Fascinating Shooting Stars

I have always loved shooting stars. I remember when I went to girls camp one year and I
was with a group of friends just laying down and looking at the stars and counting how many
shooting stars I could spot in an hour. It was so peaceful and made me feel relaxed.
This history and science of shooting stars is simple. Shooting stars are not caused by
stars, as most people would think. They are streaks of light you see in the sky caused by tiny bits
of dust and rock called meteoroids falling into the Earths atmosphere and burning up. So
basically, its a meteorite, or a meteor. The difference between a meteor and a meteorite is when
a meteorite survives burning up and hits the earth while the meteor doesnt. I know you must be
thinking what I am thinking. Why do they call them shooting stars if they arent stars? A
shooting star, or meteorite shoots across the sky and with its small size and intense brightness, it
makes you believe it is a star. A whole bunch of so-called stars become a meteor shower
across the night sky.
So then you ask What is meteor shower? A meteor shower is a spike in the number of
meteors or "shooting stars" that streak through the night sky. Meteor showers are mostly
spawned by comets. As a comet orbits the Sun it sheds an icy, dusty debris stream along its orbit.
We will see a meteor shower if Earth travels through this stream. Although the meteors can
appear anywhere in the sky, if you trace their paths, the meteors in each shower appear to "rain"
into the sky from the same region.
Why do we wish upon a shooting star? Legend has it that wishing upon a shooting star
makes the wish come true. It is believed to have originated in Europe, when Greek astronomer
Ptolemy, around AD 127-151, wrote that the Gods occassionally, peer down at the earth from
between the spheres, and stars sometimes slip out of this gap, becoming visible. Since the Gods
are looking at us, they are more receptive to any wishes we make.
Another legend from Native Americans mentioned that in the land of Kluskap many
years ago there lived two sisters who loved to watch the stars. One day when they were walking
in the forest they became lost and in the evening they watched the stars as always. In two bright
stars, one sister saw an Eagle and the other sister saw a hawk. These birds carried them up into
heaven. They were very lonesome, for they were away from their own people and they prayed to
Kluskap to have them returned to their homes. He said, "If I do this, you must not look back once
we start on our journey". But the younger sister could not resist looking back to see if her older
sister were following. As she did, she was immediately turned to flame. You can see her today.
Look for a shooting star, it is the younger sister still trying to come back to her people in the old
land of Kluskap.
I challenge all of you to look at the night sky and get lost in finding your wishes
to come truefor who knows if the Gods are really watching you or not? If not, then you
definitely have something to enjoy!








An Introduction to Black Holes

I have always had an interest in black holes. I first heard about them in my
Physics class when I was a Junior in High School. They were so interesting and scared me to
death that most of my questions and thoughts were based off black holes for quite some time, at
least a year or so until I stopped worrying about them. The mystery of black holes can be intense
if you think about them too much!
Black holes are regions of space so incredibly dense that nothing, not even light, can
escape from them. They are quantum remains of the star from which it formed. The core is what
keeps anything from escaping. Once youre in the core of a black hole, then you will never
return. And there is no knowing what information you can get if you go in. Every black hole
conceals a secret.
Here are a few facts about black holes. There is no limit to how small or how large a
black hole can be. The size and mass of a black hole are directly related. The more massive a
black hole is, the more space it takes up. In fact, the Schwarzschild radius ( the radius of the
event horizon of a black hole) and the mass are directly proportional to one another. Therefore, if
one black hole weighs ten times as much as another, its radius is ten times as large.
Another fact is that the nearest black hole is 1,600 light years away. That is about 16
quadrillion kilometers for Earth. Black holes can also eventually evaporate. Well, most of them.
Massive black holes cant Heres how it works: they emit radiation. The energy that produces
the radiation comes from the mass of the black hole. As the radiation is emitted, the black hole
loses mass. The black hole emits more radiation the smaller it gets. In effect, a black hole
evaporates more quickly as it shrinks. Black holes are so interesting. I challenge you not to think
about them too much like I did. It can get pretty scary if you do.
What is the Sun?

I have been thinking about the Sun lately. Many of you have probably been told
not to look directly at the Sun. Well, theyre right. Not only is the sun a massive giant figure, but
the sun is an amazing star, thats right.a star. I didnt know that until I took my Astronomy
class. I have been thinking about why the sun is so bright and what it is compared to other stars
and planets.
The sun is mostly made of hydrogen and helium, and another 2% different particles,
metal objects. It is the largest object in the solar system. It contains more than 99.8% of the total
mass of the Solar System, followed by Jupiter. The Greeks called it Helios and the Romans
called it Sol. In the core of the sun, it converts hydrogen into helium. The suns power is
produced by nuclear fusion reactions. It just happens that the Moon and the Sun appear the same
size in the sky as viewed from the Earth.
The sun is the closest star, and a member of the Milky Way galaxy. Long ago, some
people thought of the Sun as a god. They did not want the god to be angry with them. To keep
the Sun happy, they offered it gifts such as gold and food. The Sun is thought to be 4.6 billion
years old. The Sun is a medium size star known as a yellow dwarf. The Sun has several layers:
the core, the radiation zone, the convection zone, and the photosphere (which is the surface of
the Sun). It gives off many kinds of radiation other than light and heat. It also emits radio waves,
ultraviolet rays, and X-rays. The Earth's atmosphere protects us from the harmful effects of the
ultraviolet rays and the X-rays. The Sun does rotate, but because it is a large gaseous sphere, not
all parts rotate at the same speed.
What comes to my mind is that I am glad we have a huge star that can protect us,
except when we look at it. I dont want to get into religion too much, but the Sun is very
comparable to The Son, or Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is a good comparison, and makes me
think a lot about the roles and aspects portrayed by each.