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Interstellar Real Estate: Location, Location, Location Defining the Habitable Zone What makes Earth the perfect home for life as we know it? Students in this activity explore the orbital characteristics a planetary home needs to support Earth-like life forms NSTA 2002 Presenters: • • • • Ed Prather, University of Arizona Tim Slater, University of Arizona Alison Simmerman, Honoka’a Hawaii Donna Governor, Brown-Barge MS, Pensacola, FL What is Astrobiology? Astrobiology is the study of life in the universe. It provides a biological perspective to many areas of NASA research, linking such endeavors as the search for habitable planets, exploration missions to Mars and Europa, efforts to understand the origin of life, and planning for the future of life beyond Earth. Astrobiology Goals: Astrobiology addresses three basic questions, which have been asked in some form for generations. Astrobiology is exciting today because we have the technology to begin to answer these fundamental questions: • How does life begin and develop? • Does life exist elsewhere in the universe? • What is life's future on Earth and beyond? What’s New in Astrobiology? Interstellar Real Estate Part 1 Exploration Activity 1: The Goldilocks Principle Part 2 Introduction Part 3 Application Activity 6: Activity 2: Why is There Abundant Life on Recently Earth? Discovered New Activity 3: Defining Planets the Habitable Zone Activity 7: Activity 4: The Sun is Marketing Your a Star? New Extra-Solar Activity 5: Size and Planet Mass are Important! Activity: Scale Distance Model Distance in AU’s & Scale Mercury: .39 - 2cm Venus: .72 - 3.6cm Earth: 1 - 5cm Mars: 1.52 - 7.6 cm Jupiter: 5.2 - 26 cm Saturn: 9.54 - 47.7 cm Uranus: 19.2 - 96 cm Neptune: 30 - 150 cm Pluto: 39.5 - 198 cm Habitable Zone: .84 to 1.7 4.2 to 8.5 cm Activity: Stellar Sorting Sort your star cards by: Distance from Earth Temperature What pattern emerges? Which stars will support Earth-like life? How is the habitable zone effected by star type? Activity: Extra Solar Planets In addition to having just the right kind of star, a planet must also have just the right mass and be just the right size to support life! Mass - .5 - 10 Me Radius - .8 - 2.2 Re Which extra solar planets might be JUST RIGHT? Implementation Defining the Habitable Zone The Sun is a Star? Stellar Classification Extra Solar Planets Interstellar Real Estate Interstellar Real Estate Interstellar Real Estate Interstellar Real Estate Interstellar Real Estate Astrobiology in the Classroom NASA – CERES Project http://btc.montana.edu/ceres Montana State University Preliminary Lessons • • • • • • • • • • Designer DNA Drake Equation Extra-Solar Planets Extreme Environments Habitability Zones Mission to Mars Rare Earth Remote Sensing Intergalactic Communication Time Scales On-Line Courses National Teacher’s Enhancement Network • Astrobiology for Teachers Related Courses • Studying the Universe with Space Observatories • Comparative Planetology Interstellar Real Estate