Scavenger Hunt. I See It! from April

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2 Scavenger Hunt In thi iue are hidden a rabbit and a clover. You can ee here what they look like; however, where they are hidden they may be any ize and any color. So get your binocular (or magnifying gla) and tart earching. See if you can help the rabbit find the clover. I See It! from April Page 9 tadpole Page 23 frog Inviible... 3 Killdeer in the Aparagu... 4 Picture and Poem... 6 Butterfly Search... 7 What the Other Name?... 7 Wondernoe... 8 Nature Trail The Mailbox In the Beginning God Created Moquitoe Creation Cloe-up A Toucan from January You Can Draw...15 You Can Draw A Dogwood In Our Skie...18 The Story Behind the Photo God Majety in the Heaven The Diet of Our Lung Caption Thi Front Cover: You Can Draw a Dogwood. See page 17. The wind i howling outide on thi warm, unny day in March. Bethany hope cold weather doe not return for awhile. Two day ago Marlin boiled down the lat batch of maple yrup for thi eaon. It wa our firt year of trying what we occaionally publih a tory about making maple yrup. Thi ha been an intereting project for u, epecially Marlin, who ha been doing mot of the work. One highlight came the evening of the firt day of boiling. Shortly after finihing the batch, now began, and we oon had everal inche. The maple yrup candy we made in the now wa a very pecial treat, and a nice way to begin thi project. And now for another beginning, a you aw in the April iue, we are offering a Study Guide edition of Nature Friend a uggetion from a reader. Beide exercie that reinforce what can be learned from thi iue of Nature Friend, the Study Guide alo ha everal bonu feature. Learn to write creatively a you alo learn about nature. Learn photo tip and ubmit your bet photo for poible ue in the Photo Critique feature. To order the Study Guide, you may mail the potcard in thi iue, call , or order at Why don t we all take a break from our work and lip out along a favorite tream or through a park, foret, or meadow, and enjoy the wildflower that are beginning to bloom? Liten to the inging bird and watch for dancing butterflie. The imple thing of Creation can add a lot of enjoyment to our buy live. Let take a walk. Back Cover: Hey, who turned the light out? Joel Kuiper

3 january 2009 nature friend 3

4 by Anita Burkholder Here in outheatern Pennylvania, killdeer neting eaon i alo aparagu picking eaon. And thank to Mr. Killdeer, who build her net in the aparagu patch, aparagu picking i no longer quite a tiring or monotonou. Eagerly we look to ee who can firt pot her hallow, pebbly net. Since we kneel on a picking rig to harvet our acre of aparagu, we alway pick in the ame row each time. Dad i in the middle to direct eight-year-old Julia, who Jerry Schiller / itockphoto.com 4 Elaine Shirk from Myertown, PA on the row of ent thi photo of aparagu pear a killdeer net in where it i afe from their field. Note feet and wheel. how the pointed The next day there end of the egg i one egg in it, nicely are all turned peckled, with it toward the center. pointed end turned toward the center of the net. Each day teer the rig. Mom pick on hi right, and ten-year-old another egg appear, Cletu on the left. Five-year-old Thelma watche from until there are four. How can Mr. Killdeer her eat on the garden cart at the end of the row. keep four large egg warm? About the middle of the firt week of picking, Dad We count the row. She in row five, and pot the mall pebbly depreion amidt the aparagu the net lie almot due eat from the corner tem in hi row. pot of Grandpa meadow fence. Even o, Somehow Mr. Killdeer alway put her net directly the net in t very eay to find when we want may 2009 nature friend Jerry Schiller / itockphoto.com

