I'm dedicating this book to my family and to Papa for inspiring me to write this book. Please enjoy! (I really hope  you learn something.)  

Table of Contents   2 

Chapter 1: A Visit From Shammy   4

Chapter 2: The Sun  6

Chapter 3:The Rocky Planets  9

    Mercury    9

    Venus  12

    Earth  15

    Mars  18                                   

Chapter 4: Asteroid Belt  21 

Chapter 5: The Gas Planets  24   

    Jupiter  24

    Saturn  27

    Uranus  30

    Neptune  33    

Chapter 6: The Dwarf Planets  36    

    Pluto  36    

    Haumea  39   

Chapter 7: The Moons  42    

    Triton  42    

    Miranda  45

    Titan and Enceladus  48

   Europa, Io, and Ganymede  51    

    Phobos and Deimos   54

    The Moon  57 

Chapter 8: Back To Earth    60

    Once upon a time a long, long, time ago, Shammy the leprechaun went to visit his two human friends Pila and her little brother Dimo. They were in their house playing in a pop-up rocket ship. 

    “Hey kids, what’s up?” Shammy asked. 

    “Shammy, we're pretending to be astronauts!” Pila said. 

    “Astronauts? What’s that?” asked Shammy. 

    “Not what, who,” Dimo corrected him. “An astronaut is a person who goes into space.” 

    “Dimo’s right, Shammy,” Pila said. “When I grow up I want to be an astronaut along with being an inventor and paleontologist.” 

    “Well, why wait until you’re grown up?” Shammy asked. “I can use my magic to take us all to outer space right now while you’re kids!”

    “Really?” Dimo asked. 

    “What about there being no air? And the temperature’s too cold.” 

    “No air? No problem. I can use my magic to create each of us a personal air and temperature bubble! (That’s green of course.) Because there is no air in space we won't be able to hear each other so I'll make sure to use my magic to make it so we can hear each other. What do you say?” 

    Pila, always wanting to see the planets up close and personal, of course said yes. Dimo, well, lets just say that after looking at the excited look on his sister’s face and the expectant look on Shammy’s face, he eventually said yes and Shammy whisked them off to outer space!

    “Okay,” said Shammy. “We’ll start at the Sun and then make our way outwards. Don’t worry, my bubbles will protect you from the heat of the Sun and you can look at the Sun too. Remember never EVER look at the Sun when I’m not around, okay?” 

    “Okay Shammy,” the kids said. Then Dimo noticed something strange on the Sun.        “Hey, what's that spot on the Sun?” Dimo asked.  

    “That's called a sunspot Dimo, and did you know that just one sunspot can be as big as Earth?!” Pila asked. 

    “Wow,” said Dimo flying a little closer to the Sun.

    “Wait!” said Pila, trying to grab his arm. (Which is pretty hard to do when you are in a bubble). “The sun is over 9,000 degrees fahrenheit! So even with our bubbles protecting us we probably shouldn't get too close to it.” 

    “Good thinking Pila. Maybe that means that it’s time to move on, after all we still have a lot more stops to go,” said Shammy.

     “All right, Shammy.” the kids said. “Wait! Before we leave I just wish we could take a picture,” Pila said with a sigh.

    “Why can’t we?” Shammy asked. Now, he didn’t need a bubble like Pila and Dimo so he came over to Pila and pulled out a camera–from behind her ear! Pila gasped, then giggled. 

    “Good thinking Pila, now we can remember this trip forever,” Dimo said. 

    So Pila took her picture, the kids nodded to Shammy, and he snapped his fingers and WHOOSH! They were off to Mercury!

    “Here we are, Mercury,” said Shammy.

    “It’s so close to the sun, I bet it’s the hottest planet ever!” said Dimo.

    “Actually Dimo,” Pila commented, “Mercury isn’t the hottest planet.”

    “It isn’t? Then what is?” Dimo and Shammy asked at the same time. 

    “I’ll show you when we get there,” Pila replied mischievously.

    “Hey, what’s that hole in the ground?” Shammy asked. The kids looked where he was pointing.

    “That’s not a hole Shammy, that is a crater,” Dimo explained.

    “That crater is called the Caloris Basin to be exact,” Pila added. ‘‘I wonder how Mercury got its name?” she wondered out loud. 

    “Hmmmmm, good question Pila, and I have an answer: Mercury is named after the quick footed messenger of the Roman gods,” said Shammy.

    “Hmm, makes sense. After all, Mercury goes around the sun in just 88 days, compared to Earth which takes 365 days!” Pila said thinking about it, but her thoughts were interrupted by Shammy yelling “365 days! My home planet, Shamalamadingdong, only takes 10 days to orbit our sun!”

    “WHAT! HOW?” yelled Dimo. 

    “Enough with the yelling guys! Also I know why Shammy’s planet orbits faster than Earth, but I’ll explain when we get to Neptune,” Pila said, covering her ears. 

    “Well in that case, take us to the next planet, Shammy, but first take a picture of Mercury Pila,” said Dimo. 

So Pila took a picture, and the kids gave Shammy a thumbs up. He snapped his fingers, and POOF! They were off to Venus!

    “Ah, Venus, one of my four favorite planets,” said Pila.

    “Makes sense that Venus is one of your favorite planets, Pila,” Shammy commented. “Venus is a beautiful planet with a beautiful name. How did Venus get its name? Do you kids know?” 

    “I know this one!” Pila said, bouncing up and down in her bubble excitedly, “Venus is named after the Roman goddess of love.” 

    “Too bad we can’t land on Venus,'' Dimo sighed. 

    “Why not?” asked Shammy.

    “Because Venus is so hot,” Dimo explained. 

    “In fact, remember when I said I’d tell you what the hottest planet in the solar system is when we get there? Well, Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system! We’re there!” Pila added.

     “What makes Venus so hot?” Shammy wondered aloud. 

    “I know the answer to this one! Venus's atmosphere is like a greenhouse. It traps the sun’s heat making it very hot, too hot to land on,” Dimo explained. 

    “Ohh, I get it now. No landing on Venus, but how hot are we talking?” asked Shammy. 

    “Oh, only about 860 degrees Fahrenheit!” Pila said.

    “Well, in that case maybe it’s time to get out of here!” Dimo said, inching farther away from the planet. 

    “Okay Dimo, just let me take my picture.” So Pila took her picture. The kids nodded to Shammy, and PING! They were off to Earth!

    “Ahh Earth, home sweet home. Well this has been fun but this is my stop,” Dimo said and started to leave, but Pila stopped him. 

    “You can't leave yet Dimo, we still have soooo many stops to go.” 

    “All right, fine, I’ll stay,” Dimo said grumpily.

     “Hey! What’s that swirly thing down there?” asked Shammy, breaking up their fight.

    “What swirly thing?” the kids asked.   

    “Right there,” This time Shammy pointed. The kids looked where he was pointing. 

    “That's a storm Shammy. Maybe a hurricane,” they answered at the same time. 

    “You can see storms from up here!” Shammy exclaimed. The kids nodded. “That is amazing!” 

    “Hey, there’s North America! Where we live!” Dimo commented.

  “Yeah Dimo! And in 24 hours it will come around again because one day is 24 hours!” said Pila. 

    “You two are so lucky,” said Shammy.

    “What do you mean Shammy?” the kids asked him. 

    “Well, you two are lucky enough to live on Earth, the only planet in your solar system that can support life! And it’s the only planet in your solar system with water, over 70% of Earth is covered in water. You can’t survive without that!” 

    “I guess you’re right, Shammy– as usual– we are kind of lucky,” they said. “Now I want to go to Mars to see just how lucky we are,” Dimo said. 

    So Pila took her picture, they nodded to Shammy, and PONG! They were off to Mars!

    “Ah Mars, the red planet. I bet because it is red it’s pretty hot.” said Shammy. 

    “Actually Shammy, Mars isn’t hot at all. In fact, it is very cold, remember? We visited Mars once a long time ago on one of our first adventures together.” Pila corrected him. 

    “Oh yeah, I remember now. Remember that Mars rover we met? Why did scientists send it up there?” Shammy asked. 

    “Well Shammy, scientists can’t send astronauts to Mars like they can to the Moon so they send robots instead. Besides, robots don’t need air or food or water.” Dimo explained. 

    But then Shammy asked “How do the robots get their power?” 

    When Dimo just shrugged, Pila said “The Mars Exploration rovers are solar powered meaning they get their power from the sun.” 

    “Okay, we get it now,”  Dimo and Shammy said thinking about it. 

  “But why can’t they send astronuats to Mars?” asked Shammy. 

   This time Dimo answered “Well Shammy, they can’t send astronauts to Mars because we aren't ready to send people to Mars. For example, we don’t know how we humans will adapt to life on Mars. Yet.” 

    “Oh, okay I get it now. Hey, remember the camomobile? We brought it up here the last time we visited Mars. Let's look for it so we can take our picture there!” They searched for and found their old camouflaged vehicle that they had left on Mars the last time that they visited, and took their picture. 

    Then Pila said “We should leave the camomobile here in case scientists come back to look for it.” Shammy and Dimo agreed. 

