Three happy, true stories for today. Read them together with a grown-up!
🌠 Space
Shooting Stars From Halley's Comet!
This week, the sky has a special show called the Orionid meteor shower. Shooting stars are not really stars. They are tiny bits of dust and rock left behind by a famous comet named Halley's Comet. Every October, Earth zooms through that dust. When a tiny bit hits the air high above us, it glows and makes a quick streak of light. The best time to look is very early in the morning, before the sun comes up. You might see 10 to 20 in one hour!
🤩 Wow fact: These tiny bits zoom about 41 miles every second. That is much, much faster than a jet plane!
💭 Think about it: If you saw a shooting star, what would you wish for?
For grown-ups: sources: EarthSky · Farmers' Almanac
🐛 Bugs
A Bug Egg With a Little Lid!
Stick insects look just like twigs, so they are great at hiding! Scientists in Australia studied lots of them and found two brand-new kinds. One of them lives in a special rainforest called Mabi, so it was named Anchiale mabiensis. Its eggs are smaller than a grain of rice, and they have a tiny lid on top, like a little treasure box! Scientists have never seen a lid like this on any stick insect egg before. More than 1,000 sightings shared by ordinary people helped them, too.
🤩 Wow fact: The eggs also have tiny rings, and nobody knows yet what they are for. It is a real mystery for scientists to solve!
💭 Think about it: If you could look for bugs in your backyard, what would you hope to find?
For grown-ups: sources: University of Sydney · Sci.News
🎃 Fun
Meet Rocky, the Giant Pumpkin!
In California, there is a big contest every October to find the heaviest pumpkin. This year the winner was a pumpkin named Rocky. Rocky weighed 2,389 pounds! That is about as heavy as a car. Rocky was grown by Travis Gienger, a teacher from Minnesota who teaches students about growing plants. His family drove for about 35 hours to bring Rocky to the contest. This is the fifth time Travis has won! Another fun prize went to the prettiest pumpkin, named Tinkerbell.
🤩 Wow fact: Rocky was so big that a measuring tape had to stretch 231 inches to go all the way around it!
💭 Think about it: If you grew a giant pumpkin, what would you name it?
For grown-ups: sources: FOX 9 Minneapolis · ABC30 Fresno
