solar system

NASA's doing some crazy things this month. First, it launched its first spacecraft in three years since the space shuttle. Now, the U.S. space agency has awakened its New Horizons spacecraft for an encounter with Pluto -- which is still a planet to me.

I'm gonna be straight up here -- I don't know much about astronomy. I know what the moon is. I can find the Big Dipper. And that's about the extent of my knowledge of all things celestial. This little kid, however, is an astronomy expert. Not only did he teach ME a thing or two, he also taught Ellen a lot as well. Including how to properly pronounce "Uranus".

In the next week, a rare occurrence will happen in the night sky.  The planets of Jupiter, Venus and Mercury will be low in the sky and tightly grouped, meaning you'll be able to see all of them with the naked-eye. This won't happen again for at least another 12 years.