Mars CBeebies Stargazing

These Stargazers can't wait to get exploring at Mission Control

and neither can I.

And we'd love you to come space exploring with us.

Stars and planets and so much more.

Countdown to launch, mission explore!

-ALL:

-Five, four,

three, two, one, lift-off!

# We're on a mission to explore the wonders of the stars above us all

# Planets, stars and more They're for us to find

# When we look up high, here we go

# We're going stargazing

# Gaze at stars shining bright

# We're going stargazing

# Spot a zooming satellite

# We're going stargazing

# Glimpse the moon and the planets above

# We're going stargazing

# So just look up Look up, look up. #

Mission explore - go!

Excellent work, Stargazers. Welcome to Mission Control.

-Thanks, Maggie.

-Now, first things first.

-Who's going to help me download the latest mission data?

-Me.

Can you remember Maggie's mini-mission from last night?

Well, she asked us to spot bright things in the night sky.

Let's activate the map.

Map - go.

Mission data downloading.

The brightest thing I can see tonight is the moon.

It's through the trees.

I counted ten stars and they were all really bright.

I can see a big star and it's really bright and I think it must be

Venus or something.

Brian Cox, here, with an update for Mission Control.

One of my favourite bright things in the sky is the planet Jupiter.

It's a giant ball of gas that reflects the sun's light brightly

and it's massive.

Download complete.

Well done, Stargazers.

Come in, Mission Control.

Oh! It's Robert The Robot.

Sky Station calling.

It was cloudy at the Sky Station last night,

but I've still managed to collect some mission data for you.

Thanks, Robert. Downloading data.

We're here, nice and cosy, in the Sky Station,

cos it's rather cloudy and wet outside.

What bright things do you think are hiding behind the clouds?

-Stars.

-That's right, stars. What else?

-Planets.

The moon!

It's like all the bright things are playing hide and seek with us

behind the clouds.

-Download complete.

-Well done, Robert. Well done, Stargazers.

You managed to get mission data, even though it was cloudy.

Who's ready for another mission from Maggie?

-ALL:

-Me!

Excellent. Well, today's mission is to find out about this.

-Mars.

-Mars.

-Mars. Yes.

Your mission is to find out what it's like on the planet Mars.

Now, this picture was taken by a telescope in space.

-Now, what colour is the planet?

-ALL:

-Red.

Now, can anyone tell me what this is?

-It looks like a truck.

-A robot.

This is a robot called Curiosity and it's busy exploring Mars.

And it looks like Curiosity is taking a selfie.

In fact, let's take one right now, everybody.

-Oh, yeah!

-After three, say, "Mars."

Are you ready? One, two, three...

-ALL:

-Mars!

Now, that's exactly what Curiosity was doing, Chris.

-It was taking a selfie.

-Now, robots like this are called rovers.

Rovers, like Curiosity, are blasted off to Mars on rockets.

Then they trundle over the planet's surface.

They take photographs, collect rocks and even do experiments on Mars.

This gives space scientists on Earth

lots of clues about what Mars is like.

I know a robot who'd make a brilliant rover.

Robert The Robot.

Let's see if Robert can help us collect some clues,

to find out more about Mars.

Sky station, go.

Copy that, Mission Control.

Galloping galaxies!

I'm going to be a rover, just like Curiosity on Mars.

Yes, brave, fearless Robert.

Robert the Rover is ready for anything.

-Oh, hello.

-Come on, Robert. We need to launch into outer space.

-Let's go.

-Oh, right, all right, let's go.

All right, into outer space. Lovely!

Right, when I said, "Lovely," I really didn't think

this is what you meant. It's really quite high.

-Are you nervous, Hayden?

-No.

-Prepare for launch.

-Launch? What do you mean, launch?

Three, two, one, lift-off!

I immediately regret this decision!

Oh! Oh, actually...

Oh, I quite like it.

In fact, I love it!

Oh, this is amazing!

Oh, Hayden, we're in orbit,

just like the rocket that took Curiosity to Mars.

Right, Stargazers, get ready for a rover selfie.

All right, everybody say, "Mars."

-One, two, three...

-ALL:

-Mars.

Lovely. Now, my friend Lucy, here,

is giving us a lift on this rather splendid buggy.

It's about the same size as Curiosity, the rover.

So, let's get to work and look for some rocks.

Over to you, Lucy.

Right, what can we see, everybody? What can we see?

-Trees.

-Yes, we can see trees.

-Moss.

-Moss, yes.

-Water.

Do you know what? This is what it must be like on the surface of Mars

for Curiosity, the rover.

You know? Trundling over the surface, looking for rocks.

-Any rocks?

-There could be rocks in there.

-Can you see some?

-Can you see a rock?

-Yeah, look!

-Oh, look there! Oh, rocks!

-I see rocks.

-Yes, rocks!

Right, leave this to me.

Ooh. Right. Here we go.

Mission Control is going to be thrilled. Right.

CAMERA BLEEPS HE CHUCKLES

Very good.

Right, here we go. We have rocks!

I have rocks!

Oh, this is wonderful. Well done, everybody.

