Exploring Exoplanets
This book introduces young readers to planets outside of our solar system, which are called exoplanets. Each of them orbits around a star, but not the same star that Earth orbits around (the Sun). Doing the research was exciting. I didn’t catch a ride on NASA’s Kepler space craft. But the Kepler was making news while I was writing the book. The Kepler has been finding a lot of exoplanets with its telescope. Astronomers think that one day, the Kepler will find an exoplanet about the same size as Earth, and in the Goldilocks zone. It won’t be too close to its star, which would make it very, very hot. And it won’t be too far away, which would make the planet freezing cold. In the Goldilocks zone, the exoplanet would be just the right temperature to support life.