Astronomy questions from kids, Part 4

By Stars & Astronomy On July 29th, 2010

My friend Tina is a teacher in Austin. She asked her sixth grade students to send me questions they had about astronomy, and I answer them on camera. There were so many I had to split this into *5* parts! This is Part 4, and these are the questions they asked me: 1) Is there another planet past Pluto or inside Mercury’s orbit? 2) Why can’t we live without the Sun? 3) How do stars form? 4) Have the constellations changed? 5) Why is space black? Why doesn’t the Sun light it up? 6) Do galaxies move around in space and do they collide? 7) What is the biggest galaxy?

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25 Responses to “Astronomy questions from kids, Part 4”

  1. shitsons, on July 29th, 2010 at 10:46 pm Said:

    lol i was just guna write that, nice comment

  2. UneX100, on July 29th, 2010 at 11:06 pm Said:

    Better explanation in the question why space is black , because space is empty and light is invisible , and we can see planets because they reflect light of the sun

  3. didjabringadidjalong, on July 29th, 2010 at 11:28 pm Said:

    no prob.
    you can track and follow all kinds of instruments at nasa’s website, check it out

  4. candlehawk, on July 29th, 2010 at 11:36 pm Said:

    Thanks!

  5. didjabringadidjalong, on July 30th, 2010 at 12:16 am Said:

    13.23 AU from earth
    almost halfway

  6. candlehawk, on July 30th, 2010 at 12:20 am Said:

    Anyone know how far out New Horizons is currently out?

  7. kerametgeo, on July 30th, 2010 at 12:49 am Said:

    disormative,

  8. Smurfhat, on July 30th, 2010 at 1:07 am Said:

    Yeah, really. I wish I had this guy teaching me when I was growing up.

  9. daymyth, on July 30th, 2010 at 1:10 am Said:

    That is what I meant. technology in the future. I don’t mean as of this moment. Well in 5 billion years if humanity is still around this is a question that will need to have been answered.

    Maybe we could build an ark ; )

  10. IrishEyesAreHungOver, on July 30th, 2010 at 1:30 am Said:

    I loved stuff like this when I was young, and it was partly due to instructors much like this guy. Great job.

  11. Biarry, on July 30th, 2010 at 1:54 am Said:

    Strange, a couple hours has passed since I saw the last rays of the Sun, but still no snow outside…

    If the Sun disappeared I think we could hold on at least a couple of days before we freeze to death :)

  12. AlderDragon, on July 30th, 2010 at 2:38 am Said:

    perhaps that technology would be available in the future, but we certainly could not do that now. If the sun instantly disappeared, we would fall out of orbit and probably be mauled by asteroids, along with freezing over within about eight minutes; the time it takes for light to travel from the sun to the earth.

  13. mikekoz68, on July 30th, 2010 at 2:47 am Said:

    live without the sun?? absolutely impossible!! You don’t see why no?!? How about hye temp. would drop to near absolut zero for starters!! Wow that’s too dumb to address

  14. daymyth, on July 30th, 2010 at 3:05 am Said:

    We can live without the sun… I don’t know if we have all the technology yet but I don’t see why not.

    We just need an energy source to power all our technology.

  15. iainhecker, on July 30th, 2010 at 3:22 am Said:

    hopefully better than ur-anus ;)

  16. Whisprune, on July 30th, 2010 at 3:44 am Said:

    I want to know what Jupiter smells like.

  17. Ovidius777, on July 30th, 2010 at 3:56 am Said:

    Yes, but that is not the case of those two

  18. albedoshader, on July 30th, 2010 at 4:33 am Said:

    He also says that at the end of their lives stars get much bigger.

  19. Ovidius777, on July 30th, 2010 at 4:46 am Said:

    Hmmm….maybe

  20. albedoshader, on July 30th, 2010 at 4:55 am Said:

    I think he’s talking about “ordinary” star sizes.

  21. peterponet, on July 30th, 2010 at 5:27 am Said:

    kids with big brains or what?

  22. BasketballDX, on July 30th, 2010 at 5:37 am Said:

    LOL 3:01

  23. grizzlybear3000, on July 30th, 2010 at 5:42 am Said:

    another part to the why cant we live without the sun is the if the sun just disapeard there would be nothing holding us in orbit and we would fust be flung into space

  24. Bouncert, on July 30th, 2010 at 6:20 am Said:

    Why is space black?…the kid who asked this question is a genius

  25. Ovidius777, on July 30th, 2010 at 6:49 am Said:

    “The biggest stars have about a hundred times the mass of the Sun”
    Ok, that is true
    “They can have 5 or 10 or 15 times the size of the Sun”
    Where does that leave W Cephei A(1,6001,900 solar radii) and VY Canis Majoris(1800 to 2100 solar radii)?

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