Debby Malament, age 10, of West Orange, N.J., for her question:

What causes the sun to rise in the east?

The sun each day seems to travel in a great arc over the sky. But it does not really move over our little world. It is always right there in its only spot in the heavens. It seems to move because our globe spins right around, once every 24 hours. It carries us around with it and we face first one view of the heavens, then another.

The earth spins around from the west toward the east. A new view is always coming, into sight in the eastern sky. In the morning, our spot of the earth is spinning around to face the spot in the heavens occupied by the sun   and the sun seems to rise up to greet us from the eastern horizon.