The Universe Is Expanding

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Come and check out our new Science University. You can learn about the Doppler effect, Big Bang, and much more.

Let me give you a head start. This might be useful so if I were you I would read it. You can study about galxies by the light they give off. The light has traveled for millions or even billions of years. The closest galaxy to ours is the Andromeda Galaxy. The light of its stars takes over two million years. If you want to be really good at space you can look at farther galaxies and see how they looked years ago.

Don’t like that you can learn about the Doppler effect. Have you ever heard when an ambulance siren goes by you the noise is lous but then it gets farther away and then you hear less or you can’t hear anything? Now you can learn why this happens. The shifting of the pitch makes a change in the wavelength or frequency. This effect also works with light too. If a galaxy is coming closer to Earth then there are shaorter wavelengths.

Do you want to learn about the universe’s jistory? If you do then the Big Bang if for you. The big bang is the moment of time when the universe started to expand. Astronomers thought it happened fourteen billion years ago. The expansion was really fast. In a tiny fraction, a speck of dust turned into a sloar system and then into an universe.

Come and join our crew and then you can be a scientist or an astronomer.

Galaxies Have Different Sizes And Shapes

Journal

March 10, 1765- I find out that the Sun is in a galaxy called the Milky Way. A galaxy is a huge group of stars, dust, and gas put together. The Milky Way has a disk shape in the center. When you look at the Milky Way at night it’s hazy. Milky Way’s diameter is 100,000 light years.

March 11, 1765- There are three types of galaxies. There are spiral galaxies, elliptical galaxies, and irregular galaxies. Spiral galaxies have arms of stars and gas. Spiral galaxies are disk-shaped and have a central bulge. At the dense parts of the galaxy are young stars. Elliptical galaxies are egg or sphere shaped galaxies. They have no gas or dust in between their stars. All of their stars are old. Irregular galaxies are faint galaxies without a shape. They are smaller than the other types of galaxies and they have less stars. 

Spiral Galaxy

Elliptical Galaxy

Irregular Galaxy

March 12, 1765- If at the center of a galxy is bright it kind of looks like a star. The ceneters of galxies are called quasars. The galaxy that surrounds a quasar is hard to see because it is so much brighter.

March 13, 1765- Astronomers can identify a black hole because of how the things around it react. When gases pull toward a black hole it becomes really hot.

Quasar

March 14, 1765- Our galaxy is a spiral galaxy.

Stars Change Over Their Life Cycles

Journal

January 5, 2010- Saurav finds out that there is something called a light-year. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year. One light-year equals 9.5 trillion kilometers or 6 trillion miles. The closest star which is outside the solar system is 4 light-years away.

January 6, 2010- Saurav finds out that there are five ways to describe a star. You can describe a star by their brightness, distance, size, color, and temperature.

January 7, 2010- Parallax is the different view of a star and how you look at it.

January 8, 2010- The size of the different types of stars. The biggest is supergiant star, the second biggest is the giant star, the third biggest is our sun, and the smallest star is the white dwarf.

Supergiant star compared to the Sun

January 9, 2010-

Class	Color	Surface Temperature in (Celsius)
O	Blue-white	Above 25,000
B	Blue-white	10,000-25,000
A	White	7,500-10,000
F	Yellow-white	6,000-7,500
G	Yellow	5,000-6,000
K	Orange	3,500-5,000
M	Red	Below 3,500

January 10, 2010- Our Sun is in the class is G because the Sun is the color yellow.

January 11, 2010- Stars are formed inside a huge group of clouds called a nebula. To make a star gravity needs to pull gas and dust closer. When a star dies the stars matter doesn’t die it just moves into another nebula or move into an existing one. At the end the matter becomes a part of new stars.

Nebula

January 12, 2010- Main sequence is when hydrogen turns into helium. Neutron star is the collapsed core of a supergiant star may form a dense body. Black hole is when a supergiant star dies and then an invisible hole is left behind.

