Tonight's bedtime story for kids is pretty special! We've teamed up with an amazing podcast called REACH: A Space Podcast for Kids, to send the lucky pups Hector & Sunny into space! Brian and Meredith, Reach’s hosts, will be appearing to Hector and Sunny in a dream, and taking them on a space tour. Put your astronaut helmets on and prepare for take-off!
Want more cool space facts and out-of-this-world episodes? Search Reach: A Space Podcast For Kids, or use this link to listen on Apple Podcasts. 🚀
Upgrade to Koko Club Today! 🔓👑
Remove the ads, enjoy bonus episodes every Wednesday and go Yearly to get a shout out from Abbe!
Start your 7-day free trial now on Spotify, Castbox & more 🤩👉https://kokoclub.supercast.com
Join via Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/joinkokoclubonapple
Follow For More Fun 🥳🪄
Check out our YouTube: @koalamoonfm
Instagram: @koalakids.fm
Tiktok: @koalakids.fm
About Koala Moon 🐨🌕
The No1 kids bedtime stories & sleep meditations podcast that helps children sleep like a dream. Hosted by the world's biggest fan of bedtime stories, Abbe Opher! All episodes are safe for babies, children and really big kids 0 to 100, so settle down tonight and get sleepy with the world's greatest bedtime stories & sleep meditations for kids.
How are we doing with the show? Let us know ✍️
Upgrade to Koko Club 🔓👑
- Bonus episodes every Wednesday.
- 100% Ad-free listening, for quicker bedtimes.
- Go YEARLY for a shout-out from Abbe.
- Exclusive 12-Hour Compilation episodes.
- The entire back catalogue of 200+ episodes.
- The full series of favourites like Hector & Sunny & Jupiter Twins.
Start your 7-day free trial now 🤩👉 https://kokoclub.supercast.com
Narrator 🎙 Abbe Opher
Authors ✍️ Nate DuFort & Suzanna Mcloughlin
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:10
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to Cocostly, a podcast of original
00:00:14
Speaker 1: children's bedtime stories and meditations designed to make bedtime a dream.
00:00:22
Speaker 1: In tonight's episode, We're bringing you something super special. This
00:00:27
Speaker 1: episode is a collaboration with an amazing podcast called Reach,
00:00:31
Speaker 1: a space podcast for kids. It's a weekly, family friendly
00:00:36
Speaker 1: exploration of our galaxy. In this story, Brian and Meredith,
00:00:41
Speaker 1: Reach's hosts will be appearing to Hector and Sonny in
00:00:45
Speaker 1: a dream and taking them on a space tour. So
00:00:49
Speaker 1: lie back, close your eyes, and put your astronaut helmets on.
00:00:55
Speaker 1: This is Hector and Sonny in Space with the Rea
00:01:00
Speaker 1: Each podcast. One warm sunny summer's day, two dogs found
00:01:10
Speaker 1: themselves in the back of a car. One was a
00:01:13
Speaker 1: furry Golden Retriever with a friendly smile, and one was
00:01:17
Speaker 1: a toffee colored cocka Spaniel with eyes the.
00:01:21
Speaker 2: Color of the sky.
00:01:23
Speaker 1: Hector had started the beginning of the journey with his
00:01:26
Speaker 1: head hanging out of the window, letting his tongue loll
00:01:30
Speaker 1: out as he barked hello passers by. But then his
00:01:33
Speaker 1: ears got cold. Then Sonny told him he better come
00:01:36
Speaker 1: back inside now. The two of them were curled up
00:01:40
Speaker 1: on the back seat are you excited to go to
00:01:44
Speaker 1: the observatory, Sonny, Hector asked. Sonny wagged her tail. I
00:01:50
Speaker 1: can't wait, Hector, she said. I love stargazing. I like
00:01:57
Speaker 1: trying to make shapes in the sky. I know there's
00:02:01
Speaker 1: official constellations we should look for, but I prefer trying
00:02:05
Speaker 1: to find the shape of dogs in the sky. Oh
00:02:11
Speaker 1: maybe there's constellations that look like you and I, Sonny
00:02:15
Speaker 1: Hector said. Sonny's owner was driving the car along narrow
00:02:20
Speaker 1: country lanes bordered by stone walls and green grassy fields.
00:02:25
Speaker 1: She was humming happily along.
00:02:27
Speaker 2: As she drove.
00:02:29
Speaker 1: You too, probably don't want to listen to my singing
00:02:32
Speaker 1: for the whole journey, She said, I'll put a podcast
00:02:35
Speaker 1: on so we can learn about space on the way.
