nuber otstars.

N t vt tie
on a clear clonllessnight. you will sre a large
l you wath
w a t h rhe sky that tornm sumne

when viewed fron the liavth. The groupw of stara

a r slpear
to be in grous
sars apear
in tde sky arr called constellanions
ognisable pattern shape
or

constellations?
these well known
Can you recognise

Here. the st.ars

torm the shape of a dipper
a long handle.
There are three stars
with
or a cup
ot thhe dipyper and four in the
bowl.
in the handle

Big Dipper and Iitle Dipper

which the ancient

This is of the nmose recoginisable patterns
one

Greeks called hunter. This was because

it resembled a hunter
named it Orion ater him.
Irom one of their myths and so they
stars in the midlle forn1
his belt.
The line ofthree

Orion or Hunter

NOW read on to find out how a star is Jormcd in outer space.

out that the bouse is not

ucorge enters an abandoned house to find bis pet. HeJinds Eric. Eric is a scientist and likes
with berJatiher,
andoned and a girl called Annie lives there in the
ueorge very much. Their house is in a mess but George spots many tnteresting things
MLter of books and papers. The thing that fascinates bim the most is Erics special computer.
 ies
computer was small and glossy. It looked powerful and neat-the sort of
computer you might find on a spaceship. Eric hit a couple of buttons on the
keyboard and the computer made a sort of humming noise while bright flashes of col
shot across the screen. He
patted the computer happily.
You have
forgotten something"' said a strange mechanical voice and George jumped o
of his skin.
Have I?" Eric looked confused for a moment.
"Yes, said the voice. "You have not introduced
me.
Tm so sorry! exclaimed Eric."George, this is Cosmos, my computer.
George gulped. He had idea what to say.
no
"You have to say hello to Why does George gulp? Can you thi
Cosmos, said Eric in a side
:J

whisper to George. "Otherwise he'll get offended another meaning of the vword
'gulp
"Hello, Cosmos, said George nervously. Hed never
spoken to a
computer betore.
"Hello, George, replied Cosmos."I the
In the future, there will be
am most
powerful computer in the world.
computers more
powerful than me. But there are none
in the past or
present.
sesbout this. Eric whispered to George. Computers can be a bit touchy sometimes.

att deverer than Eric too. boasted Cosmos. Do we have more powerful
said Erie erossly: glaring at the sereen. computers today?
"Says who
"Savsme. saii Cosnios. "T can conmpute billions ofnumbers in a nanosecond. In less
time than it takes you to say Cosos is great. I can compute the life of planets, of
comets. ot stars and ot galaxies. Betore you can say Cosmos is the most impressive
conputer that I have ever seen. he is truly ineredible, I can"
All right. all right. said Eric. Cosmos, you are the most impressive computer we have
ever seen. DNOW, can we get on: l want to show George how a star is born.

"No said Cosmos.

No said Eric."What do you mean. No, you ridiculous machine?"

He must take the Oath. said Cosmos.
Good point: clever Cosmos, said Eric, leaping over to the blackboard.
George. said Eric, to learn about the greatest subject in the whole universe, are you
prepared to rake a special oath: To promise that you will use your knowledge only for
good and not for evil. This is very important. George. Science can be a force for good
bur it can also do great harm."
George stood up straighter and looked Eric in the eye.
I am, he confirmed.
Then, said Eric, "look at the words on the blackboard. It is the Oath of the Scientist.
Read the Oath out loud"
The words of the Oath made him feel tingly with Can you think of a time when
excitement, right down to his toes. He read the Oath you felt tingly with excitement?
Our loud, as Eric had instructed.
T swear to use my scientific knowledgefor the good of Humanity. I promise never to harm
any person in my search for enlightenment. I shall be courageous and careful in my questfor
greater knowledge about the mysteries that surround us. I shall not use scientific knowledgefor
my own personal gain or give it to those who seek to destroy tbe wonderful planet on which we
ve. lf I break this Oath, may the beauty and wonder of the Unuverse for ever remain hidden
from me.
touchy: sensitive; easily upset by something looked Eric in the eye: looked straight at the
eyes in a bold and open way without any fear
nanosecond: one-thousand-millionth
ora second;a very short time; a moment enlightenment: understanding; knowledge
(about the universe)
incredible: extraordinary
ridiculous: very foolish
 flashed a
rainbow
of brighr
Cosmos
crisp packet.
clapped. Annie
burst a n empty

C
colours across his screen. a star
is b o r n .
how
show us
"Cosmos will
now

well done, George," said Eric. fanfare, t o

the Universe
little computerised
Cosmos, playing a
Welcome, said
darker.
The room was getting darker and settled herself
o n the big
had already
called Annie, who seconds he s a W
a tiny beam of
C o m e and sit here, George," few
and after a
sofa. George sat
down n e x t to her, The beam shot o u t into
COmty from Cosmoss s c r e e n .
It c a m e directly to sketch a shape!
very bright white light. second betore it began
the middle of the room,
where it wavered for a
in the aur.
"But that looks like a..." George began
to speak.
the Universe.
window on
has made us a
A window, said Eric proudly. "Cosmos
Watch closely" middle of Erics
the window it had drawn in the
The beam of light disappeared, leaving
looked like a real window. It had a big
exactly
in mid-air. It n o w
Sitting room, hanging it, there was a view. And that
view
sheet of glass in the pane and a metal frame. Beyond
road o r town, o r anywhere
else that George had
was n o t of Erics house,
o r of any house,
ever seen before.
darkness, peppered
George could see an incredible,
vast
Instead, through the window
them.
with what looked like tiny bright stars. He started
to try and count

mechanical voice, "there are billions and billions of stars

George," said Cosmos in his
in the Universe."

"New stars are created all the time. They are born in giant clouds of dust and gas.
show you how it happens."
I going to
am

"How long does it take for a star to be born? George asked.

Tens of millions of years, replied Cosmos."T hope you are not in a hurry"
"Tut-tut," said Eric, sitting cross-legged
on the floor beside the sofa, "don't worry, Georg
quite a lot. You'll still get home for dinner"
I've speeded it up
lines.
Pick out the irony in these
 E

George noticed something about the view through the window onto outer space: not
of it was covered with little stars. In the bottom corner of the window he
total darkness, a place where not a single star shone.
saw a
patch
"What's happening there?" he pointed
"Let's have a look, shall we? said Eric. He pressed a button on a remote control and
view
through the window seemed towards the dark
to zoom
patch. As they got close
George realised that an enormous cloud was hovering in that spot. The window ke
moving forward until they were right inside the cloud itself, and George could see it
made of
gas and dust, just as Cosmos had said.
What is it?" he asked. "And where is it?
Es a huge cloud in outer space, much bigger than the ones in the sky' replied Eric,
ade up of tiny, tiny particles which are all floating around inside it. There are so r
0 these particles that the cloud is enormous-it's so big that you could put million
llions of Earths inside it. From this cloud, many stars will be born."
nside the cloud, George could see the particles moving around, some joining toget
1orm huge lumps of matter.These great lumps spun round and round. gathering
even
more particles all the time. But as the particlesjoined together, the spinning lu

hovering in the same position in the air without movingforwards or backwards

werent
getting bigger-instead, thev seemed to be getting smaller, as though somethins
was squeezing them. It looked like someone was making gigantic dough balls in outering
space. One of these giant balls was quite close to the window now, and George could
could se
se
S n n n g round, getting smaller and smaller all the time. As it shrank, it became hote
n o t t e r - s o hot that George could feel the heat from where he sat on the sofa.
tte
And then it started to glow with a dim but frightening light.
"Why is it glowing?" asked George.
The more it shrinks," said Eric,"the hotter it gets. The hotter it gets, the brighter
it shines. Very soon its
going to get too hot.
The ball exploded from the inside, throwing off its outer layers of burning hot gas inal
directions. After the explosion, the ball was shining like the Sun."Wow!" said George.
"Is that the Sun?""It could be"' Eric replied."That's how stars are born and the Sun isa
star. When a huge amount of gas and dust combines and shrinks to become dense and
hot, as you've just seen, the particles in the middle of the ball are so pressed together thej
start to fuse or join up, releasing an enormous amount s George actually looking at the
of energy. This is called a nuclear fusion reaction. It is Sun through the special window
so powertul that when it starts, it throws off the outer Are there differences between
layersof the ball, and the rest is transformed into a star. the Sun and other stars?
That's what you just saw.
The s t a r was nowshining steadily in the distance. It was a beautiful sight. George gazed
now and then he could see huge jets of brightly shining
at it, amazed by its power. Every
sent hundreds of
thousands of miles from the surface at extraordinary speeds.
zases this for ever?" he asked.
And the star will keep on shining like
Eric.
'Nothing is for ever, George," said
adapted from Georges Secret Key
to tlhe Universe by Lucy and Stephen Hawkin
 there?
canary in the space station. But how did get
discover it
The narrator is surprised to a

Read on to find out.

o the best of rule that forbids one to keep pets
my knowledge, theres never been a
Sven
in a space station. And even had such a rule existed, I am quite certain that
Olsen would have ignored it. But I must admit that his selection was very sensible.
nothing, her food requirements were minimal and she was
Claribel weighed practically
not worried, as most animals would have been, by the absence of gravity,

Ifirst became aware that Clar1bel was aboard the space station when I was sittingin my
office, checking through my lists
to would be running out of next
decide what items we

heard the musical whistle beside my ear, I assumed that it had come over the
When I
waited for an announcement to follow. It didnt: instead, there Wa
station intercom, and
of melody that made me look up with such
a long and involved pattern a start.

that I had my first view of Claribel.

It w a s then

the sensation Or
WeignEessness experienced in space when there is no
absence of gravity:
causes things to drop to the ground, like on earth
force which
She was a small yellow canary, hanging in the air as
Pick out two expressions which
motionless as a hummingbird and with much less
show that the narrator was quite
effort for her wings were quietly folded along her
surprised to see the canary aboard
sides. We stared at each other for a minute; then,
the space station.
before I had quite recovered my wits, she did
curious kind of backward loop no earthbound canary had ever managed and departed
with a few leisurely flicks. It was quite obvious that shed already learned how to operate
in the absence
of gravity, and did not believe in doing unnecessary work.
Sven didnt confess to her ownership for several days, and by that time it no longer
mattered, because Claribel was a general pet. He had smuggled her up on the last ferry
rom Earth, when he came back from leave-partly, he claimed, out of sheer scientific
Curiosiry. He wanted to see just how a bird would operate when it had no weight but
could still use its
wings.
Laribel thrived and grew healthy. On the whole, we had little trouble concealing our
nauthorised guest when VIPs from Earth came visiting. A space station has more hiding
Paces than you can count; the only problem was that Claribel got rather noisy when she
was
was
upset. We sometimes had to think fast to explain the curious peeps and whistles
rerry: aircraft that brings passengers or unauthorised guest: the bird was brought too
goods to space the space station as a pet without any official
concealing: hiding permission
at came
from ventilating shafts and storage bulkheads. There were couple of nattrow
a

Cscapes-but then who would dream of looking for a canary in a space station?
we were now on twelve-hour watches. Though of course there is no day and'night
wnen you are floating in permanent sunlight, it was still convenient to stick to the term
Certainly when I woke up that'morning' it felt like 6:00 a.m. on Earth. I had a
nagging
headache and vague memories of fitful, disturbed dreamns,
Why do you think there is
lt took me
ages to still only
undo my bunk straps, and I was no night and day in
space
half awake when Ijoined the remainder of the duty crew in
the mess. Breakfast was unusually quiet, and there was one seat vacant.

"Where's Sven?" I asked.

"He's looking for Claribel someone answered."Says he cant find her anywhere.
She usually wakes him up.
Before I could retort that she usually woke me up too, Sven came in through the
doorway. We could see at once that something was wrong. He slowly openedhis
hand, and there lay a tiny bundle of yellow feathers, with two clenched claws sticking
pathetically up into the air.
"What
happened"
we sked, all equally distressed. Can you guess what has
said Sven mourntully."Tjust found her like this"
know, saic
Hant know,
"I dont
T
happened to Claribel?
aired in hushed silence while he held Claribel against his ear in an attempt
edetect any
an heart
heartbeat. Presently he shook his head."I can't hear anything, but
ro
t o

thar
acnt prove she
doesnt prove
shes dead. I've never listened to a
canary's heart, he added rather
apologetically.

i e her a shot of Oxygen suggested somebody, pointing to the green-banded

ncv cylinder beside the door. Everyone agreed that this was an excellent idea and
laihel was tucked snugly into a tace mask that was large enough
to serve as a complete
tent for her.
oxygen
To Our delighted surprise, she revived at once. Beaming broadly, Sven removed the mask
and she hopped onto his finger. She gave her series of sharp trills then promptly keeled
over again.

"T don't get it, lamented Sven." Whats wrong with her? She's done this before.
never

For the last few minutes, something had been tugging at my memory. My mind seemed
to be sluggish that morning, as ifI was still unable to cast off the burden of sleep. I felt
that I could do with some of that oxygen but
Explain the phrase 'understanding
before I could reach the mask, understanding
exploded in my brain' in your own words.
exploded in my brain. I whirled on the duty
engineer and said urgently" Jim! Theres something wrong with the air! That's why
Claribel's passed out. I've just remembered that miners used to carry canaries down
to warn them of
gas
Nonsense!' said Jim. "The alarms would have gone off. We've
got duplicate circuits,
operating independently
-the second alarm circuit isn't connected up yet" his assistant reminded him.
hat shook Jim: he left without a word, while we What is a sheepish expression
stood arguing:and passing the oxygen bottle around Try giving a sheepish smile to your
Cike apipe
pif of
peace. He
came back ten minutes partner. When do people have a
ater with a sheepish expression. It one of those
was sheepish expression on their faces?
 accidents that couldn't possibly happen: we had had one of our rare eci1pses by E
shadow that night; part of the air purifier had frozen up, and the singe alarm in he
Circuit had failed to
go off. Half a million dollars' worth of chemical and
electronic
engineering had let us down completely. Without Claribel, we should soon have ber
slightly dead.
So now, if
you visit any space station, dont be
surprised if you hear an inexplicable snatch of bird Pickout the humour in the
song. Theres no need to be alarmed: on the contrary, paragraph of the tet
in fact it will mean
that you're being doubly safeguarded, at
practically no e a
ma
adapted from a
story by Arihur C C
inexplicable: that which cannot be
or accounted for explained snatch: a short
part;a very small piece

Sir Arthur Charles Clarke

(1917-2008) was a
undersea explorer, and British science fiction
and futurist, inventor,
both an avid television series
populariser of space travel and host. Hew
On these
subjects, he wrote over a dozen futurist of uncanny ability
a

appeared in various magazines. He was books and many essays, whic

Space Age rightly called the 'Prophet of
the

THINK PAIR SHARE

Astronauts in space will keep moving around aue to the absence of graviry,
they manage to eat and sleep in space? Then o io y