5 to how it to Thelma. At firt Mr. Killdeer cuttle quietly from her net a our picking rig approache. Her mate lead u down the row, dragging hi wing a though it were broken, expoing hi orange-colored tail feather. Satified that her mate ha lured u away, Mr. Killdeer return to her net. But a the day pa, Mr. Killdeer begin to cold and fu a we approach. The egg hould be hatching any day, now jut ee how he tand her ground until we are nearly upon her. Now we are rather glad her net i in Dad row. Anyone who think killdeer are mild-mannered hould face Mr. Killdeer jut before her egg hatch. Leaning down to pick aparagu, your face i quite cloe to that wide-open beak. You can ee her lender red tongue a he hriek at you before fluttering away at the lat moment. Then one morning we head down the row, intent on napping any pear over eight inche high. Suddenly our driver tart veering off coure. Dad motion Julia to get on the row again, but intead we lurch to a top. They ve hatched! They ve hatched! Julia hout, pointing. Sure enough, four little brown-tinted cotton ball on toothpick leg are kittering after Mr. Killdeer. One of them hit a clod of earth and tumble headfirt. In a moment he on hi feet and moving on. In a few week they will be fully feathered, looking like miniature of their parent. Now they range farther afield, and we rarely ee them in the aparagu patch. Editor note: Both killdeer parent incubate the egg and lure predator away with the broken wing diplay. They alo have the ame outward appearance. Pleae tell a friend about N a t u r e F r i e n d. 5

6 Springtime Springtime breeze, Soft and light. It bring fruit all Freh and ripe. Ether Kheen, 8 Eat Earl, PA Spring bring birdie Twittering ong. The geee come back With ome honk. Spring bring nice, warm Barefoot day. It bring many Sunhine ray. Grace Holman, 13 Wheaton, IL Audrey Brubacker, 8 Mohnton, PA Iaiah Callarman, 7 Cico, TX Spring bring flower, Nice and green. It bring hower, Freh and clean. SO--Let thank God For pring! And everything! Annie Shirk, 12 Holland, KY Stephen Senenig, 11 Steven, PA Jeruha G. McGlothin, 10 St. Thoma, PA Jacob Mat, 10 Applecreek, OH Kara B. Weaver, 8 Womeldorf, PA Want to have your picture or poem publihed in Nature Friend? Ue black ink, dark pencil, colored pencil, or paint on clean, unlined paper, and do not fold drawing. Send to Picture and Poem, 4253 Woodcock Lane, Dayton, VA 22821, or to pictureandpoem@naturefriendmagazine.com. Include your name and addre. If you want your work returned (whether we ue it or not), pleae include a elf-addreed, tamped envelope. Space i limited, o it i not poible to publih every ubmiion. 6 May 2009 nature friend Lily Miller, 10 Kalona, IA

7 pring i the time to tart watching for one of God mot intereting creature the butterfly. Did you know that a butterfly life i made up of four major tage? To find thee four tage, cro out the following nine kind of butterflie in the puzzle: Blue Morpho, Skipper, Fritillary, Painted Lady, Monarch, Mourning Cloak, Buckeye, Birdwing, Swallowtail. After you have found thee butterflie, write the remaining letter in order in the pace below the puzzle to pell out the four tage of a butterfly life. by Guy Belleranti E B L U E M O R P H O G S K I P P E R G L A F R I T I L L A R Y R P A I N T E D L A D Y V A M O N A R C H O R C A M O U R N I N G C L O A K T E R P I L B U C K E Y E L A R P B I R D W I N G U P A A D U S W A L L O W T A I L L T The Four Stage of Metamorphoi:,,, Eric Ielee / itockphoto.com Some bird and animal which God created are called by more than one name. See if you can match each one on the left ide with one of it other name on the right ide. by Naomi R. Myer 1. Hippopotamu A. Ship of the deert 2. Camel B. Camelopard 3. Lion C. Butcher bird 4. Giraffe D. River hore 5. Vulture E. Doodlebug 6. Ant lion F. King of beat 7. Cardinal G. Turkey buzzard 8. American bittern H. Camel bird 9. Otrich I. Thunder pumper 10. Shrike J. Virginia nightingale Packed full of informative fact in a fun way. PA 7

