[ ChatModerator - 5 - 19:46:29 ]
Hello Girl Scouts! Welcome to the Lawrence Hall of Science Solar Eclipse Chat Session. In this activity you will have a chance to "chat" with a scientist who studies astronomy. The way to "chat" is by typing questions on your computer and clicking on the "Refresh Screen or Submit New Message" button. Then, the scientist will read your question and answer it. Remember, there are many questions when all of you begin, so the scientist may not be able to answer all questions. However, it is good to think of good questions, so send as many as you can think of. Hopefully, your question will get answered! If you have questions or need help, please ask David Glaser to help you. David will be in your computer room and knows a lot about computers and chats. The scientist who will chat with you (by computer) is Isabel Hawkins. Welcome Isabel! Thank you! I am very glad to chat with you. My name is Isabel Hawkins. I am an astronomer, which means that I am a scientist that investigates the stars, the Sun, our planets, and the Universe in general. I know a lot about our part of the Universe, the so-called Interstellar Medium, or gas and dust between the stars. I know quite a bit about the Sun too, and I'll be able to chat with you about eclipses, solar storms, sunspots, and the effects of our active Sun on the Earth. I look forward to answering your questions, and sparking your curiosity! Ok! Lets begin! [ ChatModerator - 4 - 11:03:24 ]
RE: [IsabelScientist] Are you excited about the solar eclipse?
We are very excited about it. How hot is the surface of the Sun?

[ IsabelScientist - 7 - 11:10:28 ]
RE: [girlscout1] How does an eclipse affect human beings?
It makes human beings happy to see a unique natural event, a kind of perfectly aligned dance between the Sun and the Moon

[ NASAAmesGirlScout - 8 - 11:11:36 ]
Hi ISabel! I would like to know exactly how many solar eclipses we've had in this century. Is there a web site you can slo send me to to learn more about solar eclipses?

[ IsabelScientist - 16 - 11:14:16 ]
RE: [girlscout1] How far is the sun from the earth?
The Sun is 150,000,000 kilometers or 96,000,000 miles from the Earth. It takes 8 minutes for a light photon to travel from the sun to the earth.

[ IsabelScientist - 17 - 11:15:14 ]
RE: [girlscout1] Do you like to study the sun?
The Sun is very interesting to study because it is a constantly changing star, the nearest star to us. So we can learn about magnetic processes that cannot be observed in farther stars.

[ IsabelScientist - 19 - 11:15:59 ]
RE: [girlscout1] Is the sun bigger than Mars?
The Sun is very much bigger than Mars. Approximately 150 Mars diameters would fit across the diameter of the Sun.

[ IsabelScientist - 20 - 11:16:49 ]
RE: [girlscout1] Have you ever been to the Sun?
No. I'd fry if I went to the Sun.

[ IsabelScientist - 21 - 11:17:39 ]
RE: [girlscout1] My mom said the sun is dangerous to our skin. Is that true?
Yes, ultraviolet rays from the Sun can be harmful to our skin. Too much of it can cause skin cancer. Use sunblock or better yet, stay out of the sun in the summer months between 10 am and 3 pm, or so.

[ IsabelScientist - 23 - 11:18:41 ]
RE: [girlscout1] My name is Sally and I want to be a scientist and study astronomy. How should I do that?
Sally, don't ever lose your interest in science! astronomy is wonderful to study. You need to be a good student and take lots of math and science in grade school and high school. Take advanced placement courses! then be a physics or astronomy major in college.

[ IsabelScientist - 27 - 11:20:40 ]
RE: [girlscout1] Do I have to study chemistry to be a solar scientist?
Yes, you have to take 1 year general chemistry to study astronomy as an undergraduate (or physics). Since all chemical elements are created in stars, it is important to know chemistry to understand the composition of stars and of the Sun.

[ IsabelScientist - 28 - 11:21:19 ]
RE: [girlscout1] Where can we see a total eclipse?
You can see one on the Internet tonight!!! Or you can go to Europe (Cornwall to the Middle East) along the path of totality.

[ IsabelScientist - 29 - 11:22:01 ]
RE: [girlscout1] How dark will it get when the solar eclipes happens in Turkey. Will it be like night or evening?
It will be like night. Dark enough to see stars and planets. The only light in the sky will be the sun's corona.

[ IsabelScientist - 32 - 11:23:10 ]
RE: [girlscout1] Is there any life on the sun?
No. Too hot.

