Spheres CBeebies Stargazing

Hello, stargazers!

Just checking my red Mars hat will keep me warm under the stars.

Oh, look! More colourful hats.

Hello, stargazers!

-Are you nice and warm under your hats? ALL:

-Yeah.

Oh, great! Then we're all set to go stargazing, and you come, too!

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 there 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. #

-BOTH:

-Mission explore. Go!

Excellent work, stargazers, and welcome to mission control.

Thank you, Maggie.

Now, who wants to help me download the latest mission data?

-Me!

-Now, can you remember Maggie's mini mission from last night?

Well, she asked us to see what different colours we could spot in

-the night sky.

-Let's activate the map.

Map, go!

Mission data downloading.

Tonight, the sky is a bit greyish.

I can see a plane.

Me too.

Brian Cox here with an update for mission control.

One of the most beautiful colours I've ever seen in the night sky

is the Northern lights. I was lucky enough to see them when I visited

snowy Norway. And they started off

as a faint, green glow in the sky but,

pretty soon, the whole sky was ablaze with bright green dancing.

Download complete.

Now, if you'd like to see more mission updates,

please go to the CBeebies website and click on stargazing.

Come in, mission control.

Sky station calling.

The stargazers and I went to an amazing place for stargazing

last night, and I've collected some more mission data for you.

Thanks, Robert. Data downloading.

Stargazers, we are in the most exciting place ever!

This is an observatory in the Kielder Forest.

An observatory is a brilliant place to explore the stars.

Now, clever astronomer Becky here is going to help us look for something

colourful in the night sky.

Tristan, why don't you go first?

Have a go. See what you can see.

All I can see is clouds.

We are a little bit clouded out at the moment but, if we weren't,

what we might see in the telescope is something that looks

-a little bit red.

-Is it Mars?

Oh, yes, you'd be right, yeah.

We're looking for the planet Mars.

Download complete.

Well done, Robert. Well done, stargazers.

How exciting, going exploring at an observatory!

Now, who's ready for another mission from Maggie?

-ALL:

-Me!

Excellent. Well, today's mission is all about this.

-A pom-pom.

-Have a look at the pom-poms on your hat.

Now, what shape are they?

-Round.

-A sphere.

That's right, Enzo. They're spheres.

Now, there's lots of spheres out there in the universe,

and your mission today is to find spheres in space.

Stargazers, shall we see if Robert the robot can find any spheres?

-ALL:

-Yeah!

Sky station, go!

Copy that, mission control.

Stargazers, we've got a mission to find some spheres.

-Are you ready for action? ALL:

-Yeah!

-Great!

Let's go. Oh!

Oh! Oh, dot, my diodes.

More haste, less speed, Robert.

Oh, I really must tidy up these flowerpots,

but then we really need to be getting on with Maggie's mission.

Mission, tidy, mission, tidy, mission, tidy.

-ALL:

-Mission!

-Oh, of course, you're right, stargazers.

The tidying can wait for once.

Maggie's mission to find spheres is much more important.

Let's go! Come on!

Oh!

We found some things to make spheres with.

Are you ready, stargazers?

-ALL:

-Yes!

-Oh, that's wonderful!

Then back to the sky station.

Off we go. No!

Not so fast, Robert. Not so fast.

Oh, dear.

Ah! Made it. Whoa!

Oh! Saved it.

Right, stargazers, what are we going to do with these rocks and water?

-ALL:

-Turn them into planets.

Oh, wonderful. Well, let's give it a go.

I see.

Oh, that's very clever.

Yes!

So, Asin, what kind of planet is that?

A rocky planet.

Like Mars.

Well, that is genius, stargazers!

And what shape is it?

-ALL:

-A sphere.

Look, everybody. I've just made a rocky, watery planet.

-What planet's like that? ALL:

-Earth.

That's right, the Earth!

And what shape is it?

-ALL:

-A sphere.

A sphere! Ha-ha!

HE EXHALES

Right, what am I filling this planet with?

-ALL:

-Air!

-Yes, that's right, air, like a gassy planet.

-Jupiter.

-And what shape is it?

-ALL:

-A sphere.

Oh, stargazers, this is looking wonderful, but you know what?

There's something missing.

Now, what is it that all planets, including our Earth, orbit around?

-The sun.

-The sun.

-That's right, the sun.

And the sun is?

-ALL:

-A star.

-I feel a turbo tidy coming on.

Stay right there, stargazers.

I'll be back. Oh! Tidy, tidy.

Stargazers, I give you a star!

And what shape is it?

-ALL:

-A sphere.

A sphere, that's right. Big cheer, everybody!

THEY CHEER

Back to you, mission control.

Thank you, Robert.