8 In Pennylvania Dutch (a language poken by many of our reader) the term gvunanaw (wondernoe) i ued to decribe omeone who i curiou about everything around him. Wondernoe ak lot of quetion to atify hi or her curioity. After all, that a good way to learn, in t it? Q. Wildlife Wondernoe Quetion #81 What animal i ometime called a cat, a bear, a fox, or a raccoon? by Rebecca Martin A. Believe it or not, Wondernoe, in mentioning all thoe name, I till haven t revealed the name that ued for thi animal in your encyclopedia. While I decribe thi myteriou creature, you can decide whether it mot reemble a bear, a cat, a raccoon, or a fox. Firt let me tell you about it cat-like trait. It hape i much like a cat, except for that buhy tail. Thi creature curl up on it ide like a cat to leep. Alo, it ha long claw that are emi-retractile. You don t know what that mean? But I think you know that a cat can pull in it claw; uch claw are called retractile. Here another cat-like trait of our mytery animal. What doe a cat do when it i threatened by a dog, Wondernoe? Well, our mytery animal doe the ame it hie and pit. Next, in what way doe thi mammal reemble a bear? About the only thing I can think of i that the nout and face reemble a bear. Oh, and I mutn t forget the way it walk. Bear and men walk with the ole of their feet flat on the ground. That called plantigrade walking. Our mytery animal walk awkwardly becaue it hind feet are plantigrade, while it front feet go pigeon-toed. Did you know that dog and cat walk on their toe? That called digigrade. You think I am traying away from my ubject by mentioning all thee graded way of walking. Well, then, let look at how the animal reemble a fox. It reddih fur certainly i fox-like. Thi 8 may 2009 nature friend

9 mammal i one of the mot richly colored on earth, Wondernoe. The woolly fur on the body i reddih, or chetnut; the leg and underpart are black; it face and ear are white with a black tripe running from the eye to the mouth. Quite an appealing little face, Wondernoe. And what a lovely tail he ha! It nearly a long a the body, oft and buhy, and ringed with different hade of orange and brown. The ringed tail give you a hint why it ometime called a raccoon. Indeed, thi i a confuing animal. Even it teeth have the cientit puzzled: the front teeth are like a fleh-eater, while the molar are broad like thoe ued for eating vegetation. It eem our mytery animal eat both plant and mall animal. You wonder where it live? Mot of you will probably never ee it except in zoo, becaue it i found in China and Myanmar. A tree-dweller, it pend it day curled up on a branch in the unhine, or, on a cold day, in it net. At dawn and duk it forage for food. But all thee fact have not helped to olve the riddle for you, Wondernoe. I can t blame you. Here I am talking about cat, bear, raccoon, and foxe, but the real name ha yet to come! Well, have you ever heard of the leer panda alo called the red panda? There you have the anwer to the riddle. It doen t reemble the giant panda at all, becaue the hape and color are o different. Beide, it i much maller a Kla Lingbeek-van Kranen / itockphoto.com 2-foot body and a 22-inch tail. It doe live in much the ame area a the giant panda, and it alo enjoy eating bamboo. But I think it diet i more varied than the giant. The leer panda wa actually the firt of the two to bear the panda name, but later on, the big black-and-white giant ort of took over the name. What are the other common name given to the leer panda? Some people call it the cat-bear, other the fox-cat, till other the fire-cat, and ometime it the Himalayan raccoon! What do you think, Wondernoe? Which doe it reemble the mot? Which i the bet name? I want good literature for my grandchildren. TN 9

10 From the dike, the wad eem firm, but once you are there, you really have to muddle through. Wadlopen Have you ever walked on the eafloor? Well, here in the Netherland, it i actually quite normal, although it i very impreive every time you do it! We call it Wad-lopen in Dutch, which can be tranlated a Wad-walking. Now, where do we get that trange word Wad? It i the name of the eafloor. In the Netherland, we have a ea called de Waddenzee, or the Waddenea, which i very hallow in ome place. Thee hallow place are called een Plaat (a andbank) or een Waard (a Foreland), when they do not extend to the iland. They are called een Wad if they connect the mainland with the iland when it low tide. The iland of Terchelling, Ameland, and Schiermonnikoog are entirely connected to the mainland by wad. Thee three wad fall dry with low tide and are flooded with high tide. We have dike to keep the water out of our polder, which actually lie beneath the ea level. Thee polder were once eafloor, too, but nowaday it in t very exciting to walk there, becaue it in t a eafloor anymore. But on the wad, you ee and feel that it i till eafloor. Everywhere are hell, eaweed and a lot of MUD! In all thi mud you can ee all ort of trail made by ea animal. At the tart, it i indeed very muddy and difficult to walk; you have to omehow kate through the mud! But after you have plodded along for about one kilometer, the ground become more andy and hard. You don t ee trail anymore, but there are till a lot of ea animal. You will ee many hell, ieving andworm, crawling crab, the tilt-walking pied avocet, and gobbling gull. I think the charm of Wadlopen lie in eeing and feeling all thoe wonder of God. You can only experience thi in the Netherland, becaue walking on the eafloor in thi manner i an outdoor adventure unique to our country! But it i a wonderful and muddy experience for everyone. Bauke K. Stelma, 13 Franeker, the Netherland PS If anyone want to give Wadlopen a try, they re mot welcome to tay with u for a couple of day! A razor hell tick out of the and. Many eahell cover the wad. 10 may 2009 nature friend

11 Painted Turtle Dear Nature Friend, I took thi picture of a turtle on our farm thi lat pring (2008). I wa wondering what kind of turtle it i. Jonathan Olthoff, 10 Emery, SD Dear Jonathan, It look to u like you photographed a wetern painted turtle. You got a nice, right-in-the-face photograph, and it i very harp. Good job. Nature Friend me everywhere! When we found a chocolate paw print left behind, we realized there wa a raccoon coming in through our cat door! So far, with a little chocolate bait, we have caught ten of them! Why weren t any of our kittie hurt? Where do they live? And why did they reort to coming into a home when they could have found food in the wild? Marita Zerbe, 11 Perry NY Dear Marita, It ound like you lept through ome excitement. We have heard raccoon can open a lot of door, and I think you are oberving that firt-hand. It alo ound like they are fond of omething weet. We have a lot raccoon, and they do not eem to bother our cat. Only once did I oberve a cat hi at raccoon when he felt cornered. I ve een raccoon reting on tree branche and have alo een them in hole of tree. Nature Friend African Safari watch out for elephant wate becaue it ha thorn in it. Next we aw giraffe, then a herd of elephant. The herd included a couple of young elephant, o we did not want to tick around to make the male elephant angry with u. Later we went for a night drive and potted a group of female lion with their cub. It i amazing to ee God creation in real life and cloe up. David Sikma, 7 Grand Rapid, MI Dear Nature Friend, I am replying to the quetion that a peron wrote in about a bird in Kenya in the February iue. My dad looked it up, and we think it i a yellow-fronted canary. Thi bird i found near moit area and along the wet coat of Kenya. I think the bird in the picture Maked Bandit in the Houe Dear Nature Friend, Our family ha had the weirdet experience ever! There were trace of an animal intruder, five chocolate bar miing, cupboard open and ranacked, and jut an overall Do you have a nature experience you want to hare, a quetion you d like to ak, or a thought you want to hare about omething in Nature Friend? We want to hear from you! Write to: The Mailbox, 4253 Woodcock Lane, Dayton, VA 22821, or mailbox@naturefriendmagazine.com. In January, my parent and I had the privilege of going to Kruger Park in South Africa. At thi game reerve many African animal roam freely. A we entered the park, we aw a herd of impala and zebra. Zebra and impala graze together and help each other watch out for lion. We had to wa a baby. Ida Balona Caadaga, NY ANSWERS The four tage of Metamorphoi: egg, larva or caterpillar, pupa, adult Anwer to What the Other Name? on page 7: 1. D, 2. A, 3. F, 4. B, 5. G, 6. E, 7. J, 8. I, 9. H, 10. C D U S W A L L O W T A I L L T P B I R D W I N G U P A A R P I L B U C K E Y E L A R R C A M O U R N I N G C L O A K T E L A D Y V A M O N A R C H O L A F R I T I L L A R Y R P A I N T E D Anwer to Butterfly Search on page 7: E B L U E M O R P H O G S K I P P E R G I appreciate the educational reource N a t u r e F r i e n d i MN 11

12 M by Crytal Philip oquitoe are famou flying, biting pet. Did you know moquitoe hatch unable to fly or bite? In fact, before adulthood, moquitoe do not look or act like the notoriou ummertime inect at all. Moquitoe begin their live in water. A female moquito land on a water urface; he i o light he can tand upon it. Here he lay egg. The egg hatch and out come mall moquito larvae. The larva tage i the econd tage of moquito growth. Known a wiggler, they are tranparent wimmer coniting of a head, beady eye, and a long body. They have no leg, wing, or probocie. The proboci i the needle-like tube that puncture kin and draw out blood. Mot moquito larvae have an air tube at the tail end and mut come to the urface for oxygen. The larvae are filter feeder. They have bruhlike hair on each ide of the mouth that weep in the food particle. The wiggler grow fat. They molt, hedding their outer covering three time before tranforming into pupae. The pupa tage doe not look like a wiggler, nor doe it look like an adult moquito. The pupae, called tumbler, look like tiny cooked hrimp. The pupae are dark-colored with tiny paddle at the bottom and two trumpet-haped breathing tube on their head. A tumbler float on the water urface with the help of an air bubble inide it body. It ha no mouth and doe not need to eat. The tumbler i able to tumble and pin to the bottom of the water for afety, and then imply float to the urface again. During the pupa tage, big change are happening to the moquito. Thi i the tranition tage into adulthood. Inide the pupa, old mucle are broken down and give way to adult mucle. The digetive ytem convert from a mall aquatic-food diet to a liquid diet. Bigger eye, wing, leg, and a long proboci all develop in the pupa body. When it i time, the pupa curled tail traighten, lying flat on the water urface. The back of the cuticle (the hard outer covering) open, revealing the thorax firt, then the head, leg, and wing. An empty, tranparent carca float on the urface, and Dougla Allen / itockphoto.com 12

13 An adult moquito emerge from it pupa. hoe_bw / itockphoto.com an adult moquito tand on the water. The moquito make an amazing tranformation egg, feeding larva, changing pupa, and finally an adult. The male adult will feed on nectar. The female mut have a blood meal in order to make more egg and begin the proce for a new generation of moquitoe. A male Aede vexan moquito on water, with larvae and pupae in the water. may 2009 nature friend 13

14 Wild Roe We have an abundance of wild roe here in the pring. I aw thi one in a pine tree. It wa climbing the trunk. Nataha Torkelon, 13 LaGlace, AB Variegated Fritillary Caterpillar Thee variegated fritillary caterpillar are on a Johnny-jump-up plant. Jonathan Krohn, 12 Centennial, CO Strawberry Butterfly Laurel Martin, 13 Tamaqua, PA Immature Owl There i a mall wood in the pature where I check the cow every day. One morning in May I potted the owl on the ground, evidently till learning to fly. I went home quickly and got the camera. He wa till there when I got back. In fact, I till often ee him flying about. Matthew Walter, 13 Tyndall, SD Honeybee Swarm Thee bee from our hive warmed onto a fence pot by the pature. Lelie & Lucille Hort Lyken, PA 14 may 2009 nature friend

15 bonu page Robin Net A few day ago, I wa outide looking for ome pretty flower for my iter. I climbed the fence near our crabapple tree and peeked over to ee what flower were growing. I aw a robin net with two blue egg. I ran inide to get the camera, and then took thi picture. I checked on the net everal time and wa able to ee the robin on her net. I jut love bird. Natalie Allen, 10 Winona Lake, IN Gulf Fritillary Luke Lee, 11 Swainboro, GA Minneota Waterfall Beautiful waterfall in the wilderne of Minneota. Sarah Beougher, 12 Newark, OH Rabbit Recue One night our cat caught thi young rabbit and wa tormenting it. Mom opened the baement door, and the rabbit ran right between her feet into the baement. The next day we caught it and let it looe in the wood. The Mearo Family Hamburg, PA A tremendou aet to any grade chool curriculum. Kathy Bank 15

16 16 May 2009 nature friend

17 1 2 a Dogwood by Joyce Weaver Editor Note: The colored part of the dogwood flower we think of a petal are actually bract. The dogwood flower are ¼" tall and are clumped in the center of the bract. See diagram. The Dogwood drawing will be featured in the September iue. Pleae return your drawing by June 15. Want u to conider your drawing for publication? Send your completed drawing on clean, unlined paper, and do not fold. On the back write your name, age, and addre. Send to You Can Draw a Dogwood, 4253 Woodcock Lane, Dayton, Virginia If you would like it returned, you mut include a elf-addreed, tamped envelope. You may canned art a a high-reolution jpeg attachment, 3 inche and 300 d.p.i. Send to youcandraw@naturefriendmagazine.com. Label art with name, age, addre, and then crop exceive margin. Name file: dogwood-child name-age While we appreciate all the hundred of ubmiion we get, we can print only a few of them. Selection are made from all age group and not baed on quality alone. 3 3 [ you will need: 4 paper 4 pencil 4 eraer 4 Crayola pencil color 4 cior 1With a pencil, lightly ketch the outline of the dogwood branch and bract. [ 2To color the dogwood bract, you will need three color: pink, peach, and rapberry. Notice that the bract are darker around the edge, while till white in the center. Thi i important to make them look real. Start with light color, and gradually add more darker color a you go. See how the pencil troke move from the outer edge toward the center and fade into nothing. Thi fading effect i achieved by making ome troke longer than other. Look cloely and ee how ome troke curve with the edge of the bract. Try to draw what you ee. The mall center flower are done with bronze yellow and dark brown, with touche of yellow-green. The mall hadow around the flower are made with a dark brown pencil color. Color very lightly, then go over the color with white to mooth it. Thi i called burnihing. For the tem and leave you will ue bronze yellow, dark brown, and jade green. Look at the illutration and copy what you ee. The lat touch to complete your picture i the oft blue ky in the background. To create thi look, gently have a blue pencil color lead to make blue powder. You can do thi by dragging the lead over the edge of a cior blade. Next, ue your finger to rub the powder around in a circular motion to create the oft look. If you ve never done thi before, try it firt on a crap piece of paper. (Tip: I often try my color blend and each different technique on crap paper before tarting, jut to be ure I like the way it look.) A tremendou aet to any grade chool curriculum. Kathy Bank 17

18 hortly before dawn in mid-may (5:00 a.m. EST), you can ee an intereting pectacle. Six planet will be up (counting Pluto), and three will be viible to the unaided eye. Mercury and Saturn are the two that will not be up. Mar will jut be riing in the eat, and Venu, Uranu, Neptune, Jupiter, and Pluto will line up acro the ky to the outh. Seeing Neptune, Pluto, and probably Uranu will require a telecope. While Uranu can ometime be een with the unaided eye, the brightne of the moon will likely overpower it. The brightet planet will be Venu. Except for the moon, Venu i the brightet object in the night ky. Venu goe through phae, jut like our moon. On May 2 (riing near dawn EST), when Venu reache it greatet morning brilliancy of thi cycle, it will be nearing it firt quarter tage. Looking at it through a pair of binocular, you may be able to ee it crecent hape. It greatet evening brilliancy wa February 19 in a waning crecent tage. Venu i the hottet planet, with a daytime temperature of over 900 F. It ha a thick layer of cloud that create a greenhoue effect, thu making it warmer even than Mercury. Becaue of it brightne, Venu i ometime called the evening tar or morning tar. Becaue it i imilar in ize to the earth, it i ometime called Earth twin. With a diameter of 7,563 mile, it i maller than Earth by only everal hundred mile. Venu make one trip around the un in 243 Earth day. It i approximately ¾ of the way out to Earth from the un. Slip out one of thee morning, and ee Venu, the diamond of the ky. 18 by Shaphan Shank may 2009 nature friend Beginning at about 10:30 p.m. EST on May 15, Titan, one of Saturn moon, will cat a hadow on the face of Saturn. The tranit acro Saturn will take everal hour. To ee thi you will need a ix-inch reflector telecope or larger, and a very till atmophere.

