GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. -- This week Simply Science answers your questions! You can ask us a question from the Simply Science Kiosk at the Science Museum of Minnesota. Record a video question and we may answer it on-air too.
How many stars are there?
That's a great question. We don't know exactly how many stars there are. But scientists have ways of estimating maybe how many stars there are. In our own galaxy, the Milky Way galaxy there's an estimate of about 100 billion stars, now that's just an estimate. For the universe, it gets a bit more sketchy, there are an estimated 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars!
Why is Antarctica a fresh water glacier?
Well to answer that question we have to first answer how glaciers form. That's through fresh water, through precipitation. Snow and ice over time compacting forms that glacial ice sheet. That glacier slowly moves across the land to go from higher to lower land, because of gravity. That glacial ice sheet in Antarctica is one of the biggest on the planet. About 60% of our freshwater on the planet is locked up in that ice sheet.
Where do box elder bugs get their food and go in the whole winter?
Box elder bugs are an interesting insect. They're not actually eating in the winter, or looking for food. They try to get into a warm place in the winter months like your house to try to hibernate. Then when the sun comes in and it warms up, they want to get outside to find a mate and get some food.
(Copyright 2011 by KARE. All Rights Reserved.)