00:02:39
Speaker 1: The dogs very much liked Sonny's owner's singing, but they
00:02:43
Speaker 1: wanted to hear a space show, so they kept quiet.
00:02:47
Speaker 1: Sonny's owner clicked a couple of buttons on the dashboard
00:02:51
Speaker 1: and the podcast started to play.
00:02:54
Speaker 3: I'm Brian Holden and I'm Meredith Stepien, and today on Reach,
00:02:58
Speaker 3: a space podcast for kid kids, we're answering a listener's question,
00:03:02
Speaker 3: what is the difference between a meteor and an asteroid.
00:03:06
Speaker 2: Ooh great question.
00:03:08
Speaker 3: Well to dig into this one, we actually have to
00:03:10
Speaker 3: define three different types of objects.
00:03:13
Speaker 4: First off is the asteroid.
00:03:15
Speaker 2: So what are they?
00:03:17
Speaker 4: Asteroids are rocky objects that orbit the Sun much like
00:03:20
Speaker 4: a planet would if you try to picture them in
00:03:23
Speaker 4: your head. Asteroids aren't round like planets and are actually
00:03:27
Speaker 4: quite jagged and come in all different shapes and sizes,
00:03:30
Speaker 4: with some being as small as pebbles and others being
00:03:34
Speaker 4: hundreds of miles in diameter.
00:03:37
Speaker 3: Asteroids are smaller than a planet's but large enough that
00:03:39
Speaker 3: they orbit our Sun, which is why we sometimes call
00:03:42
Speaker 3: them minor planets. They exist throughout the Solar System, but
00:03:46
Speaker 3: most are found in the main asteroid belt region between
00:03:49
Speaker 3: Mars and Jupiter, and according to NASA, the current known
00:03:53
Speaker 3: asteroid counts in our Solar system is one million, two
00:03:57
Speaker 3: hundred and ninety eight thousand, five hundred and twenty three. Wow,
00:04:01
Speaker 3: and they're finding more at the rate of approximately forty
00:04:04
Speaker 3: per week.
00:04:04
Speaker 2: So cool.
00:04:06
Speaker 4: Well, next up, Brian, we need to define a meteoroid.
00:04:10
Speaker 3: Okay, I've got this one. Sometimes one asteroid in space
00:04:13
Speaker 3: crashes into another asteroid. This can cause small chunks to
00:04:18
Speaker 3: break off, and these new smaller pieces are called you
00:04:22
Speaker 3: guessed it, meteoroids. But to get back to Kora's original question,
00:04:27
Speaker 3: what is a meteor Well, if.
00:04:29
Speaker 4: A meteoroid actually enters into Earth's atmosphere, it will vaporize
00:04:34
Speaker 4: or turn from a solid or liquid substance into a gas,
00:04:38
Speaker 4: at which point it turns into a streak of light
00:04:40
Speaker 4: in the sky, or what we call a meteor You've
00:04:45
Speaker 4: probably seen one, but may know it by another name.
00:04:48
Speaker 4: These streaks of light have come to be known as
00:04:50
Speaker 4: shooting stars, but now we know that they're not actually stars,
00:04:55
Speaker 4: but meteors.
00:04:57
Speaker 2: That's right.
00:04:58
Speaker 1: As they listen, the two dogs tried desperately to stay awake,
00:05:04
Speaker 1: but the soft purr of the engine and the rocking
00:05:07
Speaker 1: of the little car traversing gentle hills had their eyes
00:05:12
Speaker 1: blinking closed. Hector and Sonny drifted off and started to
00:05:18
Speaker 1: snare next thing they knew. The dogs were dreaming. Hector
00:05:25
Speaker 1: found himself in a rumbling rocket launching into space. He
00:05:30
Speaker 1: looked to the left through his round space helmet and
00:05:34
Speaker 1: saw Sonny strapped into the seat next to him.
00:05:38
Speaker 2: Hi, Hector, she said, it looks.
00:05:41
Speaker 1: Like we're going on our own dreamy space adventure.
00:05:46
Speaker 2: Hold on, we're about to blast off.
