By: Jenna Ting, Olivia Sulik, Kilian von Merkatz, Logan Reynolds. Earth, moon, and sun By: Jenna Ting, Olivia Sulik, Kilian von Merkatz, Logan Reynolds.

How are stars born? Stars start out as giant clouds of dust called nebulas. Gravity pulls the dust together. As more and more dust comes together, gravity gets stronger so it starts to get hot and burning. Soon it will become hot and burning and turn into a photostar. Once the middle gets hot enough, nuclear fusion will start, and a young star is born.

What is a nebula? A nebula is a cloud of gas and dust in space. Nebulas appear in many different shapes and colors. Sometimes nebulas might block out the stars behind it. When that happens a nebula can look like a dark cloud. Sometimes nebulas are bright colors like blue, red, and it can glow. The word “nebula” means cloud in latin. Nebulas are also mostly made up of hydrogen and helium.

What is the “Black hole” in space? A black hole is born by an exploded star. Black holes are pockets of space with a gravitational pull so strong nothing can get out. A black hole is also invisible, and anything that gets pulled into it is never seen again. It can pull dust, stars, planets, and gas toward it. Scientists have found black holes in the middle of many galaxies. They have found one in our galaxy too! It is called Sagittarius. It has the mass of 4 million suns. It is 24,000 light years away from earth, so it is too far away to be dangerous.

What is a solar storm? Solar storms occur when the sun lets off huge bursts of energy in the form of solar flares and coronal mass ejections. These send a stream of electrical charges and magnetic fields towards earth at about 3 million miles an hour. When a solar storm hits earth, it usually shows a beautiful, dazzling northern lights display in parts of the atmosphere, that can be seen, in the places that are close to the arctic circle. Solar storms can also disrupt satellites and other forms of electrical communications we have.

What is Proxima B? Proxima B is another planet that is only 30% larger than earth. It is the closest star to our solar system, and it is an orbiting planet. It orbits around another planet called proxima centauri. Proxima B is warm enough to have liquid water. It is about 4.24 light years away from earth.

How do scientists figure out the information about the universe, without going to all the places? Scientists use different tools to find out different information about the universe. One tool they’ve had for a long time and still have now is a telescope. Using lenses and mirrors, telescopes showed scientists more stuff beyond the earth and into the universe. Now days, they don’t really use telescopes anymore, because they have more advanced technology. In 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was sent into space. In the past few years it has sent images to us of the universe that we couldn’t have taken by our selves. Now scientists are sending unmanned machines to other planets. One of them is the NASA Cassini Probe. Another type of machine is a rover. It has helped many scientists figure out more information about the solar system. Scientists sent the Kepler telescope into outer space in 2009, and that machine taught scientists a lot too.

How do rings form around some planets and not others? Rings form when asteroids, comets, or meteoroids or any other large rock passes too closely to a planet. It is torn up because of the planet’s gravity. There is a place around the planet called the Roche Limit. This is the place where gravity will tear up the object that is coming and prevent small particles from joining back together, and soon making a larger object. Eventually, rings are just a lot of tiny moonlets.

What would earth be like without the moon? Without the moon, nights would be dark, because the sun can’t reflect its rays off the moon. The ocean tides would become calmer, but the surfers can still surf because the sun still has an effect on the tides. It is called a solar tide. But even though the sun has an impact on the tides, the tides will still become serene. When life just came to earth, the moon’s gravitational pull helped create tidal pools too. So life without the moon would have an impact on our lives.

How does a satellite work? What do different satellites do? Satellites connect with places on earth called earth stations. They send and receive signals. These stations are located in different places around the world. The signals that travel from earth stations to satellites are called uplinks. The signals that go from the satellites to earth stations are called downlinks. Astronomy satellites - Hubble space telescope Atmospheric studies satellites - Polar

Which experiments worked and wich didn’t in the space station? One of them is taking pictures of earth from space to gather information on storms so they are ready to prepare. ~ Another one is to see how humans behave in isolation and confinement. ~leaving materials outside to see how to improve space shuttles. ~The most important experiment is the “one year mission” astronaut Scott Kelly and Mikhail kornienko. It is to see how it affects a human if they were in space for a year .

What experiments worked and which didn’t in the space station? ~One of them is taking pictures of earth from space to gather information on storms so they are ready to prepare. ~ Another one is to see how humans behave in isolation and confinement. ~leaving materials outside to see how to improve space shuttles. ~The most important experiment is the “one year mission” astronaut Scott Kelly and Mikhail kornienko. It is to see how it affects a human if they were in space for a year .

If earth’s atmosphere or ozone layer were to become depleted, what would happen? How dangerous could earth be? If earth didn’t have it’s atmosphere, we wouldn’t be alive, and everything that needs oxygen or depends on the atmosphere wouldn’t be alive either. Another thing is, there would be no water. Because, the extreme heat from the sun, would evaporate all the water. The moon has no atmosphere, so if we didn’t have an atmosphere, our lives would be like lives on the moon. The days would be 253 degrees Fahrenheit in sunlight, and at night -243 degrees Fahrenheit in the shadow. One last thing is, when a meteoroid or asteroid hits earth, nothing can stop it.

How does earth’s atmosphere layers burn meteoroids and asteroids? Meteoroids and asteroids don’t use energy in space. But when they hit earth’s atmosphere, the air compresses. Soon the meteoroids and asteroids get hot. Then the temperature starts to rise, and the meteoroids or asteroids start to glow.

What do scientists experiment with in the space station? These are some experiments that worked ~ headless flatworms ~space mice ~zucchini