Dear Darwin and Rubal,
Before I read your question, I had never heard of a white hole.
So, I scampered over to my friend Vivienne Baldassare to find out more. She’s an astrophysicist at Washington State University.
She told me that, so far, white holes are just an idea. It’s what happens if you take math about black holes and work it backwards.
“White holes are really the mathematical inverse of a black hole,” Baldassare said. “But we have no reason to think they exist right now.”
A black hole is an area in space that has gobs of gravity.
We’re familiar … » More …
Read More ...Dear Maya,
I mostly keep all four paws on the ground. It’s hard to imagine living out in space.
I asked my friend Erica Crespi about it. She’s a biologist at Washington State University. She studies how animals tolerate stressors faced in the environment—including how humans can live and thrive in space.
Crespi told me that Valeri Vladimirovich Polyakov lived on the Mir Space Station for 437 days and 18 hours in the 1990s. So far, that’s the record for living in space.
Polyakov’s job was to test the effects of a long space flight—like maybe a trip to Mars. He handled … » More …
Read More ...Dear Remmi,
Mars is about 140 million miles from our cozy planet. A human mission to that cold, rocky neighbor would mean being away from Earth for about 3 years. But the things those explorers would see and learn would be mind-blowing.
I asked my friend Katie Cooper about that. She’s a scientist at Washington State University. She studies how geology and physics work on Earth and other places in space.
She told me the weirdest thing on Mars is a ginormous volcano.
“Olympus Mons is the largest volcano in the solar system,” Cooper said. “It dwarfs Earth’s volcanoes! Its massive size helps … » More …
Read More ...Dear Samai ,
Right now, the sun is shining through my window. It feels warm on my muzzle.
I talked about the sun with Guy Worthey. He’s a professor of astronomy and physics at Washington State University.
He told me that our lives depend on the sun.
“The sun keeps you warm and powers everything,” Worthey said. “Without it, Earth would be a frozen nightmare.”
Read More ...Dear Susan,
It just so happens the Great American Eclipse is coming up on Aug. 21, 2017. This solar eclipse will be the only one visible from across the lower 48 states in nearly a hundred years. When it happens, parts of the country will experience darkness for a couple minutes during the day.
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Dear Kristen,
Our sun is really one big star. And there are billions and billions of stars in our universe.
Read More ...Dear Pedro,
When I got your question, I started to imagine what it would be like to drive a rover on the moon. As we bounced along craters, we could kick up moon dust and stop to gather samples of moon rock.
Read More ...Dear Zaara,
You might say the Kuiper Belt is the frozen frontier of our solar system. Out beyond Neptune’s chilly orbit, this saucer-shaped region is home to Pluto, billions of comets, and other icy worlds.
“The Kuiper Belt is really the edge of knowledge,” said my friend and astronomy professor Guy Worthey when we met up in the Washington State University planetarium.
“Out there it’s a little dim,” Worthey said. “We are pretty far from the Sun.”
In fact, it’s about 3 billion miles away. Even at the speed of a jet airplane, it would take more than 680 years to travel from Earth … » More …
Read More ...Dear Logan,
It’s usually later in life that we see the more dramatic signs of aging, like gray hair, wrinkles, and lots of birthday candles on our cake. But we really start growing older from the time we are born.
Read More ...Dear Tri-County Second Graders,
You heard right. It is very cold in space, but it wasn’t always that way.
Read More ...Dear Lily and Heidi,
Well, we don’t know for certain. Looking up to the stars at night, I’ve often wondered if alien cats are out chasing alien mice or taking naps on other planets.
My imagination aside, your questions are like those scientists are asking, too. And it’s no wonder we are so curious.
With billions of planets in our galaxy, including small Earth-like worlds, the possibility of life out there is an exciting thought to many people. So, humans have set out to look for planets that might support life.
In fact, this month scientists announced the Kepler spacecraft’s discovery of … » More …
Read More ...Dear Heidi,
It’s a big week for Pluto as NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft gets a close-up look at the distant, icy world. But first, the answer to your question: Pluto is not a planet.
Read More ...?
Dear Ash,
We’ve learned a lot about how water supports life on the blue planet, but the first drop is a bit mysterious. Scientists have a few theories about how it happened.
Read More ...Dear Xitan,
Look up to the twinkly stars and you’ll witness starlight traveling from deep space to your eyeballs. That twinkling you see is the light taking lots and lots of detours.
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