Those round planets and star look beautiful.

I wonder what other beautiful spheres we'll find in space today.

Potatoes.

Really, Saskia?

But potatoes aren't particularly round, and they're not beautiful,

-are they?

-Maggie's going to use them to show us something.

Oh, I see.

-What's that, Maggie?

-I'm going to show you how round planets are made.

Now, imagine that these potatoes are actually rocks out in deep space.

Now, gravity might make three or four rocks fall towards each other.

Here goes, stargazers.

-One potato.

-Two potato.

Three potato.

-Four.

-Oh, there we go, all together.

Now, what sort of shape has that made?

Kind of an upside down, knobbly triangle kind of thing.

So, effectively, you've just got a clump of rocks in deep space,

but what if gravity made all these rocks fall together?

Stand by, stargazers, and...

One potato.

-ALL:

-Two potato.

-Three potato.

-Four.

-Five potato.

-Six potato.

Seven potato.

More!

What shape have the potatoes made now, stargazers?

-A circle.

-That's right.

And in deep space, rocks will be coming in from all directions.

So, can you help me? Got rocks coming in from here,

from all directions.

Put some over there. Squidge them together.

Gravity's pulling them in.

Push them all together.

Great.

So, what's the shape beginning to look like now?

-What do you think, Adam?

-Kind of the top of a, kind of, sphere.

That's right, it does look like half a sphere but, remember -

in deep space, gravity works in all directions,

so you'd actually get potatoes coming in under the table, too.

And if you did that, you really would get a whole sphere.

So, it's gravity that makes spheres in space?

-That's right.

-Now, these potatoes remind me of something else in

space, something that shines brightly in the night sky.

Does anyone know what it is?

-The moon.

-The moon!

And what shape is the moon?

-A sphere.

-Excellent exploring, stargazers.

We found lots of spheres.

We found stars, we found planets and the moon.

Look! It's getting dark.

And time for me to put this sphere on my head,

so we can go outside and look for spheres above our heads.

OWL HOOTS

It's dark, so let's go sphere spotting.

Can anyone see the round moon?

-ALL:

-No!

The clouds are covering it.

Yes, you're right. We have the clouds again.

Can anyone see any stars peeping through?

The mist is covering them up as well.

But if we could see beyond the clouds,

what would the stars look like?

Small.

Twinkly and beautiful.

Like dots of light in the sky.

Now, Maggie, are you sure stars are spheres because, from Earth,

stars do look like tiny dots of light?

I know what you mean, Chris, but you must remember that stars are really,

really, really far away, and I promise you,

if we could go up close to a star, it would look like a sphere.

So, space is full of spheres, including lots of...?

-ALL:

-Stars!

That's great work, stargazers.

That's mission complete, and it's definitely a thumbs up from me.

And it's a thumbs up from me.

THEY CHEER

It's amazing to think that all those tiny dots

of planets and stars are actually enormous spheres.

Well, let's get cosy under the spheres

for tonight's Starlight Story.

Whoa! You two look extra cosy in there.

We are pretending we're in an observatory.

Now, is the sky above your observatory clear or cloudy?

It's quite cloudy, actually.

Oh, that's a shame.

But if we could blow the clouds away,

what stars would come out to play?

There's four bright stars in the shape of a cross

with a few other stars scattered around to make up the constellation.

It's a bird with outstretched wings and a very long neck.

-Is it a swan?

-It is a swan.

It's Cygnus, the swan.

And look, there she is, ready for her story.

Cygnus the swan wished to play skittles at the fair,

so she called on her friends to join the game - the dog,

the crab and the bear.

The dog bowled the moon, a rocky sphere,

and knocked down only two.

Next, it was time for cancer the crab to see what she could do.

The crab bowled Saturn, a gassy sphere,

and knocked down three of the pins.

The friends gave a cheer as the planet rolled on

and hoopla'd a duck with its wings.

Ursa Major was next in line to give the game a go,

but, oh, deary, dear!

Instead of a sphere, the bear chose a lumpy, bumpy potato!

Cygnus the swan was the last to play and chose a shining star -

a star so bright and perfectly round, the biggest sphere by far.

The swan bowled the star to topple the skittles,

and her friends cheered on with delight

as all ten skittles tumbled down to score a winning strike.

Thank you for another great evening exploring the night sky, Maggie.

It's my absolute pleasure.

And my mini mission for you tonight is to count how many spheres

you can spot in the night sky.

And remember, all stars are...?

-ALL:

-Spheres!

We'd love to how you get on with Maggie's mission,

so, please, click on stargazing on the CBeebies website,

and ask a grown-up to send in your mission update.

We'll see you tomorrow for some more sphere gazing.

Until then...

-ALL:

-Bye!