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A Star Once More: The Story Of Neutron Stars

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:29:04 -0800

Magnetar Mysteries

Recently, a relatively close (16,000 light-years away) magnetar called CXO-JI64710.2-455216 with 40 solar masses, has been discovered. Normally, such a star would be a black hole, according to the commonly accepted black hole model.

But not according to my new temporary-stage model. Over millions of years, a black hole will collect hundreds of tons of matter in its singularity. Finally, just as in a normal, main-sequence star, it will begin to collapse upon itself. It cannot contract anymore, however, having already an infinite density, so the pressure will cause it to implode. Then, it will become a neutron star. This decodes the life cycle of neutron stars: stars that were once black holes. However, some black holes will maintain their stability, and they are called permanent-stage black holes.

BANG!

The story of the universe starts with black holes and burned-out white dwarfs. Not a star exists that is still shining, and no new stars are created. Slowly these dark galaxies are spiraling inward towards their central black holes, over a process of millions of years.

Finally, all of the extinguished white and brown dwarfs are concentrated into the singularities. Then, the black holes start merging. This last stage of this old universe is causing it to contract. Then, after billions of years, the black holes are concentrated into one singularity: a cosmic calamity. But the black hole's center is a temporary-stage singularity.

So then it explodes in a "meganova": the Big Bang has begun. Within microseconds of the explosion, the matter and antimatter levels are determined, the critical mass value has been deter-mined, and the beginning (and the end) of the entire macrocosm has been decided. The universe as we know it has been created.

Stars Once More: The Story Of Neutron Stars

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:32:31 -0800

BANG!

Zion National Park's Top Hikelights

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:10:50 -0800

Riverside Walk Trail

We went on a two mile hike, Riverside Walk.It starts by going down a paved stairway into a canyon. We saw an "amateur arch," an arch which hadn't yet been fully formed. It was part of a hanging garden, which was surprisingly lush for the desert. We also saw a family of deer. They were eating and licking a rock for the salt. Later on the family came out and walked alongside the trail for a while, then went back to the woods. There are nice views of the Virgin River alongside the walk, and some towering rocks leading to the walls of this canyon. The trail ends where the river takes up the whole of the canyon floor, but you can still go on to a place called The Narrows. This is a less populated hike, as there is barely a trail, but it is still one of Zion's top attractions.

Weeping Wall, Zion Nat'l Park

Weeping Wall (or Weeping Rock) is a short, paved hike, only 0.5 miles roundtrip. It goes up to a wall where water drips down. The water is 2000-4000 years old, as it has to seep down through sedimentary layers of shale. The water still drips quickly, despite that. We chose people where our water came from (Mikaela was the Egyptian pharaoh, Khufu, and I was Julius Caesar [I said he splashed Augustus with it].)

Emerald Pools

The Emerald Pools are very nice if you go in the fall. The trail is filled with ruts and small waterfalls trickle quietly across the trails, but the leaves on the trees are filled with fall color, making the hike to the bright blue-green lake waters very pretty.

Who's hiding in the fall foliage?

Viewpoints and Scenic Drives

The Zion-Mt Carmel Highway's famous

Checkerboard Mesa is a stop recommended

by several travel websites and magazines, but its eroded chessboard pattern is not as remarkable

as many travel episodes show it to be. However, it is a nice stop (and don't forget to bring some checkers: they make a good picture).

Another good stop is the "three patriarchs," Isaac, Abraham, and Jacob. However, Mt Isaac's name cannot be fully attributed to the Biblical character: the man who gave these three mountains their names happened to be called Isaac, too. A clever way to name something after yourself without bluntly stating it?

BP Oil Spill Response: Testing The Cap

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:27:38 -0800

The BP oil cap may not work due to pressure, as the rubber seal already has 600 atmospheres of pressure on it. In the case that the pressure is too great, the well could leak for years. Then we would face the considerable problem of the oil pumping out of the earth faster than our planet could take it back in. In that case, as happens with water and other liquids pumped out from under the surface, a large sinkhole would form.

Also the whole Gulf ecosystem, especially marshes such as the Everglades, are likely to be wiped out. Recently in National Geographic I read a study about oil being buried under seemingly white and glistening beaches as a result of extensive overturning of the sand to clean the beaches. That could be a danger to crabs and other fauna under the sands. Numerous bird species have already been affected, and it is anticipated that many more will become extinct if the oil well is not capped properly.

