Download extra-terrestrial observatories

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FACTS, RESOURCES AND AC
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EXTRA-TE IES
OBSERVATOR
passed between Galileo’s
Over three hundred years
raand the proposal of an ext
astronomical exploration
ical
om
ron
the 1960’s, the first ast
terrestrial observatory. In
ing
bit
with the launch of the Or
telescope went into space
signed
(OSO). The OSO was de
Astronomical Observatory
um,
raviolet side of the spectr
to collect light on the ult
agery,
im
l
ducing fantastic visua
rather than visible. Not pro
were
ical space observatories
meant the first astronom
d to
cessor that was designe
overshadowed by their suc
ible.
vis
ing
lud
gths of light – inc
observe multiple wavelen
in
ope (HST) was launched
The Hubble Space Telesc
le
tab
gest and most adap
1990 and is one of the lar
ing over 11,000kg, its
space telescopes. Weigh
rared camera, ultraviolet
instruments include an inf
spectrograph, fine
guidance sensors, as
well as an optical survey
al
camera, wide-field optic
al
tic
op
camera and
spectrometer (for those
stunning photos).
%
It was developed in
collaboration with
NASA and the European
ned to be serviced
only telescope ever desig
Space Agency, and is the
ons so far to make
ere have been five missi
in space by astronauts. Th
nts. The images
gies, and replace instrume
olo
hn
tec
de
gra
up
s,
air
rep
about space
the how the public think
d
ge
an
ch
r
eve
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le
bb
from Hu
nts.
aching astronomical eve
and has illustrated far-re
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bb Space Telescope (JW
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es
Jam
the
,
sor
ces
Hubble’s suc
ational collaboration
d is the result of an intern
to be launched in 2018 an
,000km from Earth
will operate about 1,500
It
s.
trie
un
co
17
t
ou
ab
of
over 2,000 times
r out than the Moon and
the
far
es
tim
r
fou
ost
– alm
a JWST resource.
le. Check back soon for
farther away than Hubb
o decades
During itsstpwace, Hubble
in outer n running on
has bee wable energy
100 renesolar panels.
from its
SCIENC
CONTEN E
T/
CURRIC
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APPREC
INK
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ASK QU THAT SCIENTIS
E
T
OUR WO STIONS ABOUT S
TO INVE RLD THