Hi Guys :D

I am helping my 9 year old with his homework :D (Or should I say I am doing it while he is out playing )

There are a couple of questions I am struggling on as my search engine keeps freezing :(

1) What is the brightest star seen from earth?

19) Why cant you see the Milky way at night from a large town?

12) One constellation is shaped liike a W, What is it called ?

Other than that I am really clever :D :p :D :D

Thanks

Ali :D

Ali,

1. Sirius

12. Cassiopeia

19. Light pollution

HTH
Joan

1) The sun

19) Because of background light from street lighting etc (Ambient light)

12) Cassiopeia (after the 3rd time of trying to get the spelling right :D )

Mel :D

Hi Ali,

Mel's right, it is the sun, but in the night sky it's Sirius. Take your pick :)
Joan

I would put both , with the rider that one of them ain't visible during the night ;)

Thanks

You clever pair :D :D

Thats what confused me, coz 1 search said Sirius and one said the sun. Next to the question it does say in Brackets (trick question) so I will put both.

Also , On one of the questions says what is the difference between a planet and a star?
What I came up with was

Aplanet is a body in space that circles around a star. A Star is a body that is capable of giving off its own light.

Is there anything else I could put, coz that sounds a bit naff!!

Hi,

Planets shine by reflecting sunlight whereas the sun and other stars shine by emitting visible radiation. The Planets in our solar system move in an orbit around the Sun whereas the Sun and all other stars are all at fixed places in the solar system.

HTH,

Fiona
x x x

Hi Fiona :)
Long time no see :) Hope you are all okay. Hows Holly and new baby Lara?

Thanks a bunch for that by the way. That sounds much more intelligent than mine :D
I am on brain meltdown now :D

Ali :)

We're all really well thanks Ali - very busy as I'm up to my neck in studying (both the kids and mine) :D Lara is now a lot bigger than Holly but I keep forgetting and finding her on the kitchen table as I've left the chairs out :D

Holly is in full season as well which is driving the neighbourhood dogs mad so it's very noisy around here in the evenings :(

Fiona
x x x

Got this definition from an "ask the astronomer" article.

A good, working definition of a star is "an gaseous
object that produces light via nuclear reactions in its core, or produced
light in such a way in the past", while a planet is "an object that does
not produce its own light via nuclear reactions, and never did."

Joan :)

Nothing to do with the question ;) but there is a good website called 'heaven's above' (will try and do link when I remember how). You can put your postcode in and it will tell you what direction and time to look in the sky to spot certain stars, planets and satellites. Haven't actually put it to the test but it still looks interesting.
Lorna

Heavens Above.

If you chose to select from their database and choose UK from the country list you can then enter the name of your town/village and can get accurate local information.

My village was listed and there's less than 3000 in the village.

Fiona
x x x

Wow! It even had a neighbouring hamlet which has a population of about 250 (I know, I was their Census Enumerator 2 years ago!)

Isn't is amazing how much we find out on this doggy site
Lorna