Black Hole

The Sun Is Our Local Star

Book

Our Sun

Once upon a time there was something called the Sun. The Sun was the only star in our solar system. He was really lonely because he didn’t have stars to hang out with. There were eight other planets but they didn’t want to get close to it because it was really hot. But then the planets realized that the Sun gave out some energy so they wanted to hang out with him. They got in a line and Mercury was first, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and the last one is Neptune. Uranus and Neptune wanted their own energy so they tried to find how the Sun made energy. They found that it contained a lot of hydrogen that turned into helium. Neptune and Uranus couldn’t fight back because they weren’t that big because if they would compare Earth to the Sun, the Sun would be the mass of an elephant and Earth would be a sparrow. Neptune’s and Uranus’ plan didn’t work so they had to be friends with the Sun. Next day all the planets came around Sun and started talking about him. The Sun said that he has an interior and atmospheres. They all have three layers. The core is in the center of me. Inside me it is like 15 million degrees. Everyone was really amazed because they were never that warm. He also said that is the place where hydrogen turns into helium; another name for it is fusion. Then he started explaining about the next layer which was about the radiative zone. “That is when energy moves by radiation,” said the Sun. Sun started explaining about the last layer in the interior called the convection zone. He explained that is when currents of hot gas in that zone move energy out.

“Next is my atmosphere,” said the Sun. “Photosphere is the only layer you can actually see and then is the chromosphere is the middle layer of the Sun, that layer gives out a pinkish type of light,” said Sun. He also told the planets about the outer most layer called the corona; he also said that is the layer that you see during a solar eclipse.

“I also have three things on me that I only tell things I can trust so I am going to tell you.” Neptune and Uranus were going to be really happy because they were going to tell everyone the Sun’s secret. He said, “There are three things on me, one of them are called sunspots.” “Other things can only see them on the photosphere and their surroundings are cool.” He also told the planets about prominences and flares. Prominences are huge loops of gas that glows that reach out to the corona. Flares are eruptions of hot gas from the Sun’s surface. “I also cause something called a solar wind on Earth, do you want to explain it?” said the Sun.

Okay,” said the Earth. ” Material’s from Sun’s corona is wandering around space; and then electrical particles that just float in the sky from the corona. “My magnetic field helps the people who live on me,” said the Earth.  Neptune and Uranus thought the Sun was nice so they all decided to be friends with him.

Solar Wind

Small Space Objects Are Made Of Ice And Rock

Letter

Dear Saurav,

I heard that you have been trying to figure out if Pluto is a planet or not. I can help you with that question; I’ll also be explaining about some other space objects out there.

During the year 1930, scientists discovered another planet called Pluto. This planet was discovered way before the other objects in space were. Since then there was nine planets. Pluto is the smallest planet in our solar system; it is so small that it is smaller than the Earth’s Moon. Scientists think that Pluto has a core, mantle, and crust. They believe in this statement because it is in a round shape. Also Pluto has a thin atmosphere. You are probably wondering why I didn’t tell you if it is a planet or not, it is because I’m giving you some facts then you can figure it out by yourself. You cannot get a precise picture of the planet because no spacecraft has gotten near it.

Pluto

Pluto has a moon called Charon. The diameter of Charon is one-half of Pluto’s diameters. Sometimes people call Charon and Pluto a double planet because they always keep the same sides turned toward each other.

Asteroids are rocky bodies that orbit close to the Sun. Their diameter is 1000 kilometers or 600 miles. A big asteroid has a weak pull of gravity so the shape can’t get rounded. Other asteroids are broken pieces of larger, rounded asteroids. The surfaces of an asteroid are covered with craters. Comets are objects that produce comas. Comets are farther from the Sun so they are made up of ice and rock, even metal. Their orbits are mostly in an oval shape. Some of the comets orbit might be behind Pluto. When a comet gets close to the Sun, something called solar radiations makes the surface of the comet warm and turns some of the ice into gas. A coma forms when the gas moves out, carrying dust with it. Meteors are particles in the air around them become hot enough to glow, producing streaks. You can probably see a few meteors every hour at night. Earth passes through a whole bunch of meteors that are called meteor showers. Meteorite is an object from space that can reach the Earth’s surface. The outside of a meteorite is mostly smooth and melting; the inside is still frozen. Most meteorites come from the asteroid belt.  

Comets

Asteroids

Meteor

Meteorite

The Outer Solar System Has Four Giant Planets

Dialogue

Stacy: What are the gas giants?

