8. \( \left(8.5 \times 10^{8}\right)\left(1.2 \times 10^{-3}\right) \)

To multiply the numbers in scientific notation, you can multiply the coefficients and then add the exponents of the powers of ten. Given: \[ (8.5 \times 10^{8}) \times (1.2 \times 10^{-3}) \] First, multiply the coefficients: \[ 8.5 \times 1.2 = 10.2 \] Next, add the exponents of the powers of ten: \[ 10^{8} \times 10^{-3} = 10^{(8 + (-3))} = 10^{5} \] Now, combine the results: \[ 10.2 \times 10^{5} \] To express this in proper scientific notation, we need the coefficient to be between 1 and 10. We can rewrite \(10.2\) as \(1.02 \times 10^{1}\): \[ 10.2 \times 10^{5} = (1.02 \times 10^{1}) \times 10^{5} = 1.02 \times 10^{(1 + 5)} = 1.02 \times 10^{6} \] Thus, the final result is: \[ \boxed{1.02 \times 10^{6}} \]