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 Thisbook is a presentation of Weekly Reader
Books. Weekly Reader Books offers book
clubs for children from preschool through high
school. For further information write to:
WEEKLY READER BOOKS, 4343 Equity Drive,
Columbus, Ohio 43228

This edition is published by arrangement

with Checkerboard Press.

Weekly Reader is a federally registered trademark

of Field Publications.

Copyright © 1988 by Checkerboard Press,

a division of Macmillan, Inc.
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
by Checkerboard Press.
CHECKERBOARD PRESS and JUST ASK
are trademarks of Macmillan, Inc.
WEEKLY READER BOOKS Presents

What lis

A Just Ask™ Book

by Chris Arvetis
and Carole Palmer

illustrated by
James Buckley

FIELD PUBLICATIONS
MIDDLETOWN, CT.
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Twinkle, twinkle little star,

How wonder what you
I
are
And do wonder-
I

whatisastar?
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I know.
Each star is a big,
hot ball of gas.
The stars look so little
because they are so very
far away.

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 The biggest star we know
is the sun.
It closer to us than
is
any other star.
That's why it shines so
1
bright and looks so big.
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All the stars shine
day and night.
When the sun is out, it is
so bright we cannot see
the light of other stars.
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 As the sun sets, the
other stars can be
seen in the sky.
Let's look at these stars.

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 *
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7 No one knows how stars begin

Scientists think that whirling
dust and gas in space form
the stars.
Itgrows bigger and bigger
as it whirls like a top.

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The star becomes hotter
and hotter as grows.
it

The heat makes the glow

that lights up the sky.

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No one knows how many

stars there are.
People who study the sky
think there are more than
200 billion billion stars.

And that's a lot.

 !

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**-

More than
can count
SUPERGIANT

GIANT
 -

Stars come in all

The ones are 10 miles

little

wide and the giant ones are

bigger than the sun
bigger than 865,000 miles wide,
9

MEDIUM
SIZED STAR

DWARF
Stars are far away.
The sun is millions
of miles away.
The star nearest the sun
is many millions of miles
farther away.
That's why stars look
 !

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No wonder they
look so small
Starlight comes in many colors.
Look at the colors stars can be.
The hottest stars have a bluish-
purple color.
The coolest are a red color.
The sun is yellow in color-
halfway between the hottest
and coolest.
V
The starlight shines through
the air around the earth.
That air is moving.
The way it moves makes the
starlight blink on and off.

That's why stars look

like they twinkle.
Look at that group
of stars!
Stars are grouped together.
The earth, the sun, and all
the stars we see in the sky "
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are part of a star group
called The Milky Way.

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BIG DIPPER

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 LITTLE DIPPER

NORTH STAR

Within The Milky Way, stars

are part of smaller groups
called constellations.
Look at the North Star and the
constellations Big Dipper
and Little Dipper.
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Stars are millions

of miles away.
Stars are different
sizes and colors.
Stars are grouped
together.
They light up the night
sky and twinkle

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Fabulous
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And now know- I

a lot about stars

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The JUST ASKtm series explains the world to your
child. In simple words and colorful pictures, these
Weekly Reader books answer the questions your
youngster loves to ask.

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