    “How did Mars get its name?” asked Shammy. 

    “Mars is named after the Roman god of war, because it’s red.” Pila explained. 

    “Ready to go to the next stop then?” Shammy asked them. 

    The kids nodded, Shammy snapped his fingers, and BIM BAM BOOM!! They were off to the asteroid belt!!

    “There are so many rocks zooming around here!” Shammy exclaimed, dodging another asteroid. 

    “That’s because we're in the asteroid belt!” Pila said just as an asteroid bumped her bubble. 

    “Whee! I love it when asteroids bump me around!” giggled Dimo zooming past them.

    “Are we still in your solar system?” Shammy asked as he zipped by the kids.

    “We’re still in our solar system, Shammy. The asteroid belt is between Mars and Jupiter,” Pila explained. 

    “Oh, okay,” said Shammy. 

    “Hey Pila and Shammy, want to hear a cool fact about asteroids?” Pila and Shammy both nodded their heads enthusiastically. 

    “Okay. Did you know asteroids have names?” Dimo asked. 

    “No, tell us more,” Pila and Shammy said. 

    “Well, asteroids have names so scientists know which asteroid they're looking at, names like Icarus and Pallas.”     

    “SO COOL!” Pila yelled. Shammy nodded. 

    “Are all asteroids in the asteroid belt?” asked Dimo. 

    “Well, no,” said Shammy. 

    “NO?!” the kids exclaimed. 

    “No. Not all asteroids are in the asteroid belt. Some have even hit the Earth!” 

    “But, that's pretty unlikely because they usually burn up in the Earth's atmosphere,”  Pila said, disappointed. “I really wish that I could find one. “But someone has gotten hit by an asteroid,” Dimo added. “I hope that won’t happen to us,” he said as they dodged another asteroid. PHEW! They survived the asteroid belt!

    “Now it’s time to move on,” said Shammy. So Pila took her picture, the kids nodded to Shammy, he snapped his fingers and PAM! They were off to Jupiter!  

    “Here we are, Jupiter,” Shammy announced when they arrived. 

    “Jupiter is so big that it can fit over 11 Earths across its face! Which is fitting because it’s named after the Roman king of gods,” said Pila. 

    “Hey, what’s that great red spot?” asked Shammy. 

    “That’s actually its name, Shammy, the Great Red Spot! It’s a giant storm that's been going on for years,” Dimo answered. 

    “YEARS!? That's crazy!” Pila yelled. 

    “I know! And get this, the Great Red Spot is bigger than Earth!” Dimo added.

     “Bigger than Earth,” Shammy echoed. “That's also crazy!” 

    “Did you know that Jupiter has at least 95 moons?! Maybe we can visit three of the four Galilean moons on the way back to Earth!”  Pila said. 

  “That's a great idea, we should visit all of the planets biggest moons on the way back,” said Shammy.

    “But I do have a question, What's a Galilean moon?”

    “A Galilean moon, Shammy, is a moon discovered by Galileo, a famous Italian astronomer,” Dimo explained.

    “Okay, thanks Dimo.”

Click! Pila took her picture. 

    “I’m ready to go Shammy.” she said.

    “Alright!” said Shammy. He snapped his fingers and BAM BOOM! They were off to Saturn!

    “Saturn, one of my favorite planets,” said Pila “Did you know Saturn's rings are made of ice?” she asked.

    “No,” Dimo and Shammy answered.

    "Well they are, and the rings are made into different bands. The rings are pretty thin- about 30 feet thin. Compared to the wideness of Saturn's rings which are 170,000 miles across!"

    “That is incredible!” Dimo exclaimed “Hey, how did Saturn get its name?”

    “I don’t know. Do you know how Saturn got its name Shammy?” Pila asked.

    “I do. Saturn is named after the father of Jupiter also known as the Roman god of agriculture and wealth.”

    “Cool! Hey, what's that hexagon up there?” Dimo asked, pointing.

    “That is the polar hexagon,” Pila said, looking where he was pointing.

  “Scientists think that it is caused by an atmospheric wave. You could fit the Moon, Earth, and Mars side by side in Saturn's polar hexagon!” 

     “That is amazing!” Dimo exclaimed.

     “I agree Dimo, that is amazing,” said Shammy.

    "Did you know Saturn has 146 moons?!" Pila asked.

    "No, that is amazing!" Dim said.

    CLICK! Pila took her picture.

    “We’re ready Shammy,” the kids said. He snapped his fingers and PIF! They were off to Uranus!                                 

     “Uranus, also one of my favorite planets. Notice anything special about it?” Pila asked.

     “I do,” said Shammy. “It has rings and it’s tipped on its side.”
     “Exactly. Scientists think that long ago something hit it and it tipped over,” Pila said.

     “That’s cool,” said Shammy.

     “How did Uranus get its name?” Dimo asked.

     “Glad you asked Dimo. Uranus is named after the Greek god of the sky,” Shammy answered. 

     “Thanks Shammy.”

     “What makes Uranus bluish turquoise?” Pila wondered aloud.  

     “Uranus gets its color from methane gas in the atmosphere,” Dimo answered.

     “Want to know a cool fact about Uranus’s rings?” Pila asked. 

 Shammy and Dimo said “yes”. 

   “Okay, Uranus’s rings are made up of ice and rock. And they are sideways compared to other planet’s rings.”

   “That is so cool,” said Shammy. 

   Dimo agreed and said “Maybe it’s time to go to Neptune before we turn into icicles. It’s starting to get kind of cold.” 

    “Good idea Dimo,” Pila said as she took her picture.

    The kids nodded to Shammy and WHOOSH! They were off to Neptune!

     “Hey Pila, we’re at Neptune, can you tell us why my planet orbits so fast around my sun now?” Shammy asked.

     “Okay. So first let me tell you that one year on Neptune or how long it takes for Neptune to go around the sun takes 165 Earth years! That's because the closer a planet is to the Sun the shorter it takes to orbit, and the farther away a planet is from its Sun the longer it takes to orbit,” Pila explained. 

     “That is so cool! Also thanks for answering our question Pila,” Dimo said. “And now I have a different question. How did Neptune get its name?”

     “Good question Dimo. Neptune is named after the Roman god of the sea, probably because of its blue color caused by methane,” Shammy explained.

     “Did you know that Neptune is the smallest gas planet. But it is still four times bigger than Earth?” Pila asked.

   “No, that is so cool,” Dimo commented. “Now here’s a fact for you. Neptune, like Saturn, Uranus, and Jupiter has rings!”

    “Jupiter and Neptune have rings? That is so cool!” Shammy exclaimed. 

    “You know what else is cool? My picture. The blue really stands out,” Pila said as she took her picture. 

    “We’re ready to go Shammy,” the kids said. So Shammy snapped his fingers and WHISH! They were off to Pluto!

    “Pluto, the last planet from the Sun,” said Shammy.

    “Actually Shammy, Neptune is the last planet from the Sun. Pluto is a dwarf planet,” Pila corrected him.

    “Okay thanks for clearing things up a bit Pila.”

    “Hey Shammy, Pila, notice any certain shape on Pluto?” Dimo asked.

    “I do,” said Shammy “A heart.”

    “Exactly. That heart is known as the Tombaugh Regio. It is made up of nitrogen.” 

    “So cool!” Pila exclaimed. 

    “How did Pluto get its name?” Shammy wondered.

    "Well Shammy, Pluto is named after the Roman god of the underworld,” Pila explained.

    “Did you know that Pluto has moons?” Shammy asked.

    “No!” the kids said. “Tell us more!”

    “Pluto's moons are named Charon, Nix, Hydra, Styx, and Kerberos. Charon is the biggest of Pluto’s moons.”

    “Brrr, being so far away from the Sun makes it extra cold out here. Let’s visit one more of the five main dwarf planets and then start to make our way home.” Pila said after she took her picture. 

    The kids nodded to Shammy and BAM! They were off to Haumea!

       “Haumea has such a beautiful name. I wonder how Haumea got its name,” Pila said.

      “Haumea is named after the Hawaiian goddess of childbirth and fertility. Haumea’s moons are named after her daughters Hi’iaka and Namaka,” Dimo explained. “I learned that when we visited Hawaii.” 

     “Cool,” Pila said.

     “I think you mean cold.” Shammy commented. “Because we are so far away from the Sun it’s freezing here.”

     “I guess it is cold but Pila and I are protected in our bubbles,” Dimo said.

     “That gives me an idea,” Shammy said. He made an invisible bubble around himself. “Now that I am warm, I'm noticing that Haumea is shaped like an oval. Why?”

    “Good observation Shammy. Haumea spins very fast causing it to look a bit like an egg,” Pila explained.

    “Thanks Pila.”

    “There are a lot of other dwarf planets in the solar system we could have visited but I'm glad that we went to Haumea,” Dimo said.

     “Actually Dimo, most of the dwarf planets are in the Kuiper belt that surrounds our solar system,” Pila corrected him as she took her picture.

    “Okay Pila. I think that we are ready to start visiting the moons on our way home, Shammy, before we turn into popsicles,” Dimo said.

    So Shammy snapped his fingers and BOOM! They were off to their first moon stop- Triton!