Space Unit Guide PDF
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This document provides a guide on the space unit, containing quick facts, video links, activities, and explanations of concepts related to the solar system, planets, and celestial bodies. It appears to be a worksheet or lesson plan for secondary school students.
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Space Unit Discussed the photo of the sun on the cover page Examined pages 4 and 5 and discussed what the astronaut was wearing, who it might be, and the parts of the space suit. Quick Facts: ★ The sun is 150 million km away ○ It would take 1...
Space Unit Discussed the photo of the sun on the cover page Examined pages 4 and 5 and discussed what the astronaut was wearing, who it might be, and the parts of the space suit. Quick Facts: ★ The sun is 150 million km away ○ It would take 19 years to reach the sun on a jumbo jet ★ The nearest stars are 40 trillion km away ★ One Light year is 9 trillion km away ★ It would take 300 days to get to mars, only possible every 2 years ★ Astronauts stay in space for approximately 215 days ★ Space is completely silent ★ Tears do not fall in space (no gravity) Video Link showing the size of space: ○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=198&v=gIb fYsQfNWs ○ Begin discussion of the solar system. Why is it important to question the evidence we have about the solar system? ○ If we never did, we wouldn’t know that the planets orbit the sun, that the planets are round, wouldn’t have satellites, etc. Orbit: Revolve around / a path What is thesolar system? ○ The solar system is made up of a star and the objects that orbit around it. ○ Our solar system:Sun, Planets, moons, rings, comets, asteroids, meteoroids, and dust. AStaris a ball of hot gas that produces light What is aPlanet? ○ A planet is a natural object that orbits the sun and has its own orbit. ○ Ask students: How many planets are there? There are 8 planets:4 Terrestrial and 4 gas giants Terrestrial in order from the sun: ○ Mercury ○ Venus ○ Earth ○ Mars Gas Giants: ○ Jupiter ○ Saturn ○ Uranus ○ Neptune Dwarf Planets: Planets that do not have their ownorbit What isPluto? ○ Pluto is a dwarf planet Are there any other dwarf planets in our solar system? ○ Yes, there are. ○ Pluto, Eris, and Ceres ○ Probably more that haven’t been discovered yet Show image on solar system ○ Science 6 google drive ○ Get students to refer to page 8-9 on text The ancient Greeks believed that the Earth was the centre of the universe and that the stars revolved around it. Activity 1:Assignment 1, answer the following questions ○ Why is it important to question the evidence we have about the solar system? ○ Why does the sun look different than the other stars? ○ Why is the sun so important? ○ Using your textbook, list all of the planets in our solar system in the correct order. ○ List three things that you want to learn about Space, in this course. Activity Two:Students will draw a diagram depictingthe planets in our solar system. Planets must be drawn in the correct order and as close as possible to the correct size. Students should label all aspects of the solar system (names of stars, planets, earth’s moon) ○ Bring white paper for students to use ○ Bring colored pencils ○ Tell students they will be graded and posted on the wall What Causes Day, Night, and Seasons? Bring in a flashlight and a medium sized-ball to demonstrate the following Earth’s day and night are caused by the rotation of Earth on its axis. A complete Earth rotation takes almost exactly 24 h. During “daylight hours,” sunlight strikes the surface of Earth that is “facing” the Sun. During “nighttime hours,” that surface is facingawayfrom the sun A complete orbit around the sun takes 365.25 days Earth is tilted on its axis at about 23.5° to its orbital path Causes thenorthernandsouthern hemispheresto betilted more or less toward or away from the Sun at different times of year Duringsummer, a particular hemisphere is pointedtowardsthe sun. ○ The sun’s rays strike the earth more directly ○ When the Sun shinesdirectly on us, the light is moreintense and we have summer. Duringwinter, the hemisphere is tiltedawayfromthe sun ○ The sun’s rays strike the earth more indirectly ○ When the Sun shines on us at anangle, the light isless intense and we have winter. The sun’s rays strike equally duringspringandfall A given location in Newfoundland and Labrador receives more than five times as much solar energy during the longest days of summer as during the shortest days of winter. Video Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l64YwNl1wr0 What Causes the Phases of the Moon? The appearance of the Moon changes as it orbits Earth. It takes 29 days for the moon to orbit around the earth (month) The moon is on a lunar cycle At any given time, we are only able to see easily the portion of the Moon that isboth facing us and being illuminatedby the Sun. An unusual aspect of the Moon–Earth relationship is the fact that the same side of the Moon is always facing Earth The Moon is rotating on its axis at the same rate that it is orbiting Earth Crescent:Less than half of the moon is illuminated Gibbous:More than half of the moon is illuminated Video link: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/news/2013-moon-phases. html What Causes Eclipses? Eclipses can occur when: ○ The Earth is between the Sun and the Moon ○ The Moon is between Earth and the Sun Lunar eclipse: all or part of the Moon passes throughthe shadow cast by Earth A lunar eclipse can only occur when the Moon is on the opposite side of Earth from the Sun during the full Moon phase. When any object blocks light from an extended (non-point) light source, such as the Sun, it creates both a complete shadow and a partial shadow As the Moon moves completely behind Earth, it enters the complete shadow: this is atotal lunar eclipse. No sunlightcan strike the Moon directly During apartial lunar eclipse, part of the Moon passesthrough the complete shadow. Why do solar eclipses look red? ○ Scattering of the sun’s rays in our atmosphere, same effect that causes the appearance of sunrises and sunsets During asolar eclipse, the Moon