00:05:50
Speaker 1: Hector, being no stranger to adventure, wasn't surprised in the
00:05:55
Speaker 1: slightest The two dogs grinned at each other and took
00:05:59
Speaker 1: one another's pause. Is the rocket launched into space? The
00:06:04
Speaker 1: two new astronauts let out excited wheeze as the rocket
00:06:10
Speaker 1: began to soar up up into the air and out
00:06:15
Speaker 1: of the atmosphere into space. Look Sonney, Hector said, looking
00:06:22
Speaker 1: down at the Earth as it became smaller and smaller
00:06:25
Speaker 1: in the window, it looks like a shiny marble. The
00:06:31
Speaker 1: Earth looked beautiful from up there, with swathes of blue sea,
00:06:37
Speaker 1: green patches of forest, and white, twirling tendrils of cloud
00:06:42
Speaker 1: decorating its round surface. I don't think our owners can
00:06:48
Speaker 1: seal us all the way up here, Hector said, but
00:06:53
Speaker 1: I think it would be right to wave anyway.
00:06:58
Speaker 2: The two dogs wag enthusiastically.
00:07:02
Speaker 1: Barking friendly helloes at.
00:07:03
Speaker 2: Their owners all the way down on Earth.
00:07:08
Speaker 1: Look at that little country shaped like a boot, Sonny said,
00:07:13
Speaker 1: that's Italy. And look at that big country down there,
00:07:18
Speaker 1: that's Australia. When it's day in England, in Australia, it's night,
00:07:25
Speaker 1: Isn't that amazing.
00:07:28
Speaker 2: Hector nodded, you are clever, Sonny. He said.
00:07:34
Speaker 1: The rumbling of takeoff had ended now and the rocket
00:07:38
Speaker 1: was making a smooth path through the twinkling stars. It
00:07:42
Speaker 1: seemed like it was the perfect time to explore the rocket.
00:07:47
Speaker 1: Hector and Sonny released their seat belts with a click
00:07:51
Speaker 1: and gave startled snorts of laughter as they began to
00:07:54
Speaker 1: float upwards out of their seats. Hector's ears were floating
00:08:00
Speaker 1: above his head, and Sonny's were flapping as if she
00:08:03
Speaker 1: was flying. The dogs floated from one side of the
00:08:08
Speaker 1: cockpit to the other, bouncing off walls and doing somersaults
00:08:12
Speaker 1: in the air, holding paws and floating around in a circle.
00:08:18
Speaker 1: They were having so much fun they barely noticed when
00:08:22
Speaker 1: two dogs took their own big floating steps threw into
00:08:27
Speaker 1: the cockpit to join them. The two new dogs were
00:08:31
Speaker 1: giggling at the scene. Noticing them, Hector and Sonny barked
00:08:35
Speaker 1: happy hellos and floated over in their direction. Hi Hector, Hi, Sonny.
00:08:43
Speaker 1: One of the dogs was a smart looking sausage dog
00:08:47
Speaker 1: with excited brown eyes shining through his space helmet. He
00:08:52
Speaker 1: introduced himself as Brian. The other was a curly haired
00:08:57
Speaker 1: labradoodal with golden fur, who produced herself as Meredith.
00:09:03
Speaker 2: Like on the podcast.
00:09:05
Speaker 1: Sonny said, are you two space experts? Brian and Meredith
00:09:12
Speaker 1: said yes, yes they were, and told Hector and Sonny
00:09:16
Speaker 1: they were going to take them on a space tour.
00:09:20
Speaker 1: Hector grinned and Sonny wagged her tails so hard she
00:09:24
Speaker 1: floated around in a circle. Come on through to the
00:09:28
Speaker 1: observation deck, Brian said, we're about to catch our first
00:09:34
Speaker 1: glimpse of the Solar System. The four pups floated through
00:09:40
Speaker 1: the observation deck, where a huge window looked out into space.
00:09:46
Speaker 1: The inky black of space was studded with thousands of
00:09:50
Speaker 1: twinkling stars, which the dog started to count, quickly losing
00:09:55
Speaker 1: track and getting muddled. Brian chuckled, it would take you
00:10:01
Speaker 1: a long time to count the stars.
00:10:04
Speaker 2: He said.
00:10:05
Speaker 1: Current estimates count between a hundred billion and four hundred
00:10:10
Speaker 1: billion stars in the milky Way. Hector's mouth hung open.
00:10:17
Speaker 1: I never counted to a billion before, he said. Meredith
00:10:23
Speaker 1: told them that they were going to explore the Solar System.
00:10:28
Speaker 1: The Solar system, where solar is another name for Sun,
00:10:32
Speaker 1: is made up of the Sun and everything that orbits
00:10:36
Speaker 1: the Sun. This includes planets and their moons, asteroids, comets,
00:10:43
Speaker 1: and other small objects. Brian said that the planets in
00:10:48
Speaker 1: our Solar System are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
00:11:00
Speaker 1: and Neptune. Interestingly, some may remember Pluto as well, though
00:11:06
Speaker 1: it has since been reclassified as a dwarf planet. Well
00:11:12
Speaker 1: we know Earth already, Sonny said, and we've actually visited Mars.