Stacy’s Mom: They are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Look I just said it in order.

Stacy: Why do they call it the gas giants?

Stacy’s Mom: All the gas giants have gases mainly include hydrogen, helium, and some other gases. Jupiter’s colorful stripes are produced by clouds at different levels in the deep atmosphere. Do you know how Jupiter takes less than 10 hours to rotate once on its axis?

Stacy: Yah, now I kind of know what you’re talking about.

Stacy’s Mom: The fast rotation causes fast winds which make strong storms. Out of all of Jupiter’s storm, the Great Red Spot is the biggest. It is so big that the width of it is twice the size of Earths.

Stacy: Can we talk about Saturn, it’s my favorite planet because it has big rings around the planet.

Stacy’s Mom: It is also called the “Jewel of the Solar System.”

Stacy: Is it called that because of its huge rings.

Stacy’s Mom: Saturn is the sixth planet away from the Sun. Saturn is only a little bit smaller then Jupiter but the mass of Saturn is one-third of Jupiter’s. Because the mass is smaller than Jupiter’s mass Saturn has a lower density. Saturn was the first planet to be known to have rings. Rings are a wide , flat zone of small particles of some sort orbit the planet.

Stacy: Yes, now we get learn about the planets that are blue.

Stacy’s Mom: You’re right; lets talk about Uranus. Uranus is similar to the other gas giants because Uranus also has rings like Saturn. Uranus’ rings are thinner. For some reason Uranus seems to spin on its side. Most scientists think that threre could have been a big accident in Uranus’ history.

Stacy: Can we move on because I want to learn about my favorite planet of all, Neptune.

Stacy’s Mom: I know why you like it because blue is your favorite clor and Neptune is the only planet that is blue.

Stacy: That is exactly why I like Neptune.

Stacy’s Mom: Lets start getting some information about Neptune in your head. Neptune has a big moon that orbits in the opposiste direction. They probably think this happened because there was a collision in the history of the planet.  Once Voyager 2 flew threw Neptune and a saw a Great Dark Spot. The Dark Spot didn’t stay it kept on moving around Neptune’s  Equator. After a few years the hubble telescope took some pictures and there was no sign of the Great Dark Spot and there was no sign of it.

The Inner Solar System Has Rocky Planets

Newspaper Article

Planet Times

In space there is something called terrestrial planets. The terrestrial planets are the four inner planets. They consist of Earth, Venus, Mars, and Mercury. The similarities of the planets are that they have all have rocky crusts and dense mantles and cores.

Cool FactTerra comes from the Latin word meaning Earth.

 

 The terrestrial planets have four processes that shaped each of the planet’s rocky crust.

Tectonics-A hot mantle can move about and distort the crust above it.

Tectonics

Volcanism-Hot, molten rock can flow or explode out onto the surface of a planet.

Volcanism

Weathering and Erosion-Rock can be broken down and moved.

This Has Experience Weathering and Erosion

Impact Cratering-A small space object can hit a planet’s surface and leave a crater.

  

Crater

Planets Orbit The Sun At Different

Newspaper Article

The Space Gazette

Do you know that when you look up at the sky and you think you’re look at a star it could be a planet. If you think you saw a very bright star in the sky during the early evening.  The planet was probably Venus. If you live in a city, you could have probably seen Mars, Jupiter, or maybe Saturn. Mercury is harder to see. There are three planets in the solar system which you have to use a telescope to see them. The three planets are Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.

Astronomer use something called  AU’s, which stands for astronomical unit. They use it to measure distances from the Sun to a planet. One AU equals 150 million kilometers. Astronomers made up AU’s because then they wouldn’t have to say big numbers. The Earth is about 1 AU away from the Sun. 

The Order of the Planets 

1. Mercury

2. Venus

3. Earth

4. Mars

5. Jupiter

6. Saturn

7. Uranus

8. Neptune

9. Pluto

AU’s Away From The Sun

Earth 1AU

Mercury 0.39 AU

Venus 0.72 AU

Mars 1.5 AU

Jupiter 5.2 AU

Saturn 9.5 AU

Uranus 19 AU

Neptune 30 AU

Pluto 40 AU

Orbit 

The Sun covers more than 99% of our solar system. The gravity pulls from this big mass causes planets and most other objects in the solar system to orbit the Sun. Most objects orbit the Sun in a shape called an ellipse. Ellipse is a flattened circle or oval.

