A Flying Whale?

27 A Flying Whale? Have you ever sat outside on a dark evening and looked up at the stars? They appear very close, but actually they are very far away. Imagine living 10, 000 years ago as cavemen did. Imagine seeing a shooting star, a meteorite, or an eclipse of the sun! These things must have frightened people a long time ago. It's good that science has explained what these things mean. We don't have to be scared anymore. But it's important to realize that there is still a lot that we don't understand about the universe. We know today that some stars are so far away that you could not reach them even in a billion years. And some of those lights in the sky are quite close-only 60 or 70 million kilometres away. Compared with the size of the universe, this distance is like the distance between you and your next-door neighbour!

For us, the most important star is called Sol. As our sun, it is the centre of life. If we were a little closer to it or a little farther away, life would never have been able to start on this planet we call Earth. Imagine if there is life on other planets, how different that life might be-especially when you consider the amazing differences in the creatures here on Earth. It's hard to imagine that on one small planet like ours, creatures can be as different as ants and whales. And that's just on the planet WE live on! Imagine what kind of life forms there may be on other planets. How about a flying whale or cats that are as smart as humans? Flying whales? Maybe or maybe not. But one thing is certain - travelling on a flying whale would be a lot more fun than travelling on an airplane. Don't you agree?