Explore the Cosmos Like Neil deGrasse Tyson: A Space Science Journey

by Cap Saucier

Overview

This introduction to space science for children uses the story of Neil deGrasse Tyson's life and career to frame the journey.Catch the thrill of the cosmos and space science through the life of Neil deGrasse Tyson-the popular astrophysicist, science communicator, and host of FOX-TV's Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.In language neither too simple nor overly technical, author CAP Saucier interweaves up-to-date information about the universe and the science of astrophysics with a biographical portrait of the famous astrophysicist. Quotes from Tyson appear throughout each chapter, personalizing the science. Illustrated with striking images from the Hubble Space Telescope, the story of one man's successful life in space science may inspire kids to follow a similar path. As Tyson makes clear, there is still much to do for future space scientists: diverting asteroids, unraveling the mystery of dark matter, finding life elsewhere in the universe, and more!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781633880153
Publisher:	Prometheus Books
Publication date:	03/03/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	177
Sales rank:	746,109
File size:	10 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

CAP Saucier is the author of The Lucy Man: The Scientist Who Found the Most Famous Fossil Ever! She is also a freelance artist, illustrator, and writer.

Read an Excerpt

Explore the Cosmos Like Neil DeGrasse Tyson

A Space Science Journey

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By C.A.P. Saucier

Prometheus Books

Copyright © 2015 CAP Saucier
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-63388-015-3

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CHAPTER 1

A YOUNG SCIENTIST LOOKS AT THE SKY

"Hello, police? I'd like to report a burglar on the roof of the apartment building next to mine." Responding to the call, a police officer arrived at the high-rise apartments in the Bronx, New York, and made his way to the roof. When he reached the top, the officer may have wondered or laughed at the sight of the teenage boy he found looking through a telescope. But when that boy showed him the surface of the moon and then Saturn and its rings, the police officer left feeling that climbing up to the roof had been worth it, even if there was no criminal to catch. A person never forgets seeing Saturn for the first time.

That teenage boy with his telescope was Neil deGrasse Tyson, now a prominent astrophysicist. As a child, Neil's head was in the sky. He fell in love with the night sky when he was nine years old. By age eleven, he knew that he wanted to be an astrophysicist, a scientist who studies all the objects in the universe, including planets, moons, comets, asteroids, stars, and the space in between.

As a schoolchild, Neil visited the Hayden Planetarium in New York City. He marveled at the show of the nighttime sky with the Milky Way and so many stars that he wondered if they were real. He decided to look at the sky himself. Neil began on his apartment-building rooftop with a pair of binoculars. The moon never had appeared so big, but he wanted to see more.

Neil received his first telescope from his parents in the seventh grade, when he was twelve years old. He could now see the planets and the stars, but he still wanted to see more.

Neil bought an even bigger telescope for himself with money he earned from walking dogs in his neighborhood. He also took classes on astronomy on his own at the planetarium. After ninth grade, Neil attended an astronomy camp in the Mojave Desert in California. He loved that campers were expected to stay up late at night to see planets, moons, stars, and galaxies. Viewing the constellation Scorpius was even more meaningful to campers who were trying to avoid the poison pincers of real scorpions on the ground during the day.

That same year, Neil ventured on an expedition to the coast of Africa to witness a total solar eclipse. The Explorers Club in New York City had awarded Neil a scholarship based on his class participation at the Hayden Planetarium. Neil was the youngest person on the ship among scientists, engineers, and astronauts. At age fourteen, Neil's fate was set—he was determined to become a scientist who studied the universe.

Why Studying Space Is Important

Whether, like Neil, you plan a career studying the universe or you just enjoy studying the stars as a hobby, you also can explore the night sky from a rooftop. To start, maybe your backyard or a nearby park are better places. One dark night, lie in the grass away from the trees and bright lights. As the blades of grass tickle the backs of your knees and a mosquito buzzes near your ear, look at the stars and planets as they shine above you. Try to find the constellations, age-old patterns of stars outlining animals, people, and objects such as the Big Dipper. Or play your own game of connect the dots and design your personal constellation.

If you have binoculars or a telescope, you will discover even more stars and will be able to see the planets close up. Then, you will be among the successful space scientists, such as Neil, exploring the universe.

It is human nature to explore not just our planet but also whatever is beyond it. We are curious creatures who always want to know more and figure things out. By looking at the stars, we have learned how the universe began, how stars are formed, and how our sun and planets came to be. By looking at planets, we may one day discover signs of life somewhere besides Earth. And by looking at galaxies, we may be able to predict the future of the universe.

We have learned so much already, but there are still many mysteries that will keep us looking farther and farther into space for a long time. We are fortunate to have clever brains and the imagination to wonder what is out there in space.

We Are Starstuff

Not only do we live among the stars, the stars live within us.

—Neil deGrasse Tyson, Death by Black Hole, 2007

Space scientists have determined the individual elements that make up stars. The elements from exploding stars found their way to Earth. This starstuff became a part of the molecules that make up all life on Earth, including our own human life. Neil says it best, "We are all connected; to each other biologically; to the earth, chemically; to the rest of the universe, atomically." We look at the stars to learn more about ourselves and from where we came.

Today, Neil is an astrophysicist who looks at stars all the time. Since 1995, Neil has worked as the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium, the place where his dreams began. The planetarium is part of the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. In addition to running the planetarium, Neil is responsible for the exhibits, programs for the public, and educational online resources. Let's find out how Neil arrived at his destination and learn about the universe along the way.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Explore the Cosmos Like Neil DeGrasse Tyson by C.A.P. Saucier. Copyright © 2015 CAP Saucier. Excerpted by permission of Prometheus Books.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

Chapter 1: A Young Scientist Looks at the Sky, 9,
Chapter 2: A Space Scientist Grows Up, 15,
Chapter 3: Looking at All Beautiful Things, 31,
Chapter 4: The Evolution of Neil's Favorite Universe, 51,
Chapter 5: Our Home in the Milky Way, 71,
Chapter 6: From Dust to Rocky Planets, 85,
Chapter 7: Icy, Gas Giants, 103,
Chapter 8: The Father, the Citizen, the Scientist, 121,
Chapter 9: Dreams of Tomorrow, 135,
Acknowledgments, 157,
Notes, 159,
Glossary, 163,
Bibliography, 169,
Index, 173,
About the Author, 177,

Editorial Reviews

12/22/2014
This hybrid combines a biography of prominent astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson with an introduction to the study of physics and the cosmos. In addition to covering Tyson’s childhood, adolescence, education, and work, Saucier delves into the social climate of his upbringing: “People often wonder why Neil did not try to be an astronaut. In the 1960s, astronauts were all white men with crew cuts. There were no women or black astronauts.” Oddly, while Saucier met with Tyson while writing the book, she often eschews direct quotes in favor of awkward paraphrases (“Neil’s favorite blues performer is Buddy Guy because Neil really can feel what Buddy is singing”). Profiles of scientists that informed Tyson’s work are interspersed, as are varied topics in astrophysics, but inelegant prose lets down this effort. A glossary and source notes are included. Ages 8–12. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

""From the big bang to the formation of planets, this book delightfully weaves together the story of modern astronomy with the life story of how a young African American inner-city kid grew up to be one of the most recognized and influential personalities in all of science." --Henry Ferguson, astronomer, the Space Telescope Science Institute "Neil deGrasse Tyson is one of those rare scientists who is a household name--and for good reason. His larger-than-life personality and passion for unraveling the mysteries of the cosmos compel us to marvel at the world around us. Saucier trains her lens on 'the universe within' the great astrophysicist and popularizer, and the result is as fun as it is educational. From Tyson's boyhood observations of the night sky from the rooftop of his family's New York City apartment to his research into how galaxies form, Saucier charts the meteoric rise of a man who reached for the stars--and caught them." --Kate Wong, Scientific American Praise for The Lucy Man: The Scientist Who Found the Most Famous Fossil Ever! "Engaging and well-illustrated... it will hopefully inspire young readers to become evolutionary biologists and to go out and make their own important discoveries." -Quarterly Review of Biology "This book should give anyone, expert or beginner, a better appreciation of [Johanson] and his work. It would make a fine gift to a young aspiring fossil-hunter and a worthy addition to any school library." -National Center for Science Education Reports "Any youngster showing an interest in such things will be immersed for hours in this book." -Bookviews "This handy little book delves into the basic science of human evolution... Saucier breaks down a difficult subject into an easily digestible format... We expect to see more from this author in the near future." -Sacramento Book Review "This book would be a wonderful supplement for a child who has had both theories removed from the school curriculum. Readers will feel like they were part of that fateful dig and will be able to sense the excitement felt when Lucy was found." -Portland Book Review

From the Publisher

02/01/2015
Gr 5–8—Combining biographical information about Neil deGrasse Tyson, the popular American astrophysicist, with an exploration of space science, this work seeks to interest middle school readers in both. Tyson's fascination with the universe came early, and his enthusiasm is exhilarating and contagious. His many quotes frame the chapters on familiar planets and the farther, less familiar outer reaches of space. Up-to-date information culled from unmanned space probes makes this work useful for research. However, the organization of the material, interspersing biographical tidbits with astronomical data, results in an often confusing reading experience. The author's habit of referring to Tyson by his first name and including comments about his opinions on music, films, and wine, as well as other fascinating but irrelevant facts, dilute interest in the cosmos-related material. A good bibliography and glossary will help those doing school reports, and the chapter notes are often beneficial. VERDICT Of value for curriculum-related research.—Eva Elisabeth VonAncken, formerly at Trinity-Pawling School, Pawling, NY

School Library Journal

2014-12-06
A tour of the solar system and the cosmos beyond, with a celebrity guide standing by.Saucier opens with two chapters of biography and later shoehorns in a third. Forcibly interspersed are capsule histories of astronomy and the universe, discussions of galaxy and star types, a progression past our astronomical neighbors from the sun to the Oort cloud, and a final omnium-gatherum look at exoplanets, asteroid impacts on Earth and like matters of current interest. Tyson's role in all this is to be paraphrased, often inanely: "Neil reassures us that dark matter does not interfere with Earth or humans as we move around on our planet's surface"; "Neil hopes Earth does not end up like Venus…." Not only is the narrative further hampered by clumsy prose, but the author leaves indigo out of the visible spectrum, makes conflicting claims about whether or not Ceres is the only round asteroid, and confusingly asserts that Saturn's "surface" (which it doesn't have, at least not a solid one) is less colorful than Jupiter's due to "a thick layer of clouds" (as if Jupiter lacks the same). Though sometimes misplaced, the many photos, both of space taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and of Tyson at various ages, are a plus but can't compensate for the book's many liabilities. Better ventures into the high frontier abound—and so do better profiles of our leading living science popularizer. (notes, glossary, bibliography, no index) (Nonfiction. 11-13)

Kirkus Reviews