You may think because our universe is so complicated, how could a common alley cat help us understand it?

But don’t worry, the Professor is here to help. He assures us that he’s just about the cleverest alley cat we’ll ever meet! So he suggests we batten down the hatches and buckle up as it’s time to blast off!

As we turn the pages, we read about the Universe first; how it was born, starting with the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago! Then how the first stars were born 500 million years ago, including our Sun, which is actually an ordinary star but the closest to our Earth. It’s also really, really hot, 500 degrees Celsius on the surface but only 15 million degrees in the centre. And, did you know, the sunlight takes only 8 minutes and 20 seconds to get to us?

There’s a wonderful double-page spread of our Solar System with the four Terrestrial planets made of rock and metals and the other four which are large gas giants.

We travel to the Moon, check out the International Space Station, Robots on Mars and a rather scary page on Space Junk.

There’s so much more to this book, with every double page covered with big bold graphics, mind-blowing information and, of course, Professor Astro Cat always at the helm.

Reviewed by Merle Morcom
Age Guide 7+