The Planets Are Very, Very, Very Far Away: A Journey Through the Amazing Scale of the Solar System

In this spatially oriented primer, Vago invites readers to comprehend the solar system’s vastness. Colloquial, conversational narration uses tongue-in-cheek humor to point out that the planets do not match the neat circular orbits that textbooks depict (“IT IS A LIE. The planets DO NOT all hang out together”). Gatefolds, plus an accessible discussion of scale using the metric system, clarify cosmic distances. While adeptly scaling the solar system down to fit within these pages, the author scales the planets up so they appear as tiny specks on mostly black backgrounds. A final bit of scaling collapses the Milky Way, employing a 10 sextillion–to-one scale to convey interstellar distances. En route to a note about “Goldilocks worlds,” this volume also includes statistics about the four terrestrial planets and the four gas giants, and an intriguing blurb for each about “how we might live there one day” (for Earth: “We already live here”; for Jupiter: “We won’t”). Sure to leave audiences feeling incredulous—and incredibly small. Ages 10–up. (Aug.)