00:11:19
Speaker 2: In the future, a whole colony of space.
00:11:22
Speaker 1: Dogs lives there. Brian seemed surprised. Well, I don't know
00:11:29
Speaker 1: about the future, Brian said, but right now, no one
00:11:34
Speaker 1: lives there. Mars is currently uninhabitable, meaning no one can
00:11:40
Speaker 1: live there because it is hundreds of degrees colder than
00:11:43
Speaker 1: Earth and lacks enough oxygen for us to breathe. But
00:11:49
Speaker 1: that hasn't stopped us from sending all kinds of robotic
00:11:53
Speaker 1: vehicles called rovers to Mars to study the planet's surface,
00:11:58
Speaker 1: its atmosphere, and to look for signs of water. I
00:12:04
Speaker 1: don't know anything about Jupiter, Hector said, Can we go visited?
00:12:11
Speaker 1: Brian said yes and let them down to the control room.
00:12:15
Speaker 1: Meredith set the cordiners, Brian fired up the thrusters, and
00:12:21
Speaker 1: off they went. Jupiter is the fifth planet from the
00:12:26
Speaker 1: Sun and the largest planet in the Solar System, said Meredith.
00:12:32
Speaker 1: Jupiter is more than twice as massive as all the
00:12:36
Speaker 1: other planets combined, and it's called a gas giant with
00:12:42
Speaker 1: eighty confirmed moons. Jupiter is known for its famous Great
00:12:49
Speaker 1: Red Spot, a giant storm more than ten thousand miles
00:12:55
Speaker 1: wide that has lasted for at least three hundred and
00:13:01
Speaker 1: forty two years. And here we are Saturn, said Brian.
00:13:10
Speaker 1: Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the
00:13:15
Speaker 1: second largest in the Solar System. It is mostly known
00:13:20
Speaker 1: for being encircled with its seven iconic rings, but there
00:13:25
Speaker 1: are many other fascinating facts about Saturn. Scientists have counted
00:13:32
Speaker 1: one hundred and forty five moons that orbit Saturn, and
00:13:37
Speaker 1: Saturn is one of the five planets visible from Earth
00:13:41
Speaker 1: with just.
00:13:42
Speaker 2: The naked eye.
00:13:44
Speaker 1: Pretty cool, right, Another another shouts hector, How about Uranus?
00:13:54
Speaker 1: How can we say no, Brian exclaimed. Once again, the
00:14:00
Speaker 1: thrusters fire as they all fly through space. Here we
00:14:07
Speaker 1: are at Uranus, an ice giant planet nearly four times
00:14:13
Speaker 1: larger than the planet Earth, said Meredith. It was also
00:14:20
Speaker 1: the first planet discovered using a telescope back in the
00:14:24
Speaker 1: year seventeen eighty one. Uranus has twenty seven known moons,
00:14:31
Speaker 1: all named after literary characters from the works of William
00:14:36
Speaker 1: Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. Neptune is the last of the
00:14:42
Speaker 1: planets in our solar system, and it's very.
00:14:46
Speaker 2: Cold and dark.
00:14:49
Speaker 1: It's more than thirty times as far from the Sun
00:14:52
Speaker 1: as Earth, and Neptune has such a long journey around
00:14:56
Speaker 1: the Sun that it takes one hundred and six sixty
00:15:00
Speaker 1: five Earth years to go around it just once. Like Saturn,
00:15:08
Speaker 1: Neptune is encircled by six rings, but they are unfortunately
00:15:14
Speaker 1: hardly visible with our current technology. Hum what is outside
00:15:21
Speaker 1: of our solar system? Sonny asked, Well, that's a wonderful question.
00:15:29
Speaker 1: Meredith replied. Our solar system is one of many in
00:15:34
Speaker 1: a larger galaxy composed of gas, dust, billions of stars
00:15:40
Speaker 1: and their solar systems. And there are many other galaxies
00:15:46
Speaker 1: besides our own, so many, in fact, that we can
00:15:50
Speaker 1: even count them all. Some astronomers think there could be
00:15:55
Speaker 1: as many as two hundred billion galaxies in the universe.
