Download Earth and Space Science Teacher Notes

Earth and Space Science
I. Studying the sky
A. Astronomy: The science that deals with the study of
space
B. Astronomer: The scientist who studies objects in space
a. They use various devices
b. Telescopes
c. Probes
d. Spacecraft
e. Other
C. Telescope: A device used to study objects in the solar
system and beyond
a. Some work by collecting more light than the
unaided eye can see
b. Two types of light telescopes
i. Refracting Telescope: Uses lenses to form
images
ii. Reflecting Telescope: Uses mirrors to form
images
c. Others work by collecting invisible energy waves
such as radio waves and x-rays
d. Hubble Space Telescope
i. Is a reflecting telescope
ii. It orbits the Earth and sends images to Earth
from space
iii. Since it is outside the Earth’s atmosphere, the
images are not distorted
iv. Using the HST, scientists can see objects far
beyond the view of any earthbound telescope
D. Space Probes
a. Space Probe: A spacecraft without humans aboard
that gathers data about objects in space
b. A probe may fly by, orbit, or land on objects in
space
c. Probes have spent back data on surface
temperatures and atmospheres of some planets as
well as pictures of planets and their moons
d. Since 1962, more than 45 American probes have
flown by or landed on all of the planets in the solar
system except Pluto
II. What is the Moon like?
A. The Moon is a ball of grey rock
B. It is covered with a powdery gray soil
C. It is 2,160 miles across
D. That is almost the size of the United States
III. Mountains, Valleys, and Plains
A. The surface of the moon rises with mountains and falls
with valleys just like the Earth
B. It also has flat plains
C. The bright areas of the moon are hills and valleys
D.
The dark areas are the low flat plains
E. Scientists originally thought the dark areas were seas or
oceans
F. They called them Seas or Maria
G. When men landed on the moon, they landed in the Sea of
Tranquility
IV. How craters form
A. A crater is a pit shaped like a bowl
B. There are craters on Earth
C. Meteorites are pieces of space material that land
D.
Craters are formed when Meteorites strike the moon
E. Meteorites can also strike the Earth but usually burn up
before they hit
F. They can range in size from a grain of sand to larger than
a house
V. It gets cold without a blanket
A. Earth is surrounded by a blanket of air called the
atmosphere
B. This layer of gases protects the Earth
C. It shields us from the Sun’s harmful rays and moderates
temperature
D. The Moon has no atmosphere
E. The temperature on the moon ranges from -279
degrees to 220 degrees
VI.The Moon
A. Earth’s only natural satellite
B. 8 Phases
a. Waxing – view of moon is getting larger
b. Waning – view of moon is getting smaller
c. New Moon – First phase of the cycle – moon is not
visible
d. Waxing Crescent – Second phase- Right slice is
visible
e. First Quarter – Third phase – Right half of moon
visible
f. Waxing Gibbous – Fourth phase – Right ¾ of moon
visible
g. Full Moon – Fifth phase – All of moon visible
h. Waning Gibbous – Sixth phase – Left ¾ of moon
visible
i. Last Quarter – Seventh phase – Left half of moon
visible
j. Waning Crescent – Eighth phase – Left slice is
visible
VII. Motion
A. Objects in the Solar System move or orbit around
the sun
i. Orbit: the path on which an object travels as it
moves around another object
1. A planet’s orbit is the oval shaped path the
planet travels around the sun
ii. All planets are in motion
1. Revolution: A planet moving in an orbit
around the sun
2. Year: The time it takes a planet to
complete one orbit or revolution around the
sun
3. Years are different for every planet
4. Rotation: The turning of a body on its axis
5. Axis: The imaginary line running from the
North Pole to the South Pole on which a
planet rotates
6. Day: The time it takes for a body to
complete one rotation
B. The North Star
i. Name is Polaris
ii. All other stars spin counter clockwise
iii. The end of the Big Dipper forms a line that
points to the North Star
C. Telling time
i. During the day, you can use the Sun to tell time
ii. At 12:00 noon, the Sun is at its highest point
iii. The Earth’s 24 hour rotation is the basis for our
time during the day
iv. The revolution of the Earth determines our 365
day year
v. The moon revolves around the Earth
approximately every 27 days
1. This makes our week 7 days (4x7=28 which
is close to 27)
2. This makes our months close to that as well
(28 or 29, 30, or 31 days)
VIII. The Sun
A. 9/10 is Hydrogen gas
B. 1/10 is Helium gas
C. Dense core of gasses
D. Most of the mass of the sun is in the core
E. Energy of the sun comes from changes in the core
F. Hydrogen in the core is changed to Helium
G. Heat is produced
H. Light is produced
IX. Structure
A. Corona: The hot outer atmosphere of the sun
B. Can only be seen from Earth during an eclipse
C. Appears to be a halo around the sun
D. Surface is in constant motion
E. Solar Flare: An eruption on the surface of the sun
F. Sunspot: A dark region in the atmosphere of the sun
X. Sunspots
A. Cooler than the surrounding regions
B. Number increases and decreases in an eleven year
cycle
C. Some think that the number of spots affects the
Earth’s climate
XI. Sun Compared to Other Stars
A. Sun is a star
B.
Sun is the closest star to the Earth
C.
Mid sized star
D.
Sun is much larger than Earth
E.
Sun is 93 million (93,000,000) miles away
F.
It takes light 8 minutes to travel from the sun to
the Earth
XII. Stars
A. Star- A huge sphere of hot glowing gas
i. We view stars at the speed of light
1. 300,000 kilometers per second
ii. Nothing is faster than the speed of light
iii. Light Year- is the distance that light travels in
one year (5.9 trillion miles)
B.Stars differ in many ways
i. Size
ii. Color
iii. Temperature
iv. Brightness
C. Size of stars – Divided into 5 main groups
i. Neutron Stars – The smallest stars – about 16
km. in diameter
ii. White Dwarf Stars – the second smallest –
Smaller than Earth
iii. Medium Sized Stars – This is the size of the sun
iv. Giant Stars – Stars with diameters about 10 to
100 times as large as the sun
v. Supergiant Stars – Stars with diameters up
1,000 times as large as the sun
D. Color and temperature
i. Can be any color of the spectrum
ii. Colors correspond to temperature
1. Blue
11,000 – 50,000 C
2. Blue-White
7,500 – 11,000 C
3. White
6,000 – 7,500 C
4. Yellow
5,000 - 6,000 C
5. Orange-Red
3,500 – 5,000 C
6. Red
2,000 - 3,500 C
E. Brightness
i. Two ways to measure brightness
1. Apparent Magnitude – How bright it
appears from Earth
2. Absolute Magnitude – Amount of light
actually given off
ii. Variable star – A star that varies in its
brightness
XIII. Life cycle of a star
A. Nebulas- massive cloud of dust and gas where stars
are probably born
B. Proto-stars- gas and dust condense to form the
beginnings of stars in a nebula
C. Life of an average star
i. Lasts billions of years
ii. Stars as hydrogen
iii. Burns and becomes helium
iv. Red Giant- as star burns more fuel, more of star
is helium than hydrogen
1. Causes core to collapse which adds energy
to star causes the outer layers to expand
2. Star swells to many times its original size
3. Star cools and turns red
v. White Dwarf- Last of fuel runs out and star
collapses again
1. About the size of the Earth
2. Star shines dimly
3. Very dense
vi. Black Dwarf1. Star dies completely
2. Becomes cool and dark
XIV. Life of a massive star
A. Shorter life than average stars
B. Star battles between gravity and explosive forces
which causes star to expand and contract
C. Supernova- when stars fuel is used up, outer layers
collapse suddenly creating tremendous pressure which
causes a gigantic explosion
D. Neutron Star- the collapse of the core is so powerful
that it crushes the remaining matter
E. A spoonful of a neutron star would weigh more than
the Earth
F. Black Hole- A star keeps shrinking to a point so small
that its gravity is huge.