Right. Stargazers, shall we send these rocks to Mission Control?

-Yes.

-Yes.

-Excellent.

Amy, you know what to do.

-Over to you, Hayden.

-Sky station sending clues now.

ALL: Hurray!

Back to you, Mission Control.

The rocks are coming.

Excellent. They're here.

Now, who'd like to hold one?

STARGAZERS: Me! Me!

One for you, one for you.

How do these rocks feel?

-Smooth.

-It looks like a round oval.

BLEEP

Ooh! I must have forgotten to turn this off

when we took our selfie earlier. Ooh, look!

It's a photo from Robert.

Now look closely, because there's a clue here,

as to what could have made the rocks smooth.

Can anyone see anything in the picture

that might make the rocks smooth?

-The water.

-In the river?

That's right. Now, once upon a time your rocks were a bit like these.

They had hard, jaggedy edges.

But when water picks up the rocks,

they tumble against each other, and what do you think happens?

-It gets smoother?

-You're absolutely right, Norr.

As the rocks have tumbled against each other in the river,

they've got smoother and rounder.

Now, who would like to see a picture of Mars?

ALL: Me!

This is a picture taken by the Curiosity rover

as it trundled across Mars.

Now, what can we see in this picture?

It's all full with the rocks.

How do they look? Are they rough or smooth?

STARGAZERS: Smooth.

Well, these pictures are really similar, aren't they, Maggie?

Yes, they are.

Now, has anyone got any idea what made these rocks smooth on Mars?

In this picture, the water made it smooth.

And we know these rocks were made by tumbling around in water.

So it might be possible these rocks were made

by tumbling around in water, too.

That's really interesting, Stargazers,

cos this is a picture of an old riverbed on Mars.

Cos a long, long, long time ago, there were lots of rivers on Mars,

-and lots of rivers mean lots of...

-ALL: Water!

Well, that's fantastic exploring, Stargazers.

Thanks to rovers like Curiosity, and Robert,

we've discovered that there was once water on Mars,

flowing in rivers and streams.

Oh, look! It's getting dark out there.

We might be able to spot Mars very soon.

Let's all look up and see if we can spot Mars.

-It's cloudy.

-Oh, you're right, it is cloudy.

If it wasn't cloudy, Maggie, how could we look for Mars?

What you need to look for is an orangey-red dot amongst the stars.

So you can actually see Mars with just your eyes?

It's brilliant! And if you look through a telescope,

you can see even more detail on Mars.

Let's see what the telescope's seeing.

Unfortunately, it's still too cloudy to see Mars.

Oh, but if it wasn't cloudy, Maggie,

what would we see through the telescope?

If it was a clear night, we'd see Mars as a little red disc,

but on top of that we'd see some of the detail over its surface.

So, the telescope takes a closer look at Mars, but the rovers,

like Curiosity, are even closer.

They're actually on the planet's surface.

So can you remember what we saw in the picture that Curiosity took?

-Rocks.

-Some rocks.

Dried riverbeds.

That is excellent work, Stargazers.

Mission complete.

Thumbs up from me.

And it's a thumbs up from me.

CHEERING

Red Mars is a beautiful sight, shining amongst the stars.

Now let's go and get cosy, ready for tonight's Starlight Story.

Mars-red blankets, Stargazers.

-Are they nice and cosy? STARGAZERS:

-Yes.

Oh, that's good.

Now, what's the sky doing now?

It's cloudy.

But if we could blow the clouds away,

what stars would come out to play?

Up in the sky, above the clouds,

is a constellation called Auriga, the charioteer.

To find him you need to look for a really bright star

with three fainter stars nearby.

Now, the three faint stars make up his...

STARGAZERS: Nose.

Another three stars, in the shape of a triangle, make up his pointy...

STARGAZERS: Hat!

And I think Auriga the charioteer is ready for his Starlight Story.

Auriga the charioteer wished to race on Mars.

So off he set to the starting line,

where he met some speedy cars.

Now, Auriga's chariot was rather rickety,

with wheels that were beginning to rust,

so when the lights turned from red to green,

the cars, they left him for dust!

Around giant craters, the cars raced ahead.

Then, Auriga just trundled, where the others had sped.

Whizzing down riverbeds, the cars raced on.

Auriga gave chase, but something was wrong!

His wheel flew off and he came to a stop,

just as he reached some giant red rocks.

Auriga then noticed the cars had stopped, too.

The rocks were so big they couldn't get through.

The race couldn't come to an early end,

so Auriga called for help from a friend.

Curiosity, the rover, picked everyone up,

and trundled them over the giant red rocks.

Then, all together, and at the same time,

the racers crossed over the finishing line!

Thank you for helping us explore the Red Planet, Mars, tonight, Maggie.

My pleasure.

Stargazers, your mini-mission tonight

is to see what colours you can spot in the night sky.

Why not draw a picture of all the different colours you can spot

in the night sky?

You could even use Make A Picture,

on the CBeebies website.

We'll see you tomorrow for more stargazing.

-From all of us, goodbye!

-Goodbye!

-STARGAZERS:

-Goodbye!