[ IsabelScientist - 35 - 11:24:36 ]
RE: [girlscout1] Why is the sun yellow?
The sun is not yellow, it is white. We think it is yellow for two reasons: - when we are little we are given white paper to draw the sun on, and we pick yellow crayon as the nearest choice to the bright light we see in the sky - at sunset or sunup, the sun appears yellow-ish, orange-ish, or red, because the atmosphere scatters the blue light and lets only the redder sun rays through.

[ IsabelScientist - 39 - 11:26:10 ]
RE: [girlscout1] Who discovered solar eclipses?
We don't know who saw them first. I imagine that the first hominids 5 million years ago saw them first, but just did not record their sighting. The Chinese probably recorded eclipses first, I have to look it up, though.

[ IsabelScientist - 41 - 11:27:33 ]
RE: [girlscout1] Is there a good web site where I can learn about how the sun works?
Yes, look at SEGway URL, look at Sun/Earth and within that the lesson "Sunspots"

[ IsabelScientist - 43 - 11:29:17 ]
RE: [girlscout1] How close could you get to the sun before you got burned?
As soon as you leave the Earth's atmosphere, if you are unprotected by a space suit, you'd "burn" due to particle radiation from the Sun and from cosmic rays.

[ IsabelScientist - 45 - 11:30:41 ]
RE: [girlscout1] Why are eclipses always visible in far away places, like Turkey and the Carribean?
They are visible in your home town too, but not often. Eclipses of the Sun are infrequent in any given part of the Earth because the shadow of the Moon is small and covers a small path along the Earth's surface. But an eclipse will come near your home town within your lifetime, most likely.

[ IsabelScientist - 46 - 11:31:39 ]
RE: [girlscout1] What would happen if the sun was turned off?
The Sun will "turn off" in about 5 billion years, and all live on Earth will end. But don't lose hope! By then we'll be expert space travelers and we will have moved to another wonderful part of our Galaxy.

[ IsabelScientist - 48 - 11:32:54 ]
RE: [girlscout1] What kind of special camera do they use to look at the sun?
One special camera that you should never use to look at the sun is your EYE!!!! Special equipment includes anywhere from a telescope with a filter and piece of white paper at the focus, to coronagraphs and extreme ultraviolet detectors.

[ IsabelScientist - 49 - 11:33:40 ]
RE: [girlscout1] What's the url for the sun-earth connection?
The URL is given in the blue hyperlink on this chat screen

[ IsabelScientist - 52 - 11:34:29 ]
RE: [girlscout1] If you had a giant magnifying glass could you burn down a house with sunlight?
Sure.

[ IsabelScientist - 53 - 11:35:31 ]
RE: [girlscout1] Does the sun have weather like the earth?
The sun has weather but not like the Earth. The 'weather' is really gas being ejected from the surface of the sun like giant loops called Flares and also massive explosions called Cornonal Mass Ejections

[ IsabelScientist - 56 - 11:36:10 ]
RE: [girlscout1] Will the temperature get colder during the ecipse?
Yes, the temperature gets a lot cooler, all of a sudden you can have a drop of 20 degrees F or so.

[ ChatModerator - 57 - 11:37:43 ]
Girl Scouts: We only have 5 minutes left, so please stop asking questions... we have 2 left to answer at this time. Thanks for all your great questions!

[ IsabelScientist - 58 - 11:38:24 ]
RE: [girlscout1] Is it harder for a girl to become a scientist?
No it is not harder because girls can do anything they want as well as anybody else.

[ IsabelScientist - 59 - 11:38:47 ]
RE: [girlscout1] How did you get interested in astronomy?
I loved the pictures!!!

[ IsabelScientist - 7 - 19:48:35 ]
RE: [Cory] What is a black hole?
Dear Cory, A black hole is a star that has collapsed under extreme gravity, so intense that not even light can escape.

[ IsabelScientist - 10 - 19:50:14 ]
Dear Bkiana, The Sun will expand into a red giant, engulfing the Earth and even Mars, in about 5 billion years, it will then turn into a white dwarf and slowly stop shining. Don't worry, in 5 billion years humans will have figured out how to move to other planets around other stars in our Galaxy!

[ IsabelScientist - 13 - 19:51:30 ]
RE: [Allie] what is the sun made of ?
Allie, The sun is made of hydrogen gas (about 75% of it), helium gas (about 24% of it) and the rest heavier elements like carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. Really hot gas!

[ IsabelScientist - 15 - 19:52:36 ]
RE: [Ejeanna] how does the sun rotate? what are galaxies made up of?
The sun rotates because it formed out of a gas cloud that was rotating to begin with, and as it collapsed into the Sun, it spun up even more. The sun rotates once every 28 days or so.

[ IsabelScientist - 16 - 19:53:42 ]
RE: [Silvia] What is the scientific value of a sun spot?
The scientific value of a sunspot is that it shows us how the sun's magnetic field lines can come out above the photosphere or visible surface of the sun.