Why Are Clouds White?

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:48:15 -0800

When you look at the sky on most days, you'll see a few clouds slowly drifting past, pushed by the wind. You might see the shape of a camel in one and a flower in another. You probably already know why clouds exist: water evaporates in the sunlight and rises into the sky, where it again forms tiny water droplets. When the droplets are too large to stay in the air, they fall to the ground as rain and the cycle begins again. But did you ever wonder why clouds are white, and why they become gray during a storm?

Katrianna wrote about why the sky is blue in a previous article, which explained how light is made up of many different colors. White light is a combination of all of the colors. Clouds are white because the water droplets or ice crystals (at a certain altitude, the water freezes to become ice) reflect all of the colors of light in a process called Mie scattering. (All of the colors are reflected in the same way, so they combine to become white light.)

Clouds are dark when they are so thick that the sunlight is blocked by the moisture. When you look down on dark clouds through an airplane window, the clouds will always look bright white. This is because the water or ice on the surface of the cloud is still reflecting the light. Thus, every cloud will have a silver lining -- if you view it from an airplane!

Sea Turtles Face Ongoing Dangers From BP Oil Spill

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 09:29:55 -0800

The BP oil spill threatens hundreds of different species, from crabs to dolphins to pelicans. However, the five species of sea turtles living in the Gulf of Mexico -- leatherback, hawksbill, green, loggerhead and Kemp's Ridley -- all of which were endangered or threatened before the BP oil spill, may be hit the worst. 200 dead turtles have been found along the Mississippi coast alone. The Kemp's Ridley sea turtle, which was critically endangered and the rarest sea turtle before this disaster, may have the hardest time surviving. As well as being hunted (in parts of Mexico, they are eaten and used for leather in making boots), they are susceptible to becoming entangled in shrimp-catching nets. But the oil spill has introduced many more threats that the turtles do not know exist and will have an even harder time avoiding.

Right now, the adult turtles are coming ashore to lay their eggs. The beaches on which they lay their eggs are now covered in oil, which is not good for the hatchlings. If the eggshells, which are soft and about the size of ping-pong balls, make contact with the oil, they weaken and there is less of a chance that the turtles will hatch. Even if they do, the hatchlings may be deformed. Those that live will have to cross the polluted beaches to get to the sea and then swim through the oil in the gulf waters. The Kemp's Ridley hatchlings are leaving their nesting grounds in Mexico to swim into the most contaminated part of the gulf, where their instinct to hide and eat amongst clumps of floating vegetation is leading them to clots of oil and polluted seaweed. Their instincts, which come from living in the ocean for over 100 million years, have taught them how to avoid predators like sharks but have not taught them how to cope with exploding oil wells.

No matter how old they are (many sea turtles live for 30 years), if a turtle is exposed to the oil for 4 days, their skin will peel off in sheets, a condition which lasts even after they have been cleaned and treated. The toxic chemicals cause diseases and damage to their livers, kidneys, and brains that might lead to the deaths of many of these animals. The oil also damages their chemoreceptors, which control their senses, making them unable to find prey, to know where their habitat is, or to understand movement. Because they moved farther inshore in their attempts to avoid the oil, they were eating fishing bait and consuming hooks. In June, 583 sea turtles were found in the contaminated area. 447 of these were already dead or died soon after they were discovered, and only 136 were taken to rescue centers. Worst of all, when BP tried setting some of the oil on fire, hundreds or possibly thousands of sea turtles were burnt and killed.

At least some efforts are being made to save the sea turtles. A qualified biologist will be aboard every boat involved in burning the oil to remove the turtles from the area. And 70,000 eggs from the different species of sea turtles are being carefully dug up from their burrows in the sand, because it is difficult to move or disturb the eggs without harming the embryos, and taken to a climate-controlled hangar at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After they hatch -- if the oil doesn't flow around Florida to ruin the plan -- the turtles will be released in the clean waters of the Atlantic.

