Learning about the sun is so much fun

You know you may not even notice it but the Sun is a very important part of our lives. We need it for food, heat, and light. We should be thankful for it. Without the Sun very few people would be able to live. Well, why don't we take some time to learn about it and appreciate it. Now looking at the Sun you may think that it is the biggest star but it's not. We only think it is big because it is so close to Earth. The Sun is big though. It takes up 99.8% of the Solar System with it's mass. The Sun's mass is what holds the planets in place. The Sun is made up of a mix of gases, both hydrogen and helium. It has three main parts to it; the Core, Radiation Zone and the Convention Zone. The Core is located in the middle of this fire ball. In the Core the Sun produces a lot of energy which is made by nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion occurs when there is a really high temperature. The Core of the Sun can reach up to 15 million degrees Celsius. The energy which is made in the Core slowly leans outward into space and to us. The next main part is the Radiation Zone. The Radiation Zone is the middle layer inside the Sun after the core. The Radiation Zone is a tight area to get through that it can take more than 100,000 years to get through it. Last is the Convection Zone which is the outer layer. The energy which is made from the inside slowly approaches the top and makes loops of gas. The Sun's atmosphere contains three parts including the photosphere, the chromosphere, and the corona. The photosphere is the outer layer of the atmosphere. Itgives off light because of it's thick gases. The photosphere is what you see when you look at the Sun. Second, is the chromosphere. The chromosphere is a thin layer which can only be seen during a solar eclipse. It is a reddish glow that can be seen around the rim. Last is the Corona. The Corona is the layer which is seen to be around the Sun. It stretches out for miles and miles long around the Sun. If you look closely at a picture of the Sun you can see that on the surface there are dark parts and sometimes loops of fire. The dark spots are called sunspots. The loops of fire are called prominences. The Sun so far has been up and alive for about 5 million years and scientist estimate that it will be alive for another 5 million years. So now after reading this I bet you learned a lot about the Sun that you never knew before.

Monkey Mystery

As most of us know, humans evolved from monkeys. But now there is new information coming in that a new type of monkey called the Rhesus Macque is very similar to us humans. Scientists have found this information by deciphering the monkey's DNA. The benefit of this is that if a medicine needs to be tested for diseases on humans it can first be tested on the monkeys to look for any weird reactions. Finding a closer species to humans can help cure many diseases. Also, this information can help scientists understand what makes us humans in the first place.After a great deal of researching, the Macque monkey and the chimpanzees are the closest relatives to humans. Long ago, Macque's were found to be part of the Ape family which explains why the D.N.A. may match. Best of all, we can use these monkeys to find cures for cancer and AIDS. Many scientists are working on this to crack the code on this monkey mystery. So far they think that there was a huge mutation that happened to the monkeys which made humans. Although, the scientists have a great deal to figure out, they speculate that a huge mutation caused monkeys to evolve into humans.
To read more about this mystery you can visit the following website:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/04/12/monkey.genes.ap/index.html

Are their aliens on Mars?

Many people question if there are aliens in space. Well, some scientists believe there are aliens on the planet Mars and are trying to prove their hypothesis. They have tried to send signals into space but there has been no reply. Then they decided to try a different method. A group of scientists went out to one of the hottest deserts in Chile called the Atacama Desert and tried to imagine how natural life would be able to survive in the heat. They tried testing it by placing a rover in the desert to learn how different objects can withstand the heat. They did this test to learn about hot areas and how there could be life in such a dry area. The rover, Zoe, was a test to learn about these conditions. The robot carries a bunch of solar cells on its back and its job is to collect energy from the sun. Robot Zoe just scans the land and sends data back to the researchers. Zoe has three different cameras that are located on it and they take pictures to send very detailed information back to the researchers. Each of the pictures tells what kind of land and minerals that the robot is roving on. The group of researchers believe that there is more to the desert than just the dirt, sky, and sun. They want to prove that there is a sign of life. If there was water on this desert, there would be a definite sign of life. Right now, however, the rover is still doing its job.

For more information and detailed pictures you can go to the following website.

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20040922/Feature1.asp