[ IsabelScientist - 19 - 19:55:26 ]
RE: [Katie] What is the average length of a solar eclipse
Typically from a couple of minutes to a little over 7 minutes. Tonight's eclipse will last 2 minutes and 10 seconds

[ IsabelScientist - 23 - 19:56:55 ]
RE: [Caitlin] How do you know when the next eclipse is?
Look in the URL below. By understanding Newton's laws of celestial mechanics, or how the planets and the sun move due to gravity.

[ IsabelScientist - 24 - 19:57:52 ]
RE: [SarahMichelle] How hot is the sun?
At the center, millions of degrees. At the visible surface, or photosphere, 6000 degrees C, at the corona, the outermost part of the sun that you'll see tonight during the eclipse, 1-2 million degrees.

[ IsabelScientist - 26 - 19:58:31 ]
RE: [Katie] Is the weather good in Turkey so that we will be able to see the eclipse?
Turkey weather is great, just about the best in the path of totality!

[ IsabelScientist - 27 - 19:59:05 ]
RE: [Anne] HOw long will it take for the white dwarf to completely burn out?
Millions of years

[ IsabelScientist - 28 - 20:00:11 ]
RE: [Jules] Why do stars twinkle?
Stars twinkle because they are point sources of light, and as that tiny ray passes through the Earth's atmosphere, the air molecules refract it, or make it bend around.

[ IsabelScientist - 32 - 20:01:27 ]
RE: [Silvia] Photoshere? What is that?
Photosphere is the name of the visible surface of the sun, what emits the light that reaches the earth

[ IsabelScientist - 33 - 20:01:47 ]
RE: [NicoleandCarrie] How long will the solar eclipse in Turkey last?
2 minutes and 10 seconds

[ IsabelScientist - 39 - 20:03:58 ]
RE: [Jules] What is the ozone layer, and is it bad or good?
It is a layer of a special type of oxygen, which has three oxygen atoms, instead of the regular 2 atoms, which we breathe. The layer is high in the Earth's atmosphere, which protects us from the ultraviolet rays coming from the sun. It is GOOD. Ozone can get depleted by aerosols or pollution on earth so we need to protect our ozone!

[ IsabelScientist - 43 - 20:05:29 ]
RE: [Emily] does the solar eclipse have an effect on statillites
The solar eclipse does not have an effect on satellites, but the sun does!! The sun is a very active star, and high energy particles from the sun, that head toward the earth due to explosions in the cornoa (called Coronal Mass Ejections) can make communication satellites malfunction or completely stop working.

[ IsabelScientist - 44 - 20:06:05 ]
RE: [SarahMichelle] What causes sunspots?
magnetic field lines from the sun, as they stick out or protrude above the photosphere.

[ ChatModerator - 45 - 20:06:20 ]
Hey Girl Scouts. You are asking some really good questions! Thanks. We need to wrap-up soon, so our scientist Isabel Hawkins can only ask a couple more questions. - chat moderator

[ IsabelScientist - 46 - 20:06:31 ]
RE: [Katie] Is a lunar eclipse related to a solar eclipse in any way?
It involves the same three celestial bodies: the Earth the Sun and the Moon

[ IsabelScientist - 47 - 20:07:12 ]
RE: [Amanda] Is it true that every star is another size of a sun?
Stars come in different sizes. The sun is about medium sized.

[ IsabelScientist - 48 - 20:08:47 ]
RE: [Carissa] What are stars made of?
Stars are like the Sun, made of gas, really hot gas. Hydrogen, helium, and other elements like carbon, nitrogen and oxygen. Some stars have elements like iron. Others, the cooler ones, have molecules in their atmospheres, like CN.

[ IsabelScientist - 50 - 20:10:48 ]
RE: [Adeline] Why is sth esky blue?
Because the air molecules scatter the blue light from the Sun. Remember that sunlight is white light made up of all the colors of the rainbow. Air molecules are about the size of the wavelength of blue light, and scatter those photons which makes the sky blue.

[ IsabelScientist - 51 - 20:11:16 ]
Girls Scouts, I had a GREAT TIME! thanks for your wonderful questions. Isabel

[ duckiewuckie - 52 - 20:16:23 ]
thank you

[ Jules - 54 - 20:16:23 ]
Thanks for answering my questions!

[ Jacklyne - 55 - 20:16:23 ]
Thanks for taking time to answer our questions...I really appreciated it.

[ kateandsel - 56 - 20:16:23 ]
thanks

[ Catherine - 57 - 20:16:23 ]
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!