Download Scale of the Universe

Name _________________________________________ Date _____________ Per _______ Doc ______
Scale of the Universe
Watch this video: http://youtu.be/gIbfYsQfNWs
Then, go to : http://htwins.net/scale2/
and turn off the sound.
Scroll out slowly. Click on images below to find out more about them.
Satellites:
1. Apollo lunar rover is 101 times bigger than a human (this info is in the lower right). This means that it is 10 times
bigger than an average person! Remember the exponent tells you how many times you multiply that number by
its self. So, 102 means 10 x 10. This also means that 103 = 10 x 10 x 10.
2. International space station. How many times bigger than a human is it if it is 102 times larger
20
or
100
Humans have been living on the ISS continuously for how many years?_______________
3. Cruithne. Although Cruithne is an asteroid that orbits the sun (not the Earth) it is sometimes called Earth’s
___________________________
_______________________________.
It is ____________________kilometers.
4. Deimos is a moon of Mars. It is our solar system’s __________________moon. You could
____________________________ it in a day!
5. Phobos is the other moon of Mars. What would happen if you threw a baseball on Phobos? Why?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
6. Halley’s Comet orbits the sun every 75 years. Comets are made of dust, frozen chemicals, and rocky debris.
When they approach the sun, sublimation occurs and a visible coma and tail appear in the sky for days.
Sublimation changes solids into ________________ rapidly. The largest part of a comet is its _______________ .
Why do you think comets shrink over time?___________________________________________
7. Once a MASSIVE star has used all of its fuel, it may explode in a supernova. The neutron star is all that remains
of the original star. What are neutron stars made of?_____________________________
Is a neutron star bigger or smaller than the State of Rhode Island?
How much does 1 mm of a neutron star weigh?____________________________
Why?________________________________________________________
8. Which is bigger:
Pluto or
the USA
Pluto
or
the Moon
Pluto’s official name is 134340 Pluto because it is classified as a _________________________.
9. Pluto has five moons. One of them, Charon, is a similar size, so some people consider them to be a
_________________ ___________________.
10. Eris is the largest __________________________ in our solar system and is found in the Kuiper Belt.
11. Europa is one of Jupiter’s many moons. What might be found underneath its ice?______________________.
12. Io is another one of Jupiter’s moons and is the 4th largest in the solar system . It is the most ________________
object in our solar system.
13. Sedna is the farthest object in our solar system. It takes _____________________years to orbit the Sun!
14. The moon is also known as _____________ & takes _______days______hours & ______minutes to orbit Earth.
Planets:
15. Mercury’s year is ________ Earth days long. It is ____________during the day and _________at night.
16. Which is bigger Mars or Asia?___________________________
17. Earth is very similar in size to which other planet?______________________________
18. Venus is a lot like Earth in size, but its temperature is very hot. Venus is ________________degrees because it
has a strong greenhouse effect due to lots of ____________________in the atmosphere.
19. Neptune’s year is equal to ___________________ Earth years.
20. Uranus rings look different than the other planets. Draw Uranus:
21. Saturn’s rings were discovered by _________________ who thought the rings were _______________.
22. Jupiter is the __________________ planet in our solar system. ______________ is the largest known planet.
Stars:
23. Proxima Centauri is the ____________________ star to Earth (other than our sun).
24. The sun is also known as ________________. It is ___________times wider than Earth.
25. Polaris is called the ____________ star because it is located above the North Pole. People use it to navigate
when they don’t have a GPS or compass.
26. Which is bigger, Enif, an orange supergiant star, or the distance between Earth and the Sun?
27. Deneb is the “north star” of which planet?________________
28. La Superba is red which makes it one of the ______________ stars at only 2500 ⁰C.
29. KY Cygny. Every though this star is 300,000 times brighter than the sun, but you can look directly at it. Why?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
30. VY Canis Majoris. Is the ______________________known star. If it replaced the sun it would reach beyond
__________________. Flying around it by plane would take _____________________years.
Solar System:
31. Distance from Neptune to the Sun. Neptune is the __________________planet in our solar system. The
distance between Neptune and the Sun is greater than the size of any known __________________.
32. Voyager 1 to Earth. How far has Voyager 1 traveled over the last 34 years?__________billion km.
33. Light day. How far does light travel in a day?____________________________Which is larger, a light-day or the
distance Voyager 1 has traveled?____________________
34. The Kuiper Belt is just past Neptune. It is a lot like the _____________________belt and many
______________________________________ are found here.
35. Distance from Sedna to the Sun. When something is at its farthest point from the Sun it is called
___________________________. One year on Sedna =
years on Earth.
36. The Oort Cloud is the outermost part of our solar system and contain icy balls of ammonia that circle the sun
called _____________________________. (begins with a c)
What other TYPE of stellar objects are the size of the Oort Cloud?_________________ (begins with an N)
Nebulas & Galaxies:
37. List the name of the nebula that you think looks the coolest:_________________________________________
38. Which is bigger, a nebula or galaxy?_____________________________
39. The Pillars of Creation are 7,000 light years away. They were destroyed by a supernova but it will take
__________________years to see it. The explosion was 6,000 years ago. When we look at them we see the
past and we will see the explosion in 1,000 years.
40. The Milky Way Galaxy is ______________________ light years across!
41. The distance the Earth has traveled since it formed. The Earth is moving through space at ____________km/hr,
which is
times slower than the speed of light.
Galaxy Clusters:
42. The Local Group is a collection of our closest galaxies. There are _____________ galaxies in it and the 2 largest
are ____________________________ and ____________________________________.
43. Why is the Great Attractor pulling the Milky Way galaxy toward itself?
44. Hubble Deep Field is the view from the Hubble telescope. How many galaxies are seen?___________________
45. Is the Eridanus Supervoid colder or warmer than normal space temperature?
What is its temperature?
Observable Universe:
46. How many billion light years across is the universe that we can observe?
47. What is the definition of Universe?
48. Zoom in. How long is an FM radio wave?
49. How long is a microwave?
50. Which is larger, a skin cell or an infrared wave?
51. Why do water particles have a hard time flowing through clay?
52. Which is bigger, the largest known virus or a violet light wave?
53. Why can’t an optical microscope see anything smaller than 200 nm?
54. Is an ultraviolet wave smaller than HIV?
55. Carbon nanotubes are the
. What is a nanometer?
material yet discovered. They are also
Is it bigger than an X-Ray wave?
56. Since Hydrogen is #1 on the Periodic Table and is the lightest element, we would expect it to also be the smallest
but it is not! A helium atom is smaller! Why?
57. A gamma ray is bigger than a nucleus of
58. What is the shortest confirmed length?
59. What might be shorter?
60. Astronomers think black holes may give off neutrinos. What are they?
61. What is quantum foam?
How about string?