Space | Week 9 | Galaxies

Poem: Dinosaur Diets – Jane Yolen

Constellation: Bootes

Craft: Galaxy in a Jar

Space Person: Joscelyn Bell (Wikipedia, PBS: A Science Odyssey) Discovered the first radio pulsars

Movie: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Vocabulary:

• galaxy: a collection of star systems
• milky way galaxy: the name of our galaxy, a spiral galaxy that contains about 400 billion stars
• elliptical galaxy: a galaxy shaped like a round or flattened ball, generally containing only old stars
• irregular galaxy: a galaxy that does not have a regular shape
• spiral galaxy: a galaxy with a bulge in the middle and arms that spiral outward in a pinwheel pattern
• nuclear bulge: the spherical cloud of stars that lies at the center of spiral galaxies
• halo: spherical region that surrounds the nuclear bulge and disk
• galaxy disk: Disk galaxies are galaxies which have disks, a flattened circular volume of stars

References: Galaxy Types, Kid Astronomy : Galaxy, Explore the Milky Way Galaxy Documentary,  Milky Way Song, Milky Way Galaxy,  Galaxies Part 1, Galaxies Part 2

Space | Week 8 | Comets & Asteroids

Quote: Early Bird – Shel Silverstein

Constellation: Corona Borealis

Space Person: Kepler (Wikipedia, Famous Scientists) Famous for Planetary Laws of Motion

Movie: Armageddon

Vocabulary:

• comet: an object that falls in outer space that orbits on an elliptical path
• meteor: a falling rock object in outer space that burns as it falls
• meteorite: a meteor that explodes after it falls down
• meteoroid: a rock that is smaller than an asteroid and at least as small as a speck of dust
• asteroid: minor planet made up of minerals and rock
• asteroid belt: circumstellar disc located between Mars and Jupiter occupied by numerous irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets
• nebula: a cloud of interstellar dust and rock
• alien: something different or foreign

References:

Top 10 Comets, Comets: Crash Course, All about Comets, Bill Nye- Could we stop an Asteroid?, Asteroid Belt, Asteroid Belt

Space | Week 7 | Stars & Space Debris

Poem: Evening Star – Edgar Allen Poe

Constellation: Aquila

Craft: Marshmallow Constellations

Space Person: Willamina Fleming (Wikipedia, Working Women) Famous for developing new star classification system, discovered many novae, nebulae, and variable stars.

Movie: Stargate

Vocabulary:

• stellar nebula: a cloud of super heated gasses and other elements formed by the explosive death of a massive star
• average star: a star predicted to go through the main sequence of life
• red giant: a star that has low surface temperature and a diameter that is large relative to the sun
• planetary nebula: created when a star blows of it’s outer layers after it has run out of fuel to burn
• white dwarf: the burned out core of collapsed stars that, like dying embers, slowly cool and fade away
• massive star: any star which is larger than 8 solar masses during its regular main sequence lifetime
• red supergiant: an aging giant star that has consumed its core’s supply of hydrogen fuel
• supernova: the explosion of a star.  the largest explosion that takes place in space

References:

Space Debris 1957 – 2016, Crashing Satellites,  Ted Talk: Let’s Clean Up the Space Junk, Life Cycle of a Star, Stars: Crash Course…

Space | Week 6 | Black Holes

Poem: Listen to the Mustn’ts by Shel Silverstein

Constellation: Learn your own Zodiac Sign

Craft: Black Holes

Space Person: Galileo (wikipedia, achievements) – Known for discovering the moon had craters, Jupiter has moons, & dropping objects off the Tower of Pisa

Movie: Independence Day

Vocabulary:

• accretion disk: an orbiting disk of matter spiraling in towards a black hole
• black hole: remnant of a star that is so dense that nothing not even light can escape it’s gravity field
• event horizon: the invisible boundary around a black hole which when passed nothing can escape the gravitational pull, not even light
• gamma ray burst: a sudden burst of gamma rays from deep space which bursts apparently come from distant galaxies, but their precise mechanism is unknown
• singularity: a point in which matter is infinitely dense, as in the center of a black hole or the universe at the very beginning
• stellar black hole: a black hole formed by the gravitational collapse of a massive star at the end of it’s lifetime
• super massive black hole: the largest type of black hole in a galaxy on the order of hundreds of thousands to billions of solar masses

References:  What is a black hole?,  Nasa black holes,  Black hole facts, Black holes Explained, Black holes and light

Space | Week 5 : Moons

Poem:  I’m waiting for a rocket ship to take me to the moon.  My best friend has been building one, he’ll pick me up by noon.  First we’re going to skip moon rocks across the milky way.  And then we’ll ask some aliens to dance the moon ballet.  I think we’ll do some fishing for comets passing by.  We likely won’t catch any, but it’s still fun to try.  It always takes my breath away to see earth from the air.  But soon I’ll have to come back home- there are no bathrooms there.

