After a month of delays, the space shuttle is on its way to the International Space Station. First there were technical problems, then weather delays, including lightning strikes on the launch pad. The shuttle is delivering a module for the station.
Ever wondered what a volcano erupting would look like if you could fly over the top of it? This short video was taken from the International Space Station as it passed over the Sarychev Volcano on an island that is part of Russia:
It’s cloudy all around the volcano, but the gas was so hot that it cleared a hole. That is how astronauts aboard the space station were able to get a clear view.
This video starts with Pluto, a dwarf planet, and then moves up in size order. Can you see why everything in the solar system orbits the Sun and not Earth or another planet?
Also, look at the size of the Sun compared to other stars. What would happen if our planet orbited a bigger star? We are going to be talking more about stars and why bigger is NOT better!
This first video is called Origins of the Moon. Don’t worry about the big words and the advanced math – this is just showing the same idea as the video from the Museum of Natural History. When Earth was first born, it had no Moon. Then, another planet too close by hit the Earth. The Moon was formed from that explosion. There was nothing living on Earth at the time. We’ve also talked a lot in class about how this could not happen again today because there are no planets that come very close to us.
Why does the Moon look like it changes? This shows some nice footage of the Earth, Moon and Sun together. It makes it easy to see how the Sun’s light makes one side of the Moon look bright. But, sometimes the bright side is facing away from us or only facing towards us a little bit. So, the Moon sometimes looks dark or has a crescent shape.
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