Proficiency 1
"Ask an Astrophysicist: Milky Way and other Galaxies." Imagine The Universe! Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Jan. 2011. .
“Bayer., Johann. "Constellations, history, identification." Mallorca @ MallorcaWeb: Mallorca travel and local guide (map, pictures, accommodation,.... N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Jan. 2011. .
"Galaxies and the Universe's Origins - NASA Spitzer Space Telescope." NASA Spitzer Space Telescope. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Jan. 2011. .
"Milky Way, Discover of Milky Way, Milky Way Galaxy at SPACE.com." Learn More at Space.com. From Satellites to Stars, NASA information, Astronomy, the Sun and the Planets, we have your information here.. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Jan. 2011. .
"Sloan Digital Sky Survey." Sloan Digital Sky Survey. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Jan. 2011. .
"Space Today Online -- Chinese Astronomy." SPACE TODAY ONLINE - Space Today Online covering Space from Earth to the Edge of the Universe. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Jan. 2011. .
"The Milky Way Galaxy - Our Home." Windows to the Universe. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Jan. 2011. .
Proficiency 2:
Explorers 1 and 3. 25 November 2001. 6 Janaury 2011 .
Garber, Steve. Sputnik. 10 October 2007. 6 January 2011 .
Jorden, William J. Sputnik. 5 October 1957. 6 January 2011 .
Nasa. 11 January 2011 .
Sputnik 1. 6 January 2011 .
Bibliography;
"arizona.edu." arizona. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Jan. 2011.
Darkness lies only behind the thousands of glistening stars. You don’t bother to notice; your eyes are fixed on something else. It amazes you. A tornado of light, right before your earthly eyes. This is no tornado, but the forming of a solar system. Our solar system, the Milky Way formed the same way. A sun, inner planets, and outer planets, they’re all features of our solar system. Our solar system is called home to a sun, four inner planets, four outer planets, and we have a long future ahead of us.
The Milky Way was created about 5 billion years ago from a cloud of dust and gas. All eight planets revolve around our sun, it also gives us heat and light; we need the sun to survive! Created like any other star in the universe, it came from a cloud of dust and gas. This cloud of dust and gas is called a nebula. Creation of a star starts with a nebula, soon the nebula compacts due to gravity and it begins to slowly rotate. Secondly the sphere collapses and the speed of rotation increases. Temperature and pressure also increase. The remnants of the dust and gas form into planets that revolve around the sun. The solar system is formed. The planets now orbit around in their own unique orbits, these planets can be split into two groups, the inner planets and the outer planets.
Our solar system has four inner planets, they are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. All four of these planets are located inside of the asteroid belt. The surface is rocky and they are composed of rock; causing these planets to have mountain ranges, craters, and volcanoes. The inner planets have few moons, some even have none. They were formed from colliding dust within the nebula. They have a hard surface and are relatively small. The inner planets are very different than the four outer planets.
Outside the asteroid belt lie four planets, they’re called outer planets. The names of these planets are: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. They’re very large and composed of gas, because of this they are often called “Gas Giants.” Composed many of helium and hydrogen, therefore they have no hard surface. All of these planets have many moons and rings, the rings are formed of dust and gas. The outer planets are very different than the inner planets.
The two types groups of planets are complete opposites! The sizes are dramatically different. The inner planets are very small while the outer planets are huge. Inner planets have a hard surface and are rocky but once again the outer planets are composed of gases. Outer planets have unique features like many moons and rings that surround the planets while the inner planets have few to no moons and have very different features like, mountains, volcanoes, and craters. The two groups are very different and are separated by the asteroid belt. What is the future of all these planets and our sun?