G. Nothing can escape its gravity including light
XV. Meteoroids, Asteroids, and Comets
A. Meteoroid: A mass of metal or stone moving through
space
i. Range in size from pebbles to small moons
ii. Some meteoroids come near Earth and enter its
atmosphere
iii. Meteor: The streak of light caused by a
meteoroid passing through the Earth’s
atmosphere
iv. Meteor Shower: Occurs when a large number of
meteoroids enter the Earth’s atmosphere
v. Certain showers occur each year
vi. Most meteoroids burn up before they reach the
ground
B. Meteorite: A meteoroid that has landed on Earth
i. Made up of minerals
ii. They produce holes or craters in the Earth’s
surface
C. Asteroid: Chunks of rock found mainly in the region of
space between Mars and Jupiter
i. This region divides the inner and the outer
planets
ii. Most have irregular shapes
iii. Sized from boulders to tiny moons
iv. Made of rock, metal, and/or ice
v. Some come close to Earth
vi. Like a tiny planet, each asteroid has its own orbit
around the Sun
D. Comet: A body in space that is formed of rocks,
frozen gases, and dust that orbits the Sun
i. At one end of orbit, a comet comes very close to
the Sun
ii. Cannot be seen till it approaches the Sun
iii. Coma forms a tail of dust and gas
iv. The tail always points away from the Sun
v. Most famous is Halley’s comet
XVI. Eclipses
A. Solar Eclipse: When the moon casts its shadow over
the Earth
i. Moon is between Earth and the Sun
B. Lunar Eclipse: When the Earth casts its shadow over
the Moon
i. Earth is between the Sun and Moon
XVII. The Seasons
A. Caused by the tilt of the Earth on its axis
B. When the North Pole is tilted towards the Sun, it is
summer in the Northern Hemisphere
C. When the North Pole is tilted away from the sun, it is
Winter in the Northern Hemisphere
D. When in transition, it is either Spring or Fall
XVIII. The Solar System
A. Solar System- consists of a star and the objects that
revolve around it
B. Birth of the universe
C. Universe- all of the energy and matter that exists
D. Planet: A large body in orbit around the Sun
A. Inner Planets: the 4 closest planets to the sun
1. Mercury
a. Closest to the Sun
b. About the size of Earth’s Moon
c. Almost no atmosphere
d. Surface is like the surface of the
Moon
2. Venus
a. 2nd from the sun
b. Second brightest object in the night
sky (after the Moon)
c. About the same size as the Earth
d. Rocky core and surface
e. Thick Carbon Dioxide atmosphere
3. Earth
a. Our planet
b. 3rd from the Sun
c. Most of atmosphere is Nitrogen gas
d. ¾ of surface covered with liquid water
e. Has one moon
4. Mars
a. 4th planet from the sun
b. Red planet due to rust colored dust on
surface of planet
c. A little smaller than Earth
d. Thin atmosphere made of Carbon
Dioxide
e. Polar ice caps are CO2
f. Has 2 moons
B. Outer Planets: the 5 farthest planets from
the sun
1. Jupiter
a. 5th from the Sun
b. Largest planet in the Solar System
c. Gas giant made of mostly Hydrogen
and Helium
d. Thin rings
e. Has more known moons than any other
planet (63 as of 9/13/09)
2. Saturn
a. 6th from the sun
b. Know for its rings
c. Second largest planet in the Solar
System
d. Mostly Hydrogen and Helium
e. Has 2nd most number of moons (61 as
of 9/13/09)
3. Uranus
a. 7th from the sun
b. Third largest in the solar system
c. Rotates on its side
d. Atmosphere is mostly Hydrogen,
Helium, and Methane
e. Has 27 known moons
f. Has 11 rings
4. Neptune
a. Usually 8th from the Sun
b. 4th largest planet
c. Atmosphere is methane
d. At least 13 known moons
e. Has 5 rings
5. Pluto
a. No longer considered a planet but a
dwarf planet
b. Mostly thought to be frozen gases
c. Thin atmosphere of methane
d. 3 known moons