Bart King - Little Leonardos MakerLab: Space

The science that deals with faraway things in the sky is called astronomy. You can become an astronomer in one easystep.

Want to try it? Just go outside and look up.

Now youre an astronomer. Good job!

Astronomy has to do with outer space.And one great thing about outer space is that there is always more of it to see. Thats because outer space is huge! Its so huge, our minds have a hard timepicturing the whole thing. But doing the activities in this book should help youimagine outer space better.

When using this book, remember:

• Read through an activity before beginning.
• Gather the supplies youll need.
• If the activity doesnt work perfectly the first time, tryagain.
• Have fun.

To warm up your imagination, picture the Earth. Think of all theanimals and people who live here. Think of how long it would take you to walk toanother city. So Earth seems pretty big, right?

But a million Earths could fit inside ourSun.

Now thats big.

The Sun is also a star, like the onesyou see in the sky. And its not even very big compared to most of those stars. TheSun is in a category called yellow dwarf stars.

But big or small, the Sun is the center of our solar system. Itswarmth and light keep everything on Earth alive.

Caution: You should never look directly at the Sun. (It can cook your eyeballs!)

• Crayons or markers

See the picture below? Imagine thats the Sun. But is it the rightcolor? If not, just color it in the way it should be.

Waitare you reaching for a yellow crayon?If you look at the Sun from outer space (or anywhere but Earth) its white. The reason the Sun looks yellow to us is because ofEarths air. (This air is called our atmosphere.)

But you know what? Go ahead and color it yellow. Or orange. Orred!

What You Need to Know:

Because of the presence or lack of an atmosphere and the distancesinvolved, the Sun looks different from other planets:

Mercury: Since this planet isvery close to the Sun, its twice as big in the sky on Mercury as it is onEarth.

Venus: You can barely see the Sunthrough this planets thick clouds. And the sky on Venus is orange.

Mars: The Sun is farther awayfrom Mars than Earth, so it looks smaller. The sky on Mars is butterscotchcolored, and sometimes pink.

Jupiter: The clouds here are toothick to even see the Sun.

Saturn: The Sun is much smallerand dimmer than what we see on Earth.

Uranus and Neptune: From thesetwo planets, the Sun looks like a very, very bright star. Its still brighterthan a full Moon seen from Earth, though.

Voyage from theSun

The Sun is huge, but it looks pretty small from Earth. If you held upa quarter to the sky, you could cover up the whole Sun. (But dont do this, becauseyou should never look at the Sun.)

In other words, the Sun looks smaller than a quarter in the sky.Thats because the Sun is 93 million miles away from us. So a distance of 93 millionmiles is called one astronomical unit, or AU.

But how big is an AU really? Lets find out.

What You Need:

• One basketball
• One pea or small marble

What You Do:

1. Go outside, like in a park or big yard.
2. Set the pea down. Thats Earth.
3. Now take 55 steps away from the pea. Walk in a straight line, andcount the steps off as you go.
4. When you get to 55, set down your basketball. Thats the Sun.

Now turn and look back at the pea. You have just made a model of twothings:

• About how big the Earth iscompared to the Sun.
• About how far the Earth is fromthe Sun. Thats one AU!

What You Need to Know:

Your model is a scale model. Thatmeans it gives us an idea of larger sizes. In reality, youd have to walk back 93million miles to get to your Sun.

What Do You Think? In your scale model,guess how far away from the Sun that Saturn would be? What about the closeststar?*

* Answers: Saturn would be about 950 feet away. And the closest starwould be in Japan! (Its called Proxima Centauri.)

Sun Spot

The Earth spins like a top. Thats what makes day and night.

What You Need:

• One globe of the Earth (or a soccer-sized ball)
• One flashlight
• A dim or dark room
• A helper

What You Do:

1. Give the globe or ball to your helper.
2. Tape a little piece of paper on the globe where you live. (Ifyoure using a ball, guess.)
3. Stand about 10 feet away. Turn on the flashlight. Thats the sun.Shine the Sun at the Earth.
4. Have your helper spin the Earth slowly around. See how your homegoes into the shadow? Thats why we have night. When it comes around to thelight again, thats morning.
5. Now trade places with your helper. Let them shine the Sun and youspin the Earth.

Orbiting Earth

The Earth travels around the Sun in a circle. This circle is called anorbit. One full orbit takes one year.

What You Need: