I love animals, so I started on a great collection of animal pictures and photos. Many are large enough to be set as wallpaper because they are High resolution images.
The star in our system is called the Sun. It is really amazing for many reasons especially that the energy the Sun makes lets all of us on Earth live.
So how much energy does the Sun make and how does it work?
The Sun was born about 4.6 billion years ago and is made from space dust and gas, gravity eventally made all the space gas into the flaming ball shape we see in our sky.
Because of the huge amount of gravity, material in the center of the cloud was squeezed so tightly that it became hot enough to ignite nuclear fusion.
The Sun fuses hydrogen to make helium within the very middle of the Sun called the core.
How much Hydrogen does it burn or fuse? tons, literally, every second the Sun fuses or burns about 600 million tons of hydrogen, yielding 596 million tons of helium. The remaining four tons of hydrogen are converted to energy, which makes the Sun shine. As far as that number goes it is beyond what I can even imagine. I can not even picture how large 600 million tons is and that is per second!
I used to believe that there were things that are forever. The Earth, the Sun, the Moon, even the Rocks. But that is not true. Nothing in the Universe lasts forever and even something as giant and everlasting as the Sun, will eventually die.
But die may not be the correct word. matter is not lost, it just becomes something else. Stellar recycling.
Scientists believe that our Sun is half way through its lifecycle and in a few billion years, after it runs out of most of the hydrogen it uses, it will begin to expand as it starts burning other gasses and turn into a red giant. At the red giant stage the Sun may in fact get so large that it will engulf many of the planets around it. The planets that do not get engulfed by the gorged Sun, will become much hotter and evoporating things like water and ice into space.
The large Sun will begin to shed its layers over billions of years, creating a nebula and the Sun itself will become a small dwarf star untill it dies out.
1- Core. The Sun’s nuclear “furnace,” where fusion reactions initially combine hydrogen atoms to produce helium, yielding energy in the process.
2 -Radiative Zone. Energy moves through a surrounding envelope of gas toward the Sun’s surface.
3- Convection Zone. Big “bubbles” of hot gas transport energy to the surface.
4- Photosphere. The Sun’s visible surface. Because of its high temperature, it glows yellow.
5- Sunspot. A magnetic “storm” on the Sun’s surface.
Prominence. An eruption of hot gas that can extend thousands of miles into space.
6- Corona. The Sun’s outer atmosphere, which is heated by the magnetic field to millions of degrees.
I really love dinosaurs… I think all kids love dinosaurs, especially the really weird ones that no one hears about,
Here are some of those really strange looking prehistoric animals.
Weird Feathered Dinosaurs, kinda weird huh? but here is one the Troodon, prounounced True-don
The Name Means: “Tooth that wounds” The troodon is thought to have been about 6 feet and weigh about what a large dog does, around 100 lbs.
The Troodon lived in the US and Canada in the Late Cretaceous period - 67 MYA
I found more info about this really weird looking dinosaur on the internet:
Troodon may have been the smartest of all the dinosaurs. It had a very large brain when compared to its overall body size, which would have given it huge hunting advantage. It also had large eyes, long legs for speedy pursuit of prey, and sharp teeth.
Troodon is one of the most well known dinosaurs, with over 20 known specimens, including an egg with a Troodon embryo inside. It was actually one of the first North American dinosaurs to be named, originally described in 1856. However, the fragmentary remains were attributed to a number of dinosaurs before the original genus became accepted. It wasn’t until Dr. Dale Russell described a fairly complete specimen that the pieces fell into place. Troodon is also used as evidence in the bird/dinosaur debate, as it shares a number of common characteristics with birds.
Troodon fossils were found in montana
This is another odd looking feathered dino, the Compsognathus. The Compsognathus is another small dinosaur. Having been only a few feet and 6 lbs! Not what we think of a dinosaur was. Dino’s came in many sizes and not all were the giant 3 ton monsters we imagine them to be.
Falcarius
“Sickle Maker” This guy lived in Utah and was a mid-size, as far as dinos go - Falcarius was about 13 feet and weighed 850 lbs.
Nomimgia
Here is a really weird looking one, actually, the Buitreraptor looks really scary to me. Check out the huge teeth on that puppy.
The Corythosaurus has no feathers - but looks like he should have.
The Corythosaurus - A really strange looking dinosaur that looks like a cross between an ostrich and a lizard - he is one of the duck-billed dinosaurs and a very large boy.. or girl
Another really strange looking Dino is the Corythosaurus Pronounced: kore-Ith-oh -Saw-rus “Corinthian Lizard” The Corythosaurus was about 33 feet and Weighted an astonishing 3.5 tons - wow, thats one giant ostrich looking thing!
When: Late Cretaceous - 75 MYA
Where: Alberta, Canada; Montana, USA
He does not have feathers, but really looks like he should have!
The Corythosaurus was a planting-eating, duck-billed dinosaur that is sometimes referred to as hadrosaurs. It had a toothless, wide beak and hundreds of teeth in the back part of its mouth that it used for grinding tough plants to mush. Like other duckbills, it was a herd animal that traveled in large groups. Fossils of this dinosaur are sometimes found together with other plant-eating dinosaurs, which leads scientists to believe that different types of plant-eaters grouped together to feed, drink and maybe even migrate (moving from one area to another).
The Corythasaurus has a large crest on its head and it is thought that the males had a larger crest than the females.
In Cabazon there is a place where you can see a huge replica of a dinosaur. His name is Diney and he was built by Claude Bell on a road side in Cabazon, California
Even though we have never been there, it sure does sound fascinating
Here is the info I found about Claude Bell and his giant replica dinosaurs on the internet:
Claude Bell’s dinosaurs are icons of roadside America - some people may remember them from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, while others have grown up with them along the highway in southern California. The most amazing thing about these dinos are the attention to detail. The builder wanted to be as accurate as possible, while creating an exciting environment for children to explore. The belly of the first one, the brontosaurus, was originally designed to be a natural history museum of and about dinosaurs.
The introductory poster leading up into “Dinney”:
Welcome to Dinney the Dinosaur
Dinney’s creator is Mr. Claude K. Bell. Mr. Bell has invested 11 years of his life and over a quarter of a million dollars in Dinney. He designed and built Dinney without the help of a construction company or investors. Nestled in Dinney’s heart is a small gift shop and museum, which is open to the public at an admission charge of .50 cents for adults and .25 cents for children. Children under 10 are admitted free! It is interesting to note that at this rate it would take 32 years to pay for Dinney, and this does not include paying the bills for operating him. As Mr. Bell is 80 years old, he has no thoughts of ever regaining his investment. INSTEAD — he plans on constructing a towering Tyranasaurous Rex with a slide down his back! This should be complete in about 5 years, as Mr. Bell has already solved many of the structural problems encountered in building a Dinosaur. Thank you for this visit, and we hope you enjoy and appreciate the work that Mr. Bell has put into this creation for you.
In an early interview, Mr. Bell said “When I was a kid, my uncle took me to see the big elephant house at the boardwalk in Atlantic City. that did it. from then on I decided someday I would build something big like that elephant house.” He then worked for Knott’s Berry Farm, making very large things for the park. He took that knowledge and put it to use along Interstate 10.
World’s Largest Dinosaurs Stats
Started on the garden itself in 1964
Dinney: 45 ft. high, 150 ft. long, welded steel armature and cement (castoffs from the freeway after a flash flood buried some of the materials andstate engineering practices prohibit reuse), girders from a defunct drive-in theater. And 1,200 bagfuls of cement.
11 years, $250,000.
Rex: 65 ft. high, similar construction as Dinney. It’s rumored that bathrooms had to be added for the production of Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. Begun 1981, ended approximately 1986.
