How Stars Make Light

Lab Brief #1

🎯 Your mission

Learn the rule. Then catch nature using it.

⚡ The twist

The light you see now started its trip a long time ago.

What you'll learn

Stars are massive balls of hot gas that produce light and heat through nuclear fusion. Our sun is a medium-sized star that provides the energy needed for life on Earth.

Key words

light-year
The huge distance light travels in one whole year.

Make a hypothesis first

Guess: how big does that look from here vs. from there?

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Look at the vocabulary words and write a definition for each in your own words.

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Model Earth's tilt and seasons: hold a globe tilted at 23.5° and walk it around a lamp (the sun). Observe which hemisphere gets more direct light at each position.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Use your senses (except taste) to describe what you notice.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Write a summary of your findings in 3-5 sentences.

Question 1 of 3

What is a light-year?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 3

What is the closest star to Earth?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 3 of 3

What keeps planets in orbit around the sun?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

🪐 A day on Venus is longer than a year on Venus.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 3 right.

Next: Galaxies and the Milky Way All lessons

🎯

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✨ More to explore

🌍 Where you see this in real life: GPS, weather forecasts, and the seasons all rely on this.

🏆 Stretch challenge (try it this week): Find a constellation in the sky. Look it up. Tell someone its story.

👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “If you could visit any planet, which would you pick and why?”

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