Daddy Mojo, Author at Daddy Mojo

The 1,000 Facts About Space blog tour

Welcome to the

1,000 Facts About Space

Blog Tour!

Get ready to blast off on an illuminating journey to the farthest reaches of the universe as we celebrate the release of the 1,000 Facts About Space (National Geographic Kids Books, ages 8-12). This week, five blogs across the web are featuring out-of-this world facts about mysterious black holes, daring space travel, groundbreaking missions, awe-inspiring stars and one of the giants of the solar system – Uranus! Looking to up your galactic IQ? Read on!

8 Facts About the “Ice Giant” – Uranus!

Uranus was the first planet discovered using a telescope. English astronomer William Herschel spotted it in 1781. Herschel wanted to name his planet after the King of England, George III. Other astronomers wanted to name it “Herschel.” Eventually a more traditional name from ancient mythology—Uranus—was selected.

A day on Uranus is only 17 hours long, but it takes Uranus 84 years to complete one orbit around the sun.

Uranus is much larger than Earth. It has four times the width, takes up 63 times more space, and weighs more than14 times the mass of our planet.

Uranus is a gas giant like Jupiter and Saturn—you cannot stand on its surface. It is made almost entirely of hydrogen and helium gases.

Uranus is tipped on its side, so it sometimes looks like a green-blue ball rolling around the sun.

Astronomers recorded the coldest temperature of any planet in Uranus’s cloud tops. The temperature in the atmosphere in one area was minus 371°F.

It is extremely rare, but people with exceptional eyesight can see Uranus with their naked eye. Everyone else needs a pair of binoculars or a telescope to spot it.

Unlike other gas planets, Uranus appears to have few surface features. It does have storms and changing weather patterns, but the top gas layer almost always look like a hazy blue-green ball.

Some of Uranus’s moons—such as Miranda, Ophelia, and Juliet—are named for characters from Shakespeare’s plays. Others, like Umbriel, Ariel, and Belinda, come from a poem by Alexander Pope, a 17th-century English writer.

If you’d like to learn 992 MORE facts about black holes, planets, astronomers, telescopes, space travel, pioneers of space travel, space weather and so much more, check out 1,000 Facts About Space by astronomer Dean Regas.

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Did you know … that one of Saturn’s moons is so hollow it would float in water? That the largest known star is 3.69 billion times bigger than our sun? Or that Jupiter likely has diamonds floating in its clouds? Explore dazzling facts about the vast expanse of space, from glowing stars billions of light-years away to supermassive exploding supernovas to rockets thundering into the unknown. This comprehensive book takes you on a mind-blowing tour of our unbelievable universe and is full of fascinating facts on topics such as space exploration, our solar system and galaxy, and beyond.

Expert astronomer Dean Regas ― former host of PBS’s Star Gazers and astronomer of the Cincinnati Observatory ― takes you on an incredible tour of facts about each planet in our solar system, dwarf planets, our sun and other stars, exoplanets, comets, asteroids, galaxies, space travel, and so much more. Hundreds of stunning photographs bring the facts to life.

DEAN REGAS has been the astronomer for the Cincinnati Observatory since 2000. He is a renowned educator, author, national popularizer of astronomy, and an expert in observational astronomy. From 2010–2019, Dean was the co-host of the PBS program Star Gazers. His books include Facts From Space!, 100 Things to See in the Night Sky, and 100 Things to See in the Night Sky, Expanded Edition. Dean is a contributing editor to Sky & Telescope magazine and a contributor to Astronomy magazine, where he won the 2008 Out-of-this-World Award for astronomy education. Dean has written more than 150 astronomy articles for the Cincinnati Enquirer, blogged for the Huffington Post, and is regularly featured on television and radio. Dean is a frequent guest on National Public Radio’s Science Friday and Here & Now. He also hosts an astronomy podcast with Anna Hehman called Looking Up. At the Cincinnati Observatory, Dean has developed his skills as a dynamic writer and public speaker who brings the complicated field of astronomy down to Earth for students of all ages. You can find him online at https://www.cincinnatiobservatory.org/dean-regas/about-dean.

Additional Resources

For additional info on the wonders of outer space, check out the kid friendly games, articles and amazing images of our galaxy and beyond at National Geographic Kids’ Passport to Space. Educators, tap into to a wealth of resources focused on space exploration, including informative videos, articles and Kahoots, at NG Education’s Resource Library.

GIVEAWAY

• One (1) winner will receive a hardcover of 1,000 Facts About Space

• US/Can only

• Ends 2/19 at 11:59 pm ET

• Enter via the Rafflecopter below

• Visit the other stops on the tour for more chances to win!

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Blog Tour Schedule:

February 6th — From the Mixed-Up Files of Middle Grade Authors

February 7th  — Imagination Soup

February 8th – Daddy Mojo

February 9th – YA Books Central

February 10th  — Always in the Middle

City Spies City of the Dead goes 4 out of 4 in this mglit must-read series

The really great books have readers hoping that the book doesn’t end on a cliffhanger or on some absurd happening. An otherwise fabulous book that’s built up to a satisfying ending cheapens the entire affair when all of the events are for naught. It turns out to have been a dream. A long-forgotten relative appears at the door or they jump off into the sunset to their mortal peril…unless there’s a sequel. City Spies City of the Dead is the fourth book in this series that’s built on its predecessor with ease and a sense of plot satisfaction. It’s done this while leaving clues as to something much bigger that all of the books are building to.

City Spies City of the Dead, City Spies 4, continues to rip around the world as a must-read mglit series that builds and improves the story.

People in your house will wrestle over who’s the first to read it

Little Pea, a super-cute read-aloud book that rises to the challenge

Little Pea is one of those books. It’s a book that’s meant to be read aloud to toddlers through first-grade students. The text is simple. The illustrations are cute, very detailed in a cartoon fashion, and relentlessly happy. With great read-aloud books, the magic happens when you read it and combine everything together. That’s what happens when you read Little Pea to children.

Little Pea is a very simple book with a message crawlers through first will enjoy and grin at, with art that’s as detailed or as simple as you need it to be.

A book in a 3 to eight minute pinch

How Do Meerkats Order Pizza? the must-see non-fiction that kids didn’t ask for

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Ask a kid to learn and they’ll try to weasel out of it. How Do Meerkats Order Pizza?, well, the answer to that is something that I must find out, those same kids will say. This is non-fiction, graphic novel, reference book greatness that puts the fun first, but ensures that you’ll learn something too.

When Things Aren’t Going Right Go Left, a can-do book on positive vibes

If you’re looking for a sign, this is it. I use that sometimes when I teach. I’ll write “Sign” on the board, and put a border around it, then stake it as if it’s posted in the ground. When Things Aren’t Going Right, Go Left is an illustrated book that is rife with metaphors, double-meaning words and positive vibes. It’s an unlikely book that’s an empowering take on how young school-aged children can overcome anything just by thinking in a more positive manner. The book also tackles an angle that elementary students aren’t told enough, and that’s the fact that everybody has something. And that you and your something are OK if you put it down for a bit and give it a rest.

WHen lessons and comfort book food intersect

The Planets Are Very, Very, Very Far Away-scale that curious or STEM kids crave

I was talking to a student one day about the approximate distance between Georgia and New York and they had absolutely no clue. Their spatial abilities were suspect at best with them guessing at only a couple of hundred miles to multiple thousands. Space is like that too, except so much more interesting and potentially complex. The Planets Are Very, Very, Very Far Away puts the impossibly massive scale of the solar system into a scope that anyone is able to understand. Author Mike Vago is an author who produces books that are as much of a publishing statement as they are informative, entertaining, or both.

The Planets Are Very, Very, Very Far Away-space scale for curious STEM kids

Vast nothingness turned into curiosity food for kids

Best Shot in the West, a stunning graphic novel for high school and up

The cover to Best Shot in the West looks like a promotional poster for a rodeo or a cowboy recruitment drive. Come join us, see the west, rope horses, and let the only boundaries for what you can become only be limited by your abilities, getting trampled by steer or disease. That was the modus operandi in the late 1800s for those who wanted independence, adventure, or financial freedom back and the superstars who opted for the first two had great nicknames. Nat Love had a great name from the get-go, but his cowboy nomenclature was equally as great, Deadwood Dick.

Best Shot in the West is one of the most beautiful graphic novels that you’ll see, with a (mostly) non-fiction action story that can’t be beat.

The legend of Nat Love in graphic novel art form

King Kong’s Cousin, allegorical fun with silly, contrasting apes

Kids can smell a bad allegory like expired meat that’s been left in the trashcan for three days. King Kong’s Cousin is an illustrated book that’s ripe with allegory but doesn’t have the stench of week-old room-temperature meat. The book will indirectly resonate with those kids that have older siblings, but in reality, any pre-k through middle elementary school reader will grin at the silliness that lies within the book’s big monkey spine.

King Kong’s Cousin is an illustrated book-with great art, at comparing yourself to others and how we’re all great, even if we don’t see it that way.

Get your stinking paws on this book you elementary readers