Constellation: Cygnus

Craft:  Moon Phases/ Moon Rocks

Space Person: Caroline Herschel

Movie: Wall-E

Planetarium:

• June 26th | 11am |  Exploding Universe
• June 28th | 11am | Black Holes

Vocabulary:

• satellite: a celestial body that orbits (circles) another object in space
• lunar: a word that describes items associated with the moon
• regolith: the layer of loose material covering the hard rocky surface of the moon
• crater: a bowl shaped depression with a raised rim formed by the impact of a meteroid with the surface of the moon
• lunar phase: the particular appearance presented by the moon or a planet at a given time
• waxing: the moons visible area is increasing
• waning: the moons visible area is decreasing
• gibbous: when the moon is more than half full

References:  NatGO, Moon Phase Calendar, Moon’s effects on the Tides, Moons in Our Solar System, Top 10 Bizarre Moons, Niel Armstrong on the Moon

 

Space | Week 4 | The 9th Planet, Pluto, & Dwarf Planets

Poem or Quote: Warning – Shel Silverstein

Constellation: Hercules

Craft: Explosions/ Chemical Reactions

Space Person: Copernicus – Known for model of the universe where the sun is the center (wikipedia, 100 Greatest Discoveries)

Movie: Zathura

Planetarium:

• June 20th | 11am | Perfect Little Planet
• June 22nd | 11am | Wonders of the Universe

Vocabulary Words:

• pulsar: a highly magnetized rotating neutron star or white dwarf that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation, often looks like a flickering star
• dwarf planet: doesn’t meet at least one of the 3 requirements
• ISS: International Space Station
• interplanetary: situated or traveling between planets
• intergalactic: relating to or situated between two or more galaxies
• horizon: the line at which the earths surface and the sky appear to meet
• gravitation: movement toward or attraction to something
• aerospace: the branch of technology and industry concerned with both aviation and space flights

Video References: The 9th Planet, Scientists may have found “true” 9th planet, Planet 9 from Outer Space, Pluto: Still not a planet, Why Isn’t Pluto a Planet, Dwarf Planet Song,

Other References:

This past week my son REALLY enjoyed putting together a LEGO Space Ship that he received from his aunt.  If your kids love LEGOs try this one out from Amazon.

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Space | Week 3| Outer Planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, & Neptune

Poem or Quote: May I suggest that you reduce the rush and take a little extra time to get to know yourself better.  Walk in nature, watch a sunrise, enjoy God’s creations, ponder the truths of the restored gospel and find out what they mean for you personally.  Learn to see yourself as Heavenly Father sees you – as His precious daughter or son with divine potential.   – G. Todd Christofferson

Constellation: Draco the Dragon

Craft: Planet Mobile

Space Person: Annie Cannon – known for stellar classification

Movie: Apollo 13

Planetarium: June 14th, 11am  New Horizons

Vocabulary Words:

• planet : orbits the sun, round, and has enough gravity to clear it’s orbit of other objects
• solar system : a group of stars, moons, and planets in outer space
• axis : an imaginary line that tilts and rotates the planets
• revolution : when planets complete a turn around the sun
• aerodynamics : the study of the properties of moving air; especially the interaction between air and solid bodies moving through it.
• re-entry : the action or process of re-entering the earths atmosphere
• zodiac :
• trajectory : the path followed by a projectile flying or an object moving under the action of given forces

Video References: Gas Giants, Uranus, The Outer Planets, Why are the Inner Planets and Outer Planets Different?, Gas Giants Weather

This week’s craft is a planet mobile.  Here is one that is on my wish list:

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Space | Week 2 | Inner Planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, & Mars

Poem: Trees by Harry Behn

Constellation: Cassiopeia

Craft: Galaxy T-Shirt

Space Person: Ptolemy – known for idea that the earth was the center of the universe.(Wikipedia,  Ptolemy’s Model Of the Universe)

Movie: Men in Black

Planetarium Shows:  (Check out the Planetarium Shows post to reserve tickets!)

• June 5th at 11am – Dynamic Earth
• June 7th at 11am – Two Small Pieces of Glass

Vocabulary Words:

• astronomy: a branch of science that deals with celestial objects, space, and the physical universe as a whole
• atmosphere: the envelope of gases surrounding the earth or another planet
• troposphere: the first layer of the atmosphere.  this is where we live and planes fly.
• stratosphere: the second layer of the atmosphere.  weather balloons go as high as the stratosphere.
• mesosphere: the third layer of the atmosphere.  this is where most meteors burn up.  the coldest place on earth is at the top of the mesosphere
• thermosphere: the fourth layer of atmosphere.  the air is very thin and temperatures get extremely hot.  at the lower layer of the thermosphere is where the northern lights are, nearer the top is where space shuttles and the ISS orbit.
• exosphere: the fifth and last layer of atmosphere.  it goes up to 10,000 km above the earths surface.
• altitude: height above sea level or the earth’s surface.

Video References:  Explore the Solar System: The Rocky Planets,  The Solar System Song, Inner Planets,  Terrestrial Planets,  The Planet Mercury , The Planet Venus, The Planet Earth, & The Planet Mars

We recently purchased a telescope.  It is pretty great.  We busted it out and looked at the moon.  We haven’t done anything with the starts or planets yet.  The sun is setting later and later and my kids can’t make it that late.  We might try waking up early in the morning though and seeing the stars and planets that way.  This is the one we purchased from Amazon.  It comes with a backpack which is nice.

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Planetarium Shows

The planetarium shows are located in the Romney building.  You enter the Romney thru the east side.  Straight ahead (and slightly to the right) there are stairs going down to the planetarium room.  The show cost $2 per person and you can pay me in cash or with a check when you get there.  I will try to have change available.  There is limited space available in the planetarium, so please reserve your tickets to guarantee that you get a place to sit.  If you have a child that will sit on your lap do not include them in your ticket count.

May 30, 2017 | 11am | Secrets of the Cardboard Rocket

• Show Description

June 1, 2017 | 11am| Secrets of the Sun

• Show Description

June 5, 2017 |11am | Dynamic Earth

• Show Description

June 7, 2017 | 11am | Two Small Pieces of Glass

• Show Description

June 14, 2017 | 11am | New Horizons

• Show Description

June 20, 2017 | 11am | Perfect Little Planet

• Reserve Tickets
• Show Description

June 22, 2017 | 11am | Wonders of the Universe

• Reserve Tickets
• Show Description

June 26, 2017 | 11am | Exploding Universe

• Reserve Tickets
• Show Description

June 28, 2017 | 11am | Black Holes

• Reserve Tickets
• Show Description

July 5, 2017 | 11am | Tales of the Mayan Skies

• Reserve Tickets
• Show Description

July 11, 2017 | 11am | Extreme Planets

• Reserve Tickets
• Show Description

July 13, 2017 | 11am | Totality

• Reserve Tickets
• This is a new show!!  The planetarium will be FREE and they will be giving away FREE solar eclipse glasses!  If the show sells out, I will see about a second showing.

 

Due to the university’s schedule there will not be any shows from July 16th until September 12th.  If the last few shows do fill up I will do my best to schedule additional shows before it closes for the rest of the summer.  If you’d like to contact me about shows my email is simplymer@yahoo.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Space | Week 1 | The Sun & Gravity

Poem or Quote: Atheism is so senseless.  When I look at the solar system, I see the earth at the right distance from the sun to receive the proper amounts of heat and light.  This did not happen by chance.  – Isaac Newton

Constellations:  Big Dipper, Little Dipper, North Star

Craft: Rockets (Pinterest Rocket board)

Space Person: Isaac Newton – known for the laws of gravity (Wikipedia Page,  Cool Kid Facts)

Movie: 2001 Space Odyssey

Planetarium Show:

•  May 29th at 11am – Secret of the Cardboard Rocket
• June 1st at 11 am – Secrets of the Sun

Vocabulary Words:

• gravity : the force of attraction between two objects
• weight : a measure of the force of gravity on an object
• escape velocity : the lowest velocity that a body must have in order to escape the gravitational attraction of a particular planet or other object
• propulsion : the action of driving or pushing forward
• solar : relating to the sun or utilizing the energy of the sun
• corona : outer layer of sun’s atmosphere, visible during a solar eclipse, looks like a halo around the sun
• sunspot : area of gas on the suns surface, cooler than the gas around it, helped prove that the sun rotates on its axis
• solar flare : sudden bursts of energy in the form of fire that erupts on the sun’s surface

Video References:  Learn about Gravity with Dr. Binocs, Crash Course Kids, 4K footage of the Sun, StoryBots “I’m so Hot!”, Gravity Visualized, Escape Velocity,

Other References: Weight on other planets,

I’ve used this star finder before and loved it.  Once upon a time my roommates and I put the winter constellations up in our college apartment living room!

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