Appleseeds articles from January 2007

Appleseeds archives from January 2007

What makes a planet a planet?
January 1, 2007... Since ancient times people have looked at the night sky and wondered about what they saw. (Read more about those ancient skywatchers on pages 18-21.) They knew that Earth and other large bodies they saw were different from stars, but just what...

The space tourist's guide to the planets: think you've seen and done it all? Think again! For world-weary travelers tired of the usual vacation spots, here's something new and different. This handy guide leads the hot new trend in fantasy vacation travel: the planets of our solar system.
January 1, 2007... Our solar system is teeming with excitement and wide with diversity. Here are some highlights that could await you if you were able to take off from the Sun, at the center of the solar system we call home... MERCURY Roman god of speed ...

Fantastic journeys: Astro Camp and beyond ...(An AppleCorps Adventure)(Viewpoint essay)
January 1, 2007... We were outside on a starry, moonless night, looking through a telescope. Lou, our Astro Camp instructor, was telling us about nebulas and star clusters. Lou said that to find the Ring Nebula, we should look near the star Vega. But after 15 or...

Discovering planet Earth.
January 1, 2007... Ancient astronomers knew about only the five planets they could see in the night sky without a telescope--Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. They didn't know about Neptune, Uranus, or Pluto. And they didn't know that Earth was a planet,...

Our a-maze-ing solar system: test your interplanetary knowledge.(Puzzle Power)
January 1, 2007... Answer each question as you come to it, then follow the path where your answer leads. Hint: Only correct answers will lead you around the Sun and out of the maze. All of the answers can be found somewhere in this issue.

Meet Courtney dressing: teen astronomer.
January 1, 2007... Courtney Dressing was just 15 years old when she joined a team of space researchers. Those scientists landed NASA's robot rover, Spirit, on the planet Mars. But this was neither Courtney's first nor her last adventure in space research. When...

Carl Sagan lived a dream.
January 1, 2007... Young Carl Sagan did not hide it very well. It sparkled in his eyes. It rode the waves of his voice. And when he was on adult, it surfaced in his research. What was it? It was curiosity. Carl had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. By the...

The sun, moon, and stars.(Reading Corner)
January 1, 2007... The First People had only four lights to illuminate the world: white light from the eastern mountains, blue light from the southern mountains, yellow light from the western peaks, and darkness from the north. These lights were dim and much too...

Suiting up for space.(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... When astronauts leave the safety of their shuttle to work outside in space, they need to wear something really special. They need a suit that provides oxygen to breathe, the right temperature and pressure, and protection from micrometeoroids....

Animal tales.(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Guess what animal went into space first? Fruit flies! They were launched into space on a rocket in 1946. No one knows whether they had a good time out there, though! The first monkey flew on a rocket in 1949. The U.S. sent a mouse into...

Gross facts.
January 1, 2007... What happens when astronauts burp? Because you are weightless in space, the contents of your stomach float. All of that stomach mush tends to stay at the top of your stomach, under your rib cage and close to the valve at the top of your...

Staggering stats.
January 1, 2007... Planning a trip to Mars is a BIG DEAL! The trip to Mars will take six months out and six months back. That means the travelers have to take a year's worth of food--plus whatever they'll eat while they are looking for Martians (just kidding!)....