Scientists can predict the future of the sun and our solar system. The sun right now is “middle aged.” The sun will continue to grow, during its adult hood it will hydrogen at its core. The consumption of hydrogen will cause the sun to grow slightly larger, get slightly brighter, and the temperature will raise then grow cooler. The change in size and temperature will have an effect on the inner planets. The sun would be 10% brighter, to earth than it is now. This extra 10% of light we don’t need will just add to the green house effect. The sun will increase then to 40% brighter than it is today. The heat will disintegrate earth’s atmosphere and cause the oceans will evaporate into space. Earth will then be very similar to Venus, dry and most likely lifeless. The sun’s core will run out of oxygen and the core with become denser. Then the sun will grow and become a “red giant,” or a giant red star. The suns growing atmosphere will surround Mercury and destroy it. A flash of helium will ignite the core, giving the sun a burning source, the sun will enter its “helium burning phase.”The sun will now use this helium as a source for heat. The helium burning phase must come to an end; the earth now becomes a red giant again. The mass of the sun will shrink, and the sun will become a white dwarf, all things must come to an end at some time.
The solar system which we live in is composed of the sun, the inner planets, and the outer planets. The sun will come to an end and retire as a white dwarf. Will humanity survive? Will the sun even become a whit dwarf or is that just a guess? Sources:
"The Once & Future Sun." The Ohio State University Department of Astronomy. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2011.
"The Solar System - Astronomy For Kids - KidsAstronomy.com." Astronomy For Kids - KidsAstronomy.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2011.
Proficiency 5: Theories of the universe
Which theory do you think is most valid?
I believe that God created the universe. I always have and always will, no amount of science can change my mind on this. Our universe is huge and to think that this could just "appear" from no where nor did it suddenly expand and cool to form stars. Our solar system was carefully crafted, there is no doubt in my mind that God created this world.
Proficiency 6: Comets,asteroids, meteors, and moons
Phases of the Moon
- The shape of the moon dosnt really change
- We only see a portion of it illuminated
- This is because the moon doesn’t generate the light
- The sun reflects off the moon
- The changing shapes are called phases
- It depends on the location and relationship between the sun and earth
4 main phases:
- New
- 1st quarter
- Full
- Last quarter or 3rd quarter
- New moon- when the moon is almost the same direction as the sun. Its illuminating half is facing away from earth.
- Waxing crescent moon- Small sliver of the moon. We see the sliver grow day after day.
- Quarter moon- a week after the new moon. We can see half of the illuminated half (1/4)
- Waxing Gibbous moon- see more of the moon, looks like its missing a sliver
- Full moon- Two weeks after the new moon. Half way through its revolution. The illuminated half is facing us. Looks like a full circle
- Waning Gibbous moon- illuminated portion decreases
- Last quarter moon-3 weeks after new- see half of the illuminated half (1/4) looks like 1/2 a circle
- Waning crescent moon- decreased to thin sliver
What if Earth had 2 moons?
I think that if earth had to moons the night would be a lot brighter. Night activities would grow and change greatly. What if it was so bright that people would choose sleep at night or sleep in the day. Wouldn’t that be crazy. You might say it will never come to that, but why not, its bright at night and night activities will grow. Be out all night and sleep all day. The world would change. Think of how bright the ski would be. If when you slept was optional, when would school be? Or work? I think the world would change dramatically if we had two moons.
What if the distance between earth and the moon increased?
If the distance separating the moon and earth increased the night ski would be very dark. Traveling at night would be dangerous and hazardous. The night would be dark. Things would change greatly. Our moon would be a little dot in our night ski, no longer would it be a large source of light at night. We wouldn’t have any natural light at night, well very little. Man-made light would be needed, this would cause pollution, light pollution to be specific. Traveling to our moon would be more difficult than it is now. The world would be greatly effected if our moon moved farther away.
What if the distance between the moon and earth decreased?
If the distance between the moon and earth decreased we would have a brighter night. I wonder if sleeping would be difficult, with all the light coming in your window. Would we have metal shutters, like hurricane shutters over all our windows. Wouldn’t our homes look like forts? I'm imagine driving down the road with the moon out, its not little like were use to, but instead its huge! What a sight that would be!
