National Aeronautical Space Administration (NASA)

Things are heating up for the USA's National Aeronautical Space Administration (NASA). One of the agency's missions is to study the Sun. In 2018, NASA sent a small research probe to photograph our nearest star. The spacecraft is called the Parker Solar Probe. It made history on Christmas Eve by going closer to the Sun than any spacecraft has ever gone before. Parker flew to within 6.1 million kilometers of the Sun. This is very close. Parker also holds another record. It is the fastest object ever built by humans. In September 2023, it flew at a speed of 635,266 kph. At this speed, the probe could travel the 10,846 km from New York to Tokyo in just 1.025 minutes.

The Parker Solar Probe is named after the astrophysicist Dr Eugene Parker. He spent most of his life studying the Sun and its solar flares. He wanted to know why the flares, which shoot off from the Sun's surface, are hotter than the surface. This is known as the "coronal heating problem". It is a long-standing mystery for scientists. The temperature at the Sun's surface is around 4,100ºC; while the temperature of the corona's flares can reach 1.1 million degrees Celsius. Scientists also hope to find out how solar winds originate. NASA said Parker (the probe) has faced extreme heat on its record-breaking fly-by. Temperatures reached a scorching 980 degrees Celsius.

1. THE UNIVERSE: What do you know about these things?  Complete this table 

 

What I Know

What I Want to Know

The Sun

 

 

The Moon

 

 

The Milky Way

 

 

The Aurora Borealis

 

 

Comets

 

 

Asteroids

 

 

  

2.Vocabulary 

    Paragraph 1

      1.heating upa.Inside something or a part of something.
      2.missionb.Getting warmer or hotter.
      3.probec.A small machine sent to study something, like space or planets.
      4.withind.The best performance or most amazing event of its kind.
      5.recorde.The past of "fly," meaning to move through the air.
      6.objectf.A special job or task to do.
      7.flewg.A thing that you can see and touch.

    Paragraph 2

      8.solarh.Something we don’t know or understand yet.
      9.flaresi.Very, very hot.
      10.surfacej.To start or come from a place.
      11.mysteryk.The outside part of something.
      12.temperaturel.How hot or cold something is.
      13.originatem.About the sun.
      14.scorchingn.Bright flashes of light or heat.


3. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article. 

  1. heating 

  1. nearest 

  1. object 

  1. built 

  1. travel 

  1. studying 

  1. surface 

  1. reach 

  1. hope 

  1. scorching 

  1. thing 

  1. top side 

  1. move 

  1. researching 

  1. want 

  1. closest 

  1. red-hot 

  1. warming 

  1. get to 

  1. created 


4.Role play 

Role  A – The Sun 
You think the Sun is the best thing to study.

Tell the others three reasons why.Tell them what is wrong with their things

Also, tell the others which is the least interesting of these (and why):

Role  B – The Oceans 

You think the Oceans are the best thing to study.

Tell the others three reasons why.Tell them what is wrong with their things

Also, tell the others which is the least interesting of these (and why):

Role  C – Mars 
 You think Mars is the best thing to study.

Tell the others three reasons why.Tell them what is wrong with their things

Also, tell the others which is the least interesting of these (and why):

Role  D – The Climate 

You think the Climate is the best thing to study.

Tell the others three reasons why.Tell them what is wrong with their things

Also, tell the others which is the least interesting of these (and why):



STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS

  1. What did you think when you read the headline? 

  1. What images are in your mind when you hear the word 'spacecraft'? 

  1. What do you know about NASA? 

  1. What do you know about the Sun? 

  1. What do you want to know about the Sun? 

  1. What do you think of the NASA mission to study the Sun? 

  1. Are you more interested in the Sun or the Moon? 

  1. Do you think Santa saw the probe on Christmas Eve? 

  1. Would you like to travel from New York to Tokyo in one minute? 

  1. Would you like to travel in space? 

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A) 

  1. Did you like reading this article? Why/not? 

  1. What do you think of when you hear the word 'sun'? 

  1. What do you think about what you read? 

  1. Would you like to be an astrophysicist? 

  1. What do you know about the Sun's heat? 

  1. What do you know about solar winds? 

  1. How important is the Sun? 

  1. What do you think of a temperature of 1.1 million degrees? 

  1. Are solar or lunar eclipses better? 

  1. What questions would you like to ask the scientists? 

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