1. On a night with no moon, Sullivan Troy looked at constellations from his home, spotting the Big Dipper and Little Dipper. 2. Amber Barnes told Sullivan that more stars are visible from farms without light pollution. 3. On a later trip to a farm, Sullivan was amazed by the millions of stars visible and realized Amber was right about the benefits of less light pollution for stargazing.

1. New Moon Star-Gazing
1 With a star map in his grip, Sullivan Troy stepped outside his home. His gaze
rose to the cloudless sky. Dusk drained the color from the sky, leaving behind
small points of light to shimmer and twinkle. A cool breeze swept by him as he
searched the night for familiar constellations. In the moon's absence (it was the
night of the new moon), the stars shone more brightly.
2 “It doesn't seem as if there are as many stars as there should be,” Sullivan
thought to himself. “Still, who cares, as long as I can find some constellations?”
3 In days gone by voyagers could travel at night with only the stars to guide
them. Adventures awaited those who knew the secret code written in the sky.
Sullivan was anxious to learn those secrets.
4 Sullivan walked to the curb to get a better view away from the shade trees.
Facing north, he studied the skyline. There was the Big Dipper! Lifting his gaze
higher, he found the upside-down Little Dipper. Sullivan nearly danced with joy!
5 Turning to face west, Sullivan searched until he found the constellation called
“Hercules.” Hercules was similar to the constellation of Orion, except that
Hercules only had two stars in his middle, while Orion had a three-star belt.
6 Above Hercules was Vega, a star located 25 light years away in the
constellation Lyra. The only reason Sullivan knew it was Lyra was because Vega
is the brightest star in the summer sky, although technically the season had
recently changed to autumn.
7 After seeing Vega, spotting Cygnus was easy. Supposedly in the shape of a
flying swan, Cygnus was overhead and shaped like a cross lying diagonally in
the sky. Sullivan tried to imagine the stars revealing a giant swan soaring through
the night.
8 The front porch light flicked on at the house across the street. Startled,
Sullivan watched as the front door was flung open. Amber Barnes skipped up
the driveway toward him.
9 “Hey, Sully,” she called. “What are you doing out here in the dark?”

2. 10 Amber and Sullivan went to the same school, but she was a year younger,
so they weren't in the same grade. Sullivan wished that she hadn't spotted him.
She would spoil his fun.
11 “I was just looking at the sky,” he said, not looking at her.
12 “Oh really? Are you waiting for alien spacecraft to land?” she teased.
13 “Very funny,” Sullivan replied.
14 “I always knew you were an alien life form,” Amber said, laughing. “But
seriously, if you want to see stars, you ought to go visit a farm. There's no light
pollution on a farm, so you can see a lot more stars than can be seen here with
all the house and street lights lighting up the place.”
15 One week later on a clear night, the Troy family took a trip to a farm. While
standing outside, leaning against their van, Sullivan stared up at the millions of
twinkling lights. Where the constellations had been so easy to spot last week,
now they were hidden among the many stars now visible. Struggling to find one
familiar star, Sullivan realized that he could still pick out Vega, the brightest star
up there.
16 “These are the stars the voyagers watched,” Sullivan thought to himself.
“Amber was right. The view from our neighborhood is nothing compared to the
view here.” He smiled as his parents murmured their wonder at the sight, and his
little, twin brothers tried to count the lights.

3. New Moon Star-Gazing
1. Sullivan Troy found the constellations 2. What was the significance of the New
fascinating. Which ones did he locate Moon that night?
in the September sky?
3. Which of these is a star? 4. What was Amber right about?
Orion That there was light pollution in
Cygnus the country.
Vega That Sullivan was an alien life
Lyra form.
That the stars are more visible in
the country.
That street lights aid in
stargazing.
5. What is one difference between the 6. Which of these is a fact given in this
constellations Hercules and Orion. story?
Orion has three stars in the Lyra is in the constellation
middle, and Hercules has two. Cygnus.
Vega appears in Hercules, but It's best to stargaze during a full
not in Orion. moon.
Orion is higher in the sky than Vega is 25 light years away from
Hercules. Earth.
Hercules got his own movie, and Sullivan faced south to see the
Orion didn't. Big Dipper.
7. On Sullivan's next birthday, which of these is he most likely to ask for?
A microscope
Magnifying glass
Telescope
Binoculars