For thirty years before the spill, scientists, environmentalists, and volunteers have been trying to save sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico. Their programs were working. For my sixth birthday, we drove to a Kemp's Ridley sea turtle hatchery in Galveston, Texas, the only one in the United States. Inside a rather small shack, we saw hatchlings, one-year-olds, two-year-olds, and huge three-year-olds in tubs being fed. It was not very impressive, but they were saving the turtles. We learned about the dangers faced by Kemp's Ridley and Leatherback sea turtles back then and today. People dumping garbage into the oceans is not a new issue, as is the fact that turtles choke on plastic squids used by fishermen to attract animals. If these turtles were in such danger before, now conservation is even more vital in these animals' survival.

Hopefully the conservation efforts will work and the turtles will continue to live healthily in clean water, but all of the other animals that live in the gulf face similar problems. This still leaking spill, which is even worse than the Exxon spill, is just another reminder that we need to work on green energy. We cannot continue to drill for oil and risk losing millions of animals as well as our own safety and the state of our world. The stories of these turtles and of all of the other, less well-known animals that are in danger need to prompt immediate action that will save our planet before it is too late.

Octo-pi (R) Squared

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 11:37:19 -0800

In Germany, an octopus is given two flags and a ball: it places the ball on whichever side’s flag it thinks will win the upcoming World Cup game. This time, it picked Spain instead of Germany in the semifinals by dropping tokens into square containers. Paul the octopus was right again.

Octopuses are smarter than you think. They can also be smaller than you’d expect. In an aquarium, an octopus living in its own enclosure was stealing crabs from a neighboring tank, although the scientists could not figure out how. So they gave it a jungle gym of tubes which were coin-size in diameter and discovered the reason. Watch here.

A common trick that octopuses are capable of is opening jars. They press their body against the lid, and grip the sides with their tentacles. The following shows an octopus performing the feat:

So next time you have a hard time opening a jar, ask an octopus to lend a tentacle.

Passenger Pigeons: A Plight Permitted

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 12:02:46 -0800

The passenger pigeon was the most common bird in North America. Mile-long flocks numbered into the billions, making farmers view the birds as pests. Explorers were amazed by the multitudes, writing that the flocks took hours to pass overhead and that they were countless. No one expected them to go extinct.

No one expected the Rocky Mountain locust, another pest, to go extinct, either. While the passenger pigeons were the second-most common animal in the whole world, these arthropods were the most common. In 1875, a swarm was spotted estimated to be 198,000 square miles -- larger than the entire state of California! That alone would have contained 12 and a half trillion insects, and weighed more than 27 tons!

Yet, less than thirty years after this sighting, the species was extinct. How? These locusts swarmed about for periods, then returned to sandy riverbeds, their natural breeding grounds. When they were in the riverbeds, burrowing under to lay their eggs, they were endangered by farmers plowing the ground above them to plant crops. Records state that farmers brought up thousands of egg cases while tilling their fields. Their egg cases discovered and their breeding grounds destroyed, these insects eventually went extinct. The last locust in the wild was found in Canada in 1902. North America is the only settled continent without a major species of locust.

Like the locusts, the passenger pigeons also vanished. In 1914, the last passenger pigeon, Martha (named after Martha Washington), died, and, unlike the ivory billed woodpecker, which is critically endangered today when it had been believed extinct for years, no other passenger pigeon has ever been found.

There are many causes for this entirely preventable extinction. For sport, hunters went out and slaughtered thousands of them. Shockingly, people killed passenger pigeons in many cruel ways. Some hunters caught a bird, sewed its eyes shut using a needle and thread, and tied it to a stool. As the bird attempted to land, it would flutter its wings, thus attracting the attention of other birds flying overhead. When the flocks landed near the blind bird, the other birds were trapped in nets and the hunters would crush them. Secondly, trees where pigeons made their nests were set on fire, and the smoke drove the birds from their nests. Another means of capturing these birds was to feed them grain soaked in alcohol, which made them easier to catch.

Loss of habitat and introduced diseases were also factors in their disappearance, as was the fact that they were eaten extensively in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In 1805, in New York City, a pair of pigeons could be bought for two cents. As a result, some slaves and servants never tasted any meat but pigeon. Even when there was only one large flock (of 250,000 birds) left, the hunters, who knew what was happening, did not spare it.

