Guide To The Solar Systems

Today Sam brought home a project he completed at school. It is an extensive Guide To The Solar System.  It's wonderful!!  No wonder he got an "A" on it.

First off, don't you love the illustrations?  I think they're great.  I personally could not draw a cross-section of the sun, or accurately depict all the planets.  So--I am impressed.

Some information I learned from reading Sam's book:  "The Sun is an enormous ball of gas that produces energy by fusing hydrogen into helium in the core.  This energy travels outward through the radiation zone and the convection zone."

Did you know the sun has a photosphere?  Or a Corona?  I guess I did know these things at one time, but I'd forgotten.

Love the drawing of Earth, so friendly and healthy looking.  Did you know:  "The Earth is 150 Kilometers from the sun; one astronomial unit."

Astronomial unit?

As for Venus:  "Thick atmosphere made mostly of carbon dioxide."  And:  "Droplets of sulfuric acid in atmosphere makes it look yellowish-greenish."  "No moons," and "Surface has craters, cracks, and volcanoes."

I have to say, I picture putting my sleepy boys on the school bus at 6:30 a.m., and sending them off for a long day of school---and they pay attention and learn these things?  I think it's amazing. I can't imagine staying awake all day long, let alone absorbing this information and putting the time, energy, and focus into creating a project like this. 

He sketched and talked about all the planets, then came a sheet about probes, asteroids, comets, meteroids, meteorites, and meteors.  Whew.  Then he made a timeline of important dates in space research.  Example:  "December 24, 1968:  Apollo 8, along with its crew, becomes the first mission to orbit the Moon." 

All in all, he did a great job.  And yes, this one is going in the scrapbook so we can keep it forever!