Science Fact Finder

Earth And Sun

1. How hot is the sun? [answer]
2. When will the sun die? [answer]
3. When do solar eclipses happen? [answer]
4. What is the safest way to view a solar eclipse? [answer]
5. When will the next total solar eclipse be visible in the United States? [answer]
6. What is the distance from Earth to the sun? [answer]
7. Is it true that during the Northern Hemisphere winter, the Earth is closer to the sun than it is during the Northern Hemisphere summer? [answer]
8. What are the diameter and circumference of the moon? [answer]
9. What is the circumference of the Earth? [answer]
10. What is solar wind? [answer]
11. What are auroras and how often do they appear? [answer]

Planets And Moons

1. How old is the solar system? [answer]
2. How far are the planets from the sun? [answer]
3. What are the diameters of the planets? [answer]
4. What are the colors of the planets? [answer]
5. Which planets have rings? [answer]
6. How many moons does each planet have? [answer]
7. How long do the planets take to go around the sun? [answer]
8. Is a day the same on all planets? [answer]
9. How can an observer distinguish planets from stars? [answer]
10. Is it true that Pluto is not always the outermost planet in the solar system? [answer]
11. What is Planet X? [answer]
12. Is there life on Mars? [answer]
13. How far is the moon from the Earth? [answer]
14. What are the phases of the moon? [answer]
15. Is the moon really blue during a blue moon? [answer]
16. Why does the moon always keep the same face toward the Earth? [answer]
17. Why do Iunar eclipses happen? [answer]

Meteors, Asteroids, And Comets

1. How does a meteorite differ from a meteor? [answer]
2. When do meteor showers occur? [answer]
3. What are the largest meteorites that have been found in the world? [answer]
4. Where are asteroids found? [answer]
5. What was the Tunguska Event? [answer]
6. Where do comets originate? [answer]
7. What is Comet Hale-Bopp? [answer]
8. When will HaIley's comet return? [answer]

Stars, Galaxies, And The Universe

1. Which star is closest to Earth? [answer]
2. How are stars born and how do they die? [answer]
3. What is a black hole? [answer]
4. What does the color of a star indicate? [answer]
5. What is the Big Dipper? [answer]
6. How many constellations are there and how were they named? [answer]
7. Where is the North Star? [answer]
8. What is the Milky Way? [answer]
9. How old is the universe? [answer]
10. Which galaxy is closest to us? [answer]
11. What was the "Big Bang''? [answer]
12. What is a cosmic string? [answer]
13. What is a pulsar? [answer]
14. What are quasars? [answer]

Space Travelers And Spacecraft

1. Who was the first man in space? [answer]
2. Which astronauts have walked on the moon? [answer]
3. Who were the first man and woman to walk in space? [answer]
4. Who was the first woman in space? [answer]
5. Who was the first African American in space? [answer]
6. When was the first animal sent into orbit? [answer]
7. What are some of the accomplishments of female astronauts? [answer]
8. Who was the "father" of the Soviet space program? [answer]
9. What was the worst disaster in the U.S. space program and what caused it? [answer]
10. How many fatalities have occurred during space-related missions? [answer]
11. When was the first United States satellite launched? [answer]
12. What did NASA mean by Voyager 2 taking a "grand tour" of the planets? [answer]
13. What is the message attached to each Voyager spacecraft? [answer]
14. What is the mission of the Galileo spacecraft? [answer]

Astronomers And Skywatching

1. Who is considered the greatest ancient Greek astronomer? [answer]
2. For whom is the Hubble Space Telescope named? [answer]
3. How did a total solar eclipse confirm Einstein's theory of general relativity? [answer]
4. Who invented the telescope? [answer]
5. Who is Stephen Hawking? [answer]
6. Is anyone looking for extraterrestrial life? [answer]
7. What is a "close encounter of the third kind"? [answer]