After people realized -- and cared -- that the birds were going extinct in the wild, there was no way to reintroduce them. Flocks of passenger pigeons could only mate if gathered in large numbers; there were not enough pigeons left to make even one of the enormous flocks. For the same reason, captive breeding centers also failed. Mourning doves are the closest relatives of the passenger pigeons. Scientists may someday use them to clone the passenger pigeon. This is similar to how scientists are trying to bring the quagga, which was similar to the zebra, back from extinction.

The quagga's face and neck looked like a zebra's, but the stripes faded along the back to a plain brown. Because of these unusual markings, it was hunted for its skin. It was also valued for its meat and, like the locusts and the pigeons, farmers thought of it as a nuisance. Now, people regret that they killed off this harmless horse, and are trying to breed horses that look more and more like the quagga once was.

It is important to remember the past so that we do not repeat it. Yet any kind of reintroduction, for any species, will not change the fact that their dying out was a disaster that could have been easily avoided... and wasn't.

Less Fog Means Withering Redwoods?

Fri, 28 May 2010 10:03:24 -0800

Besides the obvious issues that global warming introduces, like the melting of the polar icecaps or the rising ocean levels, issues affecting smaller areas are still disastrous. They are determining the future of our everyday lives and the land set aside permanently as national parks. According to a recent National Geographic news article, redwood trees, the world's tallest living things, may go extinct. We might have seen them just in time.

When we were staying in CA, sometimes we would be driving in at night. We lived about 45 minutes away from the beach, so the fog would drift in over the road and make it nearly impossible to see. We would cross over Golden Gate Bridge and look down at the gently rolling mists. While they made it harder to drive, they were also essential to the survival of these botanical giants.

The clouds kept the conifers moist, at exactly the climate they required. A hundred years ago, there was no threat from global warming. A university study said that there has been a 33 percent reduction in the amount of coastal fog produced today when compared to the data from a century ago.

The redwoods only live in the humid areas near the coast, where the fog keeps them watered. Because they have adapted to this ecosystem, they cannot live long in a drought by shutting down their systems to conserve water, as other desert plants do. This means that if there is nothing that can be done, the redwoods may dry out and wither. Some other species of tree, however, can adjust to living with less fog by not growing as quickly as they do in years when water is plentiful.

We went to Humboldt State Park on a mostly overcast, cold day. Logging had thinned many of the forests; the largest existing piece of hewn redwood, made into one person's RV, is on display at the park's visitor center. Early environmentalists had preserved large groves, which have been turned into state parks. To this day, the groves bear names like "Founders Grove," or "Rockefeller's Grove," after these early conservationists.

The tallest tree blew over in a storm a few years before and became a "nurse log." Nurse logs are decaying trees that provide the necessary nutrients for other plants to grow. Saplings, fungi, ferns, and lichen are common plants that sprout from the reddish-brown bark. Insects, like beetles and ants, live in the log's crevices. In places humid enough, these are also home to banana slugs and snails.

As well as being an impressive species themselves, these trees are essential to many other kinds of life. The terrible fact that they are in danger means that if they do not live, their ecosystem will be seriously disrupted. This issue is another reminder that the choices we make in our everyday lives do have consequences and therefore we need to decide to do everything in a manner that will not harm the planet. The fate of these giants is uncertain, the fate even of our planet is uncertain, and it's our actions that will determine it.

Baby Animal Names Match-up

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 12:07:37 -0800

Every kind of baby animal has a particular name. Some of them make sense -- a baby goose is called a gosling -- and some don't -- since when was calling a baby kangaroo a joey logical? See if you can pair each species of animal to its particular name!

HINT: Many species of baby animals are referred to as the same thing: for instance, a baby cow and a baby rhinoceros are both called calves. So while some of the following animals can be called the same thing, no two animals can be connected to the same name.

NOTE: This image may be printed for educational purposes, but cannot be sold or printed for commercial reasons. © Mikaela Sarkar 2010

Why Is The Sky Blue?

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:44:46 -0800

We have to take a look at wavelengths of light to answer this. Here it is:

    The blue wavelengths are shorter than the red, as you can see in the diagram above. So the shorter wavelengths (with higher frequencies) can reach us when our part of the planet is facing the Sun, as we orbit around the Sun (proposed by Copernicus' scientific model).
   Sunsets are red because the red wavelengths are longer. So when the Sun is shining on
the other side from us, only the red wavelengths reach.