19 American Bittern by Rachel Echol One pring morning, I headed out with my camera to look for an American bittern at a mall pond in a city park. A friend had recently een one there. I approached the pond and carefully earched the edge. I knew that American bittern are expert at blending into their environment, and it might take ome time to pot him. But only a moment paed before I potted the bird. He wa tanding, perfectly frozen, in the reed at the edge of the pond directly in front of me! He wa only about 15 feet away. The tripe of hi neck feather matched the color and pattern of the reed, and hi poture of bill turned upward added to hi amazing camouflage. I quietly et up my tripod and camera, then held a till a poible. I hoped he would return to hi natural habit, depite my preence. Before long, he tarted to talk around the area, hunting for food. I watched him catch and wallow everal frog. When he caught thi pickerel frog, I wan t ure he d be able to wallow it! He kept haking it and dipping it back in the water until he wa finally able to get it down. I watched and photographed thi amazing bird for more than an hour and wa orry when it wa time to leave. The photo are wonderful remembrance of thi amazing experience. I want good literature for my grandchildren. TN 19

20 God ha created an incredibly amazing and divere univere. It i filled with intereting thing we can tudy and learn about, and through thi, dicover more of Hi infinite widom. The night ky houe a howcae of much more than jut nondecript pinpoint of light that we call tar. God ha created innumerable tar grouped together in enormou galaxie. Mixed into the diplay are a hot of uniquely-deigned planet with moon revolving around many of them. Acro thi pectacular array, He tretched dramatic cloud of ga and dut called by Morri Yoder nebulae, which can extend trillion of mile through pace. Scattered through thi incredible pread of creativity are comet and ateroid, a well a trangelybehaving and powerful quaar, magnetar, pular, and upernova. When we look up at night, we ee a vat ea of tar floating in the blackne of pace, and they all look almot identical. But they all have their own unique propertie. Some tar have obviou color to them. White tar are much hotter than red tar, and blue tar are much hotter than white one. Betelgeue i a red upergiant tar. It i o large that if it were placed in the center of our olar ytem where the un i, the Earth would be completely wallowed up inide the tar. Betelgeue i larger than the Earth orbit! The un i actually a medium-ized tar. The reaon it appear o much bigger and brighter than other tar i becaue it o much cloer to the earth. The next nearet tar i over 250,000 time farther away from u than the un! While the un i cloe compared to other tar, it i o far away that light, traveling at 670,617,000 MPH, take eight minute to reach the Earth. If the un would intantly turn off, we wouldn t know it until eight minute later when the lat light ray would reach the Earth. Even though it i a medium-ized tar, the un i o large, it contain 99% of the ma of our entire olar ytem. Thi mean that if we would weigh the olar ytem, 99% of the total weight would conit of the un, and the remaining 1% would be the combined weight of all the planet, moon, ateroid, comet, and meteoroid.

21 NASA, ESA, J. Clark (Boton Univerity), and Z. Levay Saturn ha ring that are eay to ee. The planet alo have ome intereting feature and propertie about them. Venu i hot enough to melt lead, and ha cloud filled with ulfuric acid, the ame highly-corroive acid that ued in vehicle batterie. It atmophere i o thick and heavy it puhe down at over 1,300 pound on every quare inch of the planet urface. Thi compare to the Earth atmopheric preure of pound per quare inch. Mar urface contain iron oxide, which i rut, and i the reaon for it brown color. Mar ha a volcano three time higher than the tallet mountain on earth, and a canyon that cut about five time deeper than the Grand Canyon. Uranu mell like rotting animal becaue of the methane ga in it atmophere. But if you could tand the mell, you would be in for a tremendou view; Uranu i known to have twenty-even moon orbiting the planet, and thirteen ring. Saturn i the planet that mot of u think of when we think of a planet with ring. Thi i becaue Saturn ring are eaily viible with a backyard telecope, and thoe of Uranu are not. Jupiter pin o fat that it bulge around it equator. The eat-to-wet diameter i about 6,000 mile greater than the ditance between the north and outh pole. There are even rock that fly around in pace. Thee are called ateroid and meteoroid. Ateroid range in ize from le than one mile in diameter, to almot ix hundred mile. Meteoroid are mall pebble to boulderized. Sometime they follow a path that lead them on a colliion coure with the earth. I am thankful God ha planned that mot of them burn up in the atmophere before they trike earth. I like the way you let reader help with the magazine PA NASA, ESA, & M. Showalter (SETI Intitute) Uranu ha thin, dark ring that are hard to ee. Several ring were found in 1977, and two more in Between 2003 and 2005, the Hubble Space Telecope found two more. Thirteen ring are now known to circle Uranu. The dark portion of the photo with the cloet ring wa brightneenhanced to make the ring more viible. 21