casts a shadow onEarth. A solar eclipse can only occur when the Moon is on the same side of Earth as the Sun during the new Moon phase. Because the Moon is so much smaller than Earth, its shadow onlycovers andmoves across a portion of Earth’s surface. The Moon’s orbit is elliptical, if the solar eclipse happens when the moon isfarthestaway from Earth, the moon does notcompletely cover the sun. This results in a ‘ring’ of light surrounding the moon. ○ Most common If a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon iscloserto Earth in its orbit, the complete shadow does reach Earth, resulting in a total solar eclipse Use flashlight example (brig ball closer and further away from the flashlight) A total solar eclipse only occurs, on average, about once every 500 years for any given location. There are four to seven eclipses each year Although both are about equal in frequency,everylunar eclipsecan potentially be seen by people on theone entire sideof Earth(Day vs Night), while every solar eclipse can only be viewed by the people in the path of the shadow moving across Earth’s surface (average of 7.5 minutes) What Causes Tides? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlWpFLfLFBI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnDJ6_XpGfo(hopewellrocks) Gravity is a fundamental force exerted by all masses on each other Gravity weakens with distance Gravity ‘pulls’ from its center of mass (middle) not its surface In spite of its distance, the enormous mass of the Sun exerts a gravitational force of attraction between the Sun and Earth that is 179 times greater than the gravitational force of attraction between Earth and the Moon. ○ Causes it to orbit Tides are caused by interactions of the rotational and orbital motions of Earth with the effects of the gravitational forces of the Moon and the Sun on Earth. The moon has a greater impact on the tides because it is much closer to Earth than the Sun. There is a greater difference in the Moon’s gravitational force from one side of Earth to the other There are two high tides and two low tides each day. Alternating every 8 hours The bulge on the side closest to the Moon is accounted for by the greater force of attraction being nearer the Moon, while the bulge on the opposite side of Earth is a result of a significantly weaker force of attraction by the Moon. The moon pulls the oceans nearest it, towards it, Causing a high tide on that side The earth is also pulled towards the moon The ocean on the opposite side is also pulled towards the moon, but just not as much due to distance Picture it as being an oval (football shape) What are Meteoroids and Asteroids? Student text: Page 24-25 Asteroids and meteoroids are solid rock or metallic objects in the inner solar system They are irregular in shape They are distinguished from each other based on size, with meteoroids being less than 1 m across There are millions of asteroids. Most orbit the sun in the region between Mars and Jupiter, in the asteroid belt Thousands of meteoroids, most the size of sand grains or smaller, hit Earth’s upper atmosphere each day When a meteoroid or asteroid (or very rarely a comet) enters Earth’s atmosphere at high speed, it begins to get extremely hot and give off light as it burns up. This visual display is called a meteor A meteorite is any part of a meteoroid or asteroid that reaches the ground before burning up. Fun Fact:An asteroid estimated to be 10 km acrossand travelling at tens of thousands of kilometres per hour hit Earth about 65 million years ago. Evidence suggests it caused catastrophic climate change and the extinction of the non-bird dinosaurs ○ What do you think killed the dinosaurs? Shooting stars are actually small lumps of space rock falling to Earth. As they pass through Earth’s atmosphere, What are Comets? Comets are relatively small objects that orbit the Sun and are composed of rock, dust, ice, and frozen gases As they approach the Sun, their surface warms, and gases and dust lift off their surface and form a cloud, or coma. Radiation pressure from the Sun and the solar wind can “push” the gases and dust off the comet, forming a gas tail and a dust tail pointing away from the Sun. Tails happen when a comet gets close enough to the Sun to heat up. T he gas tail is made of ionized (charged) particles. The dust tail is made of rock and dust particles, which reflect sunlight, making it look whitish Although the solid portion of a comet (called a nucleus) is small (most are less than 20 km in diameter), some comas can exceed 1 million kilometres in diameter, and their tails can reach over 100 million kilometres in length. Comets with large tails can occasionally be seen with the unaided eye; however, most comets are too small or faint to be seen, even with a powerful telescope. Student Text:Page 28-29 End of Big Idea One Review the Scientific process Big Idea Two: We Use Technology to Explore Space hat Can We See When We Look at the Night Sky? W Pages 34-37 Constellations are the arbitrary and recognizable patterns of stars that have been given a name, often associated with a human or animal figure. Which constellations are visible in the night sky depends on the time of year and the viewer’s location on Earth. As Earth orbits the Sun, the view of space that is visible from the side of Earth experiencing night changes. Due to Earth’s curvature, people in the northern hemisphere are not able to see the same regions of space as people in the southern hemisphere and vice versa On very clear nights, it is also possible to see the faint glow of the Milky Way Galaxy. A galaxy is a group of stars, planets, gas, dust, dark matter, and other objects that form an orbiting system. Galaxies typically consist of billions of stars. Only a few thousand stars out of n estimated 100 billion stars in the Milky Way are close enough for a us to see as distinct stars with the unaided eye. There are perhaps 200 billion galaxies in the universe. Astrology is the unscientific belief that the movements and relative positions of certain constellations, planets, the Sun, and the Moon influence, and can be used to predict and infer information about, people and events on Earth.