   In astronomy this is called the Doppler Effect. When a galaxy is moving away from us due to the expanding universe, its wavelengths are shifted toward the red side of the "redshift lines" and it appears to be redder. The Milky Way is redshifting towards a distant galaxy cluster. The opposite, when a galaxy is approaching the Milky Way, is named "blueshift."

   When you double-refract white light, the colors split. That is because white light is all the colors put together. The primary colors of light, unlike those of paints, are Red, Green, and Blue:

Penguins, Big and Small

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:20:58 -0800

Penguins live in the wild on every continent in the Southern Hemisphere. But since they naturally live near cold ocean currents, the only penguins to be seen in the North are in zoos.

Four species of penguin are endangered, but some of the others might be if we don't stop global warming and the melting of their ice shelves. There are 17 penguin species:

Emperor Penguin
Gentoo Penguin
Adelie Penguin
Chinstrap Penguin
King Penguin
Royal Penguin
Macaroni Penguin
Rockhopper Penguin (endangered)
Little Penguin
Fiordland Penguin
Snares Island Penguin
Erect-Crested Penguin (endangered)
Yellow-Eyed Penguin (endangered)
African Penguin
Malleganic Penguin
Humbolt Penguin
Galapagos Penguin (endangered)

There is a movie about Emperor Penguins named March Of The Penguins. It is about how they breed. They have to march 70 miles to the Adelie coast. Then, (if the female gets a mate), she lays a single egg, taking almost all of her energy. She then goes to sea to eat again, leaving the male on the ice to guard the egg. The egg has just hatched when the female comes back, and the male goes to sea. The penguins huddle in "turtles" to keep warm.

Penguins eat fish, squid and krill, and are preyed upon by leopard seals and giant petrels. They have been noted to use sign language to communicate with each other. They have glands which get filled with salt, and they crash their beaks against a boulder to empty them (largely because they drink saline water). Emperor Penguins live 20 years. They first evolved during the Eocene epoch.

Recently a man was lucky enough to capture an all-black penguin on film at National Geographic.

Tiger Tiger Burning Bright: Reintroduction For The Year Of The Tiger

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 11:36:55 -0800

   In honor of the year of the tiger, 13 nations have agreed to reintroduce the tiger and double its numbers by the next year of the tiger, 2022.

    Tigers are endangered due mainly to habitat loss and hunting. Tigers have been hunted over the years for traditional medicines. Even though hunting tigers has been made illegal, that doesn't stop poachers; their condition is so critical that they were put on the endangered species list.

Habitat loss is mostly attributed to logging and palm oil production. Palm oil is environmentally destructive because people drain the rainforest marshes to plant the palm groves.

This image from World Wildlife Fund shows why the tiger is threatened with extinction:

   We must make an effort to save these magnificent creatures according to the Tx2 Program which WWF launched. They are hoping to double the number of wild tigers to help this species make a comeback.

    If there are roughly 6,000 wild tigers, then the goal is to breed 500 cubs per year. After 2022, this program will not continue, but there will be 12,000 wild tigers. If we are going to double the number of wild tigers, the original tigers had better not go missing. Watch this on National Geographic Kids.

Tiger Facts Q&A:

Q: Does a cross between a lion and a tiger exist?
A: Yes. A so-called "liger" is a cross between a Panthera tigris and a Panthera leo. A tigon is a cross between a tiger and a lioness, whereas a liger is a tigress and a lion.

Q: Can there be a tiger without stripes?
A: The Golden Tabby variation of tiger has unnoticeable orange stripes. If you breed it with a white tiger, you get a white tiger without stripes.

Q: Are white tigers albino?
A: No. Their coloration is due to a recessive gene. Very rare, it only occurs in 10,000 births in the wild. They are bred more commonly in captivity.

Environmental Vegetarianism: Saving the Planet One Animal at a Time

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:24:27 -0800

Becoming a vegetarian not only benefits the animals, it also helps the planet. By easily altering your diet, you can save many resources, including land, food, water and energy.

