Incorporates data collected by the Viking, Mariner, Voyager, Pioneer, and Russian space missions and is accompanied by spectacular photographs.

The family from Secrets of the Garden are back in a new book about backyard science that explains why the seasons change. Alice and her friend Zack explore the reasons for the seasons. Alice's narrative is all about noticing the changes as fall turns into winter, spring, and then summer. She explains how the earth's yearlong journey around the sun, combined with the tilt in the earth's axis, makes the seasons happen. Alice's text is clear and simple, and experiential. Two very helpful—and very funny—chickens give more science details and further explanation through charts, diagrams, and sidebars. Packed with sensory details, humor, and solid science, this book makes a complicated concept completely clear for young readers—and also for the many parents who struggle to answer their kids' questions! "Several adults of my acquaintance . . . would find Secrets of the Seasons to be an eye-popping revelation." —John Lithgow, The New York Times Book Review

" ... Concise explanations and descriptions - easily read and readily understood - of what we know of the chain of events and processes that connect the Sun to the Earth, with special emphasis on space weather and Sun-Climate."--Dear Reader.

This anthology provides insight into some of the more recent information that has been gathered by scientists about the planets in our solar system. Is there water on Mars? Is Pluto really a planet? What do surfaces of the planets farthest from the Sun look like? The cutting-edge collection of articles on these topics is an excellent source of the latest information on this fascinating subject.

Contains 250 questions and answers about astronomy, particular for the amateur astronomer.

A fascinating look at extraterrestrial volcanoes in our Solar System. The volcano – among the most familiar and perhaps the most terrifying of all geological phenomena. However, Earth isn't the only planet to harbour volcanoes. In fact, the Solar System, and probably the entire Universe, is littered with them. Our own Moon, which is now a dormant piece of rock, had lava flowing across its surface billions of years ago, while Mars can be credited with the largest volcano in the Solar System, Olympus Mons, which stands 25km high. While Mars's volcanoes are long dead, volcanic activity continues in almost every other corner of the Solar System, in the most unexpected of locations. We tend to think of Earth volcanoes as erupting hot, molten lava and emitting huge, billowing clouds of incandescent ash. However, it isn't necessarily the same across the rest of the Solar System. For a start, some volcanoes aren't even particularly hot. Those on Pluto, for example, erupt an icy slush of substances such as water, methane, nitrogen or ammonia, that freeze to form ice mountains as hard as rock. While others, like the volcanoes on one of Jupiter's moons, Io, erupt the hottest lavas in the Solar System onto a surface covered in a frosty coating of sulphur. Whether they are formed of fire or ice, volcanoes are of huge importance for scientists trying to picture the inner workings of a planet or moon. Volcanoes dredge up materials from the otherwise inaccessible depths and helpfully deliver them to the surface. The way in which they erupt, and the products they generate, can even help scientists ponder bigger questions on the possibility of life elsewhere in the Solar System. Fire and Ice is an exploration of the Solar System's volcanoes, from the highest peaks of Mars to the intensely inhospitable surface of Venus and the red-hot summits of Io, to the coldest, seemingly dormant icy carapaces of Enceladus and Europa, an unusual look at how these cosmic features are made, and whether such active planetary systems might host life.

The Sun is indispensable to our survival on Earth. It is also the hub of the solar system. Readers will explore the closest star to Earth and learn about its layers, its nuclear reactions, and its likely life cycle. Phenomena such as solar flares are depicted in spectacular illustrations.