00:16:00
Speaker 1: Brian and Meredith pushed some buttons, and the stars out
00:16:05
Speaker 1: the window turned to smudgy blur as the rocket surged
00:16:10
Speaker 1: through space, traveling out of the galaxy and far, far away,
00:16:17
Speaker 1: there's the milky way back there, Brian said, can you.
00:16:22
Speaker 2: See why it's called that?
00:16:24
Speaker 1: The galaxy from all that way away was a swirly
00:16:29
Speaker 1: twirl of distant light, a soft, milky tangle of glowing stars.
00:16:37
Speaker 2: Hector licked his chops.
00:16:40
Speaker 1: It does look milky, Sonny said, like melted vanilla ice cream.
00:16:47
Speaker 2: She smiled.
00:16:48
Speaker 1: I like vanilla ice cream, but I prefer gravy flavor.
00:16:54
Speaker 1: I wonder if there's a gravy way out there somewhere.
00:16:59
Speaker 1: The four dogs gazed out at the stars for a moment,
00:17:04
Speaker 1: dreaming of a far off galaxy made of gravy. Then
00:17:10
Speaker 1: Brian shook his head and snapped out of the fantasy.
00:17:14
Speaker 1: He nudged the others and said they better head back
00:17:16
Speaker 1: to Earth. The two dogs would have to stop dreaming.
00:17:21
Speaker 1: Soon they were nearly at the observatory.
00:17:25
Speaker 2: The four dogs.
00:17:27
Speaker 1: Floated and boined their way back into the cockpit and
00:17:31
Speaker 1: took their seats buckle in. Meredith said, we're going turbo speed.
00:17:40
Speaker 1: They buckled in, and Hector and Sonny looked through their
00:17:44
Speaker 1: space helmets out the window into space. Once more. The
00:17:50
Speaker 1: rockets sped up until the stars became a milky blur.
00:17:55
Speaker 1: Once back inside the galaxy, they slowed a little so
00:18:00
Speaker 1: the dogs could see the planets and stars one last time.
00:18:06
Speaker 1: They floated past a nebula, lighting up space in swells
00:18:11
Speaker 1: of pinks, purples, and glowing blue. They sped past a
00:18:16
Speaker 1: comet on its journey through space, pulling behind it a
00:18:20
Speaker 1: tail of orange light. They flew by meteors and planets
00:18:26
Speaker 1: and stars, millions and trillions of stars.
00:18:33
Speaker 2: The rocket passed.
00:18:34
Speaker 1: Into the Earth's atmosphere.
00:18:36
Speaker 2: And the tiny marble of the.
00:18:38
Speaker 1: Earth grew bigger and bigger, until all they could see
00:18:42
Speaker 1: beneath them was a patch of green. They descended further
00:18:48
Speaker 1: and further until they could see a little car trundling
00:18:52
Speaker 1: down a stone path, heading towards the huge dome of
00:18:57
Speaker 1: an observatory. There we are, Hector said, goodbye, Brian, good
00:19:05
Speaker 1: bye Meredith. Thank you for our dreamy space tour. Sonny
00:19:11
Speaker 1: added Brian and Meredith waved them good bye, and the
00:19:16
Speaker 1: dogs headed out of dream world and back into the
00:19:19
Speaker 1: back seat of Sonny's owner's little blue car. As Hector
00:19:25
Speaker 1: and Sonny began to wake up, the podcast that had
00:19:29
Speaker 1: been playing over the speakers came to an end.
00:19:33
Speaker 4: That's it on this week's Reach. We are your hosts, Meredith.
00:19:38
Speaker 3: Stepien and Brian Holden. This and every episode of Reach,
00:19:43
Speaker 3: a Space podcast for kids, is available wherever you get
00:19:46
Speaker 3: your podcasts.
00:19:51
Speaker 1: Sonny's owner turned down the volume. Hey, sleepy heads, she said,
00:19:58
Speaker 1: you slept through the entire show. Well, I learned a
00:20:03
Speaker 1: lot about space. It's a shame you missed it. I
00:20:07
Speaker 1: guess I'll teach you a thing or two at the observatory.
00:20:12
Speaker 1: Sonny and Hector gave a secret chuckle. They had learned
00:20:17
Speaker 1: as much as she had, but they'd let her teach
00:20:21
Speaker 1: them it again. You can never know enough about space,
00:20:25
Speaker 1: after all. The two dogs and their human got out
00:20:30
Speaker 1: of the car and headed into the darkness of the observatory,
00:20:35
Speaker 1: ready to look up at the sky and stars that
00:20:39
Speaker 1: were all too familiar to the dogs and more interesting
00:20:44
Speaker 1: than they had ever before realized.