Energy One third of all fossil fuels produced in the US are used to raise livestock to be eaten. Eighty percent of all agricultural land is used by the meat or dairy industries. All of the little stages needed to convey meat to your home add up into one huge problem. Turning off lights or unplugging appliances when they are not needed are very minor contributions when compared to the immense environmental profit created by a transition to vegetarianism. Consider the steps needed to produce a packaged hot dog or hamburger or chicken nuggets:

1. Remember the 80 percent of all farming land used by the meat companies? They use a lot of the land to grow corn, soybeans and grain to be used as feed. These crops must be watered, sprayed with pesticides and nurtured just as food for human consumption would be. This uses a lot of energy in itself. While this process is not eliminated by vegetarianism, many of the other steps could be.

2. When you see 18-wheelers driving down the highway, don't they strike you as being very bad for the environment? They're giving off clouds of pollution, and they get very bad mileage or they use more gas per mile than an energy-efficient car would use. Those trucks carry the grain to the feed mill. The feed mill isn't environmentally-friendly, either. It uses a lot of electricity to power it. Although being a vegetarian isn't perfect, at this point the food would be ready to go to the grocery store. But there's still a long process before the final product arrives at the supermarket.

3. The feed is loaded back into the 18-wheelers and driven to the factory farms, where animals are mass-produced. The animals have to be raised on the factory farms, which wastes a lot of energy. Think about it - they have to be fed, watered, and given injections of hormones and antibiotics to prevent the diseases which spread quickly in such unsanitary conditions, and many other things that most people don't realize are necessary.

4. Once the animals are grown, they are loaded onto specially-equipped 18-wheelers and trucked to the slaughterhouse. The slaughterhouse, which is yet another inefficient industrial building, takes huge amounts of energy to run.

5. After they have been killed, the animals are often again transported and delivered to packaging factories, which must be powered to pack the bags of processed food that you buy in a grocery store.

6. The packaged food is driven to a grocery store, where it must be refrigerated to prevent its spoiling. You buy it and take it home, where it must again be kept cool.

Greenhouse Gases If every American substituted vegetarian food for a meal of chicken once a week, the carbon dioxide reduction would be equal to taking over half a million cars off the road, according to the Environmental Defense Fund, an organization trying to preserve natural resources. Eating one pound of meat is the carbon dioxide equivalent of driving an SUV 40 miles in the amount of energy expended to produce the final product.

Wasted Food Eating meat wastes more grain than dining on vegetarian foods, which do not have to be harvested to feed animals before they finally become human food. It takes 16 pounds of grain to produce just 1 pound of animal meat, according to John Robbins' Diet for a New America. That's a ratio of 16 to 1. If every pasture used to graze livestock or grow cattle feed was planted with soybeans for human consumption, no one in the world would be starving.

Pollutants The runoff from factory farms producing meat pollutes public water more than all other industrial sources combined. In towns around Bellingham, in Washington state, the fields are sprayed with contaminated, brown water from chicken plants. We went to a town, Lynden, which had a Dutch heritage and featured windmills and half-timbered buildings. It would have been quaint, except that it smelled horribly like the dirty water being used to irrigate the nearby fields. Because the corn fields were also being watered with the polluted water, that Halloween we could not go to any corn mazes.

Scenic Drives The French and Swiss Alps have been turned into huge cow pastures. The smell in some towns was so bad that we could not walk around in them. We tried to hike up to a glacier located in open space in France, but had to jump fences and avoid the fields with grazing cows in them. In England, it is sheep and not cows which roam everywhere. Although the sheep are not as bad as cattle, they still make traveling less enjoyable. When driving through the Midwestern US, we often pass stockyards where cows are packed into small, muddy enclosures.

Benefits of Vegetarianism Although being a vegetarian sounds strange and difficult, it is one of the very best things you could do for the environment. People turn off the air conditioning or the TV when they leave a room and use canvas grocery bags instead of paper or plastic ones, but, although this helps the environment some, eating meat wastes a lot more energy.

Laudable Lepidoptera

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:46:22 -0800

Although they have several differences, moths and butterflies are surprisingly similar.

For instance, they both belong to the order Lepidoptera. They both have wings. They both have antennae. They both have bodies smaller than their wings.

But they do have differences. Butterflies have long antennae without hairs, whereas moths have furry ones. Butterflies prefer to be outside in the day. Moths are nocturnal, which is why they often appear at night. And moths have fat and slender bodies, but butterflies have long, slender ones.

See if you can solve these "Moth or Butterfly?" Puzzles using the clues: