Happy B'day Jessica!!!

Jessica is so sweet to do all the things she does like the film festival and to make movies with her goofy siblings!

Jessica is just the best!

Happy Birthday Jessica!!!
We love you and hope you have a very Happy 17th Birthday Jessica!!!

It is such a blessing to have Jessica in the family for 17 years!

You are just so sweet!

We love you!
Happy birthday Jessica!!!

Preparing

Preparing for Jessica's birthday!!!

Jupiter yet again!!!

Jupiter is the biggest planet and the astronomers can also see Jupiter's spot and so it kind of stands out.

Most people see Jupiter's spot and if the can't tell at first they recognize it by it's spot.
Jupiter spot is called-(are you ready?) Great Red Spot.
But actually the spot isn't a spot at all but a giant storm many times stronger than the storms we have on earth.
The storm has been going on for at least 300 years!
The Great Red Spot is twice the size of earth.

Jupiter has four moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, which I do believe I have told you about.

Since Jupiter is very far away from the sun so not much heat can reach it. But Jupiter has it's own source of heat.
In the core of Jupiter there are hot rocks that keep Jupiter warm.

Jupiter's days are very short. One day is only 10 hours. But a full year is equal to 12 earth years.
Jupiter is one big ball of gas. It is almost all atmosphere.

A little on Mars

The planet next in line is the planet Mars.
Mars is a lot like earth in that it has volcanoes, mountains and valleys.
But Mars is different from the earth because it has a thin layer of atmosphere and no oxygen.
Mars has two moons Phobos and Deimos. (Neither look much like moons.)
It takes two earth years for Mars to orbit the sun and and day on Mars is equal to 687 earth days.
Mars is always 81 degrees below zero. And the hottest it gets is 32 so my sister, Erin,(who doesn't like the cold)is glad we do not live there.
All though Mars is so cold it is closer to earth temperatures then any other planet.
Just like the earth Mars is at a tilt and so it has four different seasons:
Very Cold; A Little Warmer(32 degrees); Getting Colder and Very Cold Again. Just kidding!
But it does have four seasons.

Amazing Earth

Isn't it amazing how God made the earth?
We have atmosphere, gravity and oxygen.
If we were too close to the sun, or if we had to much atmosphere we would be like Venus or Mercury!
So you have to agree that every thing is just right!
We live on earth, so we already know a great deal about it, but here is just one thing that many people don't know much about.
The layers in the earth.
There are four - the Crust, the Mantle, the Outer Core and the Inner Core.
So that's good old earth!

(Boy we are moving through this pretty fast!)

Venus

Extremely hot!!!
Venus is one big planet of volcanoes and atmosphere that keeps all the heat in.
Venus has so much atmosphere that it just keeps getting hotter and hotter.
Did you know that a year on Venus is 225 earth days?
And a Venus day is 243 earth days?
Odd! You could have a birthday every day!

Short Post

Did you know that scientist have a hard time taking pictures of Mercury because it is so close to the sun?

Orbiting

When something just spins in a circle it's called "rotating" and when something spins around another object it's called "revolving" but when something rotates and revolves it's called "orbiting."
The earth takes 24 hours to rotate which is one earth day.
And a full circle around the sun is one year.
On Mercury it takes 59 earth days to rotate one time.
And just under 30 earth days of being hot and 30 earth days of cold dark.
All that to say that it's 88 earth days to make one Mercury year.
Well that is enough on Mercury for today.

(Sorry there aren't any pictures!)

Mercury!!!

Mercury is the next planet to the sun and so we are not able to observe it well because of the sun.
The only space craft that has ever gotten very close is the "Mariner 10."
The Mariner 10 got some information on Mercury but not much.
Mercury, during the day, gets up to 750 degrees!
So being so close to the sun it would never get cold? Not!
During the day it's unbelievably hot but at night it gets to be -300 degrees!
COLD!!!
Well the reason that Mercury doesn't have the layer of gasses called atmosphere to keep the heat in so at night it just keeps getting colder and colder and colder and colder.
Because Mercury doesn't have any atmosphere the sky is always gray.

Solar Eclipse

Alright, last day on the old sun!
So a solar eclipse happens once or twice a year when the moon goes over the sun and causes a shadow to pass over the earth. Sometimes it happens up to five times a year! Which is really cool because I thought it was when the clouds come over the sun but this is a different kind.
For a solar eclipse the moon covers the sun and makes it appear to be night! And even some animals get ready for bed.
But a Solar eclipse only happens for a minute or two.
You can also find websites that will tell you when the next solar eclipse in your area is and when it is and then you can watch it.
Although not to be "Johnny Rain Cloud" but the sun still peeks around the moon and you could hurt your eyes so maybe you should find some pictures instead and you also wouldn't have to go anywhere.

(Sorry, no pictures!)