Positions Of The Sun And Moon Affect Earth

 Diagram

Vocabulary

Waxing-getting bigger

Waning- getting smaller

The Order of the Phases:

1. New Moon -First Week

2. Waxing Crescent -First Week

3. First Quarter -Second Week

4. Waxing Gibbous -Second Week

5. Full Moon -Third Week

6. Waning Gibbous -Third Week

7. Third Quarter -Fourth Week

8. Waning Crescent -Fourth Week

There are two types of eclipses; lunar and solar.

Vocabulary

Eclipse-It happens when a shadow makes the Sun or the Moon seem to grow dark. In a lunar eclipse, the Moon becomes dark. In a solar eclipse, the sun seems to darker.

This is the order of the Sun, Earth, and Moon during a lunar eclipse. First is the Sun then comes our Earth and last of all is the Moon. For an eclipse to happen all three of these objects have to lineup in a straight line.

Lunar Eclipse

During a solar eclipse the sun is first like always. Then is the Moon and last is Earth.

Solar Eclipse

Tides occur because the Moon’s gravity changes the shape of Earth’s oceans. The Moon pulls on different amounts of force. It pulls the hardest on the side nearest it.  In this animation it is showing how each ocean on Earth gets high tide and then  low tide.

High Tide

If you are at an ocean, there might have been some usual patterns of tides. At first you might see dry sand that slopes down to the ocean. The average water rises for about 6 hours. The highest  level is called a high tide. Then the water drops and it is in the lowest level called a low tide. Then the water level keeps on rising then falling. There are two high tides everyday which mean that there is two low tides everyday.

Low Tide

The Moon Is Earth’s Natural Satellite

Childrens Book

Apollo’s Success: The Story on the Moon 

Neil Armstrong is on the Moon. He had reported that the distance between the Earth and the Moon is about 380,000 kilometers or 240,000 mi. Buzz Aldrin has stepped in something called a crater. Both of them are walking and walking then they see a huge dark area. They warned each other not to fall into one because those things are deep. When they got closer they saw a sign inside the dark area and it said mare. They passed more and more mares and then there were two mares and instead of a sign which said mare it said maria. Neil figured out that was the plural word for mare. Buzz and Neil both wanted to take a look inside the mare. The put their heads down and saw nothing but rock. They were hoping it be ocean. This discovery meant that were was no water on the Moon. They were walking around the Moon hoping that they would meet someone. There was no sign of life which was also disappointing. While they were walking on top of something they thought that this was a crater because it was higher than the maria. At school they also learned that these were called lunar high lands. They pretended that they were king of the Moon when they were on top of the crater. Buzz and Neil were bored so they decided to go back to Earth. When they were getting ready to launch they saw a small object hit the Moon’s surface. They ran out to see what it was. Walked and walked until they saw a crater. Not these two figured out how craters were formed, when something hits a planet’s surface. They were wondering why they couldn’t find craters on the Earth’s surface. Then a fact came to Buzz’s head. The Earth is covered by 75% of water. He told Neil his idea about water and the craters on Earth. After this discover they both went back to their home on Earth.

 

FACTS THAT I HAVEN’T COVERED

Mass-1% of Earth’s mass

Diameter-27% of Earth’s diameter

Average Distance from Earth-380,000 km

Orbits in-27.3 Earth days

Rotates in-27.3 Earth days

A long time ago some of the biggest craters filled with molten rock, or lava, that came from under the Moon’s surface. The lava filled the coldest areas, creating the big, flat plains called the maria. The biggest maria are on the near side of the Moon. However, the deepest one is on the far side; close to the Moon’s South Pole. When you look at the disk of the Moon, there are some light areas and dark areas on the Moon’s surface. The pull of gravity keeps the Moon where we want it to be, not just wandering or floating some place else. You know how the Moon is closest to Earth, but it still is a long way. The diameter of the Moon is about one-fourth of the Earth. The Moon is about thirty Earth diameters away.