity, parallaxes, the electromagnetic spectrum and more, but somehow manages to make these topics fairly understandable even to those with older brains. [On a personal note, I had terrible trouble understanding parallax until I took some golf lessons. It turns out physics is quite relevant to golf.] Frankly I was amazed at the topics the author tackled, from inertia to dark energy, without getting bogged down in abstruse explanations or scaring anyone off with mathematical formulae.
The author surveys the history of exploring the universe in a chronological fashion, beginning with a timeline that she then expands upon in subsequent chapters. I love how she presented the story of Johannes Kepler, the great 16th Century astronomer who posited the three laws of planetary motion; she credits his mother with inspiring his great interest in the heavens. She is also careful to mention the wives of astronomers who did a lot of work to aid their famous husbands.
And in fact, an unexpected bonus of this book is that the author gives great coverage to the many pioneering but usually ignored women in cosmology, including Caroline Herschel, Annie Jump Cannon, Jocelyn Bell-Burnell, and Margaret Geller.
[This is not to say this is a “feminist” book by any means; however, in the sciences, it is so normal to see women ignored or glossed over, that this author’s more balanced treatment shone like a thousand suns for me.]
The images in the book are terrific, thanks in part to the fabulous space telescopes Hubble and Chandra.
Some of the activities are a bit complicated, like the construction of a reflecting telescope, and some a bit contrived - why go to all the trouble to make a contraption that shows space-time warping when you can just jump on a bed? [Get an adult (a massive object) and a couple of kids (little planets) to rest on a bed and you will see how the indent made by the adult pulls the kids into the depression caused by the adult. This shows the effect we commonly think of as gravity.] But budding scientists attracted to this area of study may not mind all the effort, and the rewards are certainly great.
Evaluation: This book, like the others in this series, is terrific. Besides the entertaining narration of the main story, there are plenty of photos and graphics and sidebars and boxes that mix it up and keep it interesting. In the back there is a glossary and an annotated list of links to additional resources on the Web.
Highly recommended!
June 2, 2013
Fantastic educational book!
I know I probably get a little over zealous when it comes to non-fiction books, but I really can't help it. Beyond the Solar System was just so fascinating! I took my kids to NASA and that also helped with my (and their) interest in the subject of the universe.
The book starts off with the earliest explorations into the stars and continues on through the years until it reaches the present day. So it is written like a history book. An AMAZING history book. I had no idea how interesting the stars could be until I read this!
This book is written well, so it kept me interested the whole way through. There are activities that kids (or adults) can do to enrich the experience. The activities were fun, but I couldn't do all of them because I didn't have access to some of the items needed in order to complete them. Even so, this is a really informative book that every library, school, and budding astronomer should have.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
My blog: Books for Kids
I know I probably get a little over zealous when it comes to non-fiction books, but I really can't help it. Beyond the Solar System was just so fascinating! I took my kids to NASA and that also helped with my (and their) interest in the subject of the universe.
The book starts off with the earliest explorations into the stars and continues on through the years until it reaches the present day. So it is written like a history book. An AMAZING history book. I had no idea how interesting the stars could be until I read this!
This book is written well, so it kept me interested the whole way through. There are activities that kids (or adults) can do to enrich the experience. The activities were fun, but I couldn't do all of them because I didn't have access to some of the items needed in order to complete them. Even so, this is a really informative book that every library, school, and budding astronomer should have.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
My blog: Books for Kids
February 1, 2017
Great, comprehensive coverage of the solar system and the history of our thoughts and discoveries about it. While it does include a tremendous amount of information, features such as the timeline at the start, text boxes on specific topics, and the many hands-on activities will make much of it accessible to younger readers as well upper elementary students. The activities are simple enough for students to execute on their own, but many could be classroom projects, and they give a real-world sense of the concepts being discussed (a 3-D constellation model). I also particularly like the extensive glossary. I will definitely order for my students and teachers.
Based on eletronic ARC.
Based on eletronic ARC.
June 10, 2014
In Beyond the Solar System, author Mary Kay Carson traces the evolution of humankind’s astronomical knowledge, from the realization that we are not at the center of the universe to recent telescopic proof of planets orbiting stars outside our solar system. This book also contains all details about 21 hands-on projects to further explore the subjects discussed. The end of this book also includes minibiographies of famous astronomers, a time line of major scientific discoveries, a suggested reading list, a glossary of technical terms, and a list of websites for further exploration. It is a wonderful book for students who are interested in solar system.
May 18, 2013
My 6 year old was beyond excited to get this book! He loves space and experiments and this book has given us hours of endless fun! This book is jam packed with great facts pictures and experiments. This will be a book that stays with my kids for years to come! This book is geared for 9 and up, as some experiments are harder to do, but my kids (age 5 and 6) loved doing the Sweet, Twisted Space-Time experiment. If you have a child that loves space or scientist in the house this book is a must have. I rate it 4 stars!
February 8, 2014
This is a great resource to teach kids about everything in outer space. The format is a great mix of text, photos, mini biographies, diagrams and activities. If a kid wasn't interested in knowing what is out there before, they certainly will be after seeing this book.
Want to read
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March 6, 2014
Gives a rather good and short overview of the history of astronomy, and the activities look simple and fun enough.
February 9, 2017
Definite purchase for our library.
May 7, 2015
Beyond the Solar System by Mary Kay Carson did not particularly interest me because I personally do not find science interesting. I would suggest this book to be used as an independent read because it includes a variety of different activities that students can mess around with. It also includes a lot of valuable information about the solar system, so students with an interest in science, the galaxy, black holes, or aliens would love working with this book. Teachers could also use some of the activities in this book during a unit on the solar system, which children in fourth or fifth grade would enjoy. The language used throughout the book is a bit harder, because it uses a lot of science terms, but it also does an excellent job of explaining definitions.
October 25, 2013
Interesting guide to the solar system, complete with interesting activities that make the text clear. Science junkies are going to love this one.
November 10, 2021
This is an excellent resource for information about deep space! Loads of information, but easy to follow, and it includes activities!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews