“Pack some snacks, we’ll be camping out tonight,” Orak said with excitement. He placed an empty duffle bag on the table where Verum, Scorch, and Felix were seated.
“A night out again?” Felix asked, pleasantly surprised.
“We are going stargazing. Astronomers at the University of California have recently discovered some of the farthest stars that make up the Milky Way Galaxy,” Orak outlined.
“The Milky Way galaxy?” Verum was puzzled.
“A galaxy is a huge bunch of stars clustered together in space. The solar system – which includes the Sun, the Earth, and seven other planets – is part of this galaxy called the Milky Way. Billions of stars other than the Sun make up the Milky Way galaxy,” Orak explained.
“Aha! I see. How did astronomers find these stars,” Scorch asked.
“Astronomers used the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in Hawaii, United States to find these stars. They found 208 stars, the farthest of which is 1.08 million light-years from Earth. A light year is the distance light travels in a year – roughly 9.5 trillion kilometers,” Orak said excitedly.
“That’s such a big distance,” Felix was in awe.
“It is! This makes the Milky Way galaxy so huge that there is barely any space between this galaxy and its neighboring galaxy. By finding such stars, humans try to understand how the galaxy they call their home came into existence,” Orak smiled.
“That’s so fascinating. I can’t wait for our night camping now,” Verum jumped.