22 by Lamar Showalter rapped around our planet i a blanket of air called the atmophere. It extend only about 800 mile high, lowly fading into outer pace. Without air and without an atmophere, Earth would be a lifele a Mar. Plant, animal, and people mut all have air to live. You could live more than a month without food and a week without water. You would die within a few minute, however, if you did not have air. You cannot ee, tate, or mell the air, yet air i a ubtance, jut a land and water are. You can feel the air when it blow, and you can ee the effect of moving air. Air i a mixture of tranparent gae; you can ee through it clearly. Water vapor and dut particle are alo preent in the air, but thee are not conidered part of the air. The main gae are nitrogen, oxygen, and argon. There are about eleven other gae in the air in very mall quantitie. Of thee eleven other gae, carbon dioxide i one of the mot important. Thi i what we exhale a we breathe, and what plant ue for photoynthei. The moiture in the air i in the form of a ga. Water molecule float around eparately through the oxygen and nitrogen. Air contain many olid particle like dut, pollen, moke, and microbe. There i an average of about 100,000 olid particle per cubic inch of air. The dut count range from 15,000 particle per cubic inch in clean air over the Pacific Ocean to more than 5,000,000 particle per cubic inch in the mog of a large city. Tiburontudio / itockphoto.com 22 may 2009 nature friend

23 Scientit have divided the atmophere into different layer. We live in the bottom layer, called the tropophere. The tropophere i about even mile high. Thi i by far the denet and mot habitable layer. Mot of the earth weather take place in thi layer. Over ¾ of all the gae that make up the 800-mile-high atmophere are contained in thee firt even mile. Higher air i thinner and colder. The next layer after the tropophere i the tratophere. Thi cover the range from even to thirty mile high. By only even mile above the earth, the air i o thin that there i almot no convection, or riing, of heat. The temperature of the lower tratophere i alway about -67 F. Above the tratophere there are three other named layer, the meophere, thermophere, and the ionophere. The compoition of the air in the atmophere i in perfect proportion. It i 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.03% carbon dioxide, and.04% other gae. Nitrogen i inert, which mean it will not burn or combine eaily with other chemical. Thi give a tabilizing affect to the atmophere and control burning. If air contained much over 21% oxygen, thing would burn much too rapidly. If the carbon dioxide level get higher than 5%, it can caue unconcioune or death. Another marvelou fact i that all of thee element are ditributed evenly acro the earth. In other word, the amount of oxygen in the air over the dene jungle of the tropic compare to that over Antarctica. The variou element are mixed by air current and diffuion. Thi i a wie deign. The people in denely populated area will not run out of oxygen, and the plant in the jungle will not run out of carbon dioxide. God mixed the atmopheric gae perfectly for the need of Hi Creation. Let ue our life and breath to praie Him! Bob Schamerhorn Golden-Crowned Kinglet When I firt aw thi golden-crowned kinglet, it wa part of a group of kinglet buily earching for inect and pider in the low branche of a cedar tree. Bird were continuouly flitting and moving a they earched, and it wa challenging to get focued on one before it flew. I caught thi female a it headed off for another branch. We invite you to ubmit your caption for thi photograph of a golden-crowned kinglet. The photograph will be ued on the back of the September iue, along with our choice of a caption or caption. We appreciate your following thee rule for ubmiion: Pleae ubmit a potcard, not in an envelope, addreed to: Caption Thi Kinglet, 4253 Woodcock Lane, Dayton, VA 22821, or to captionthi@naturefriendmagazine.com. Mention Kinglet in ubject line. Include your name and addre. Reply by June 15, The only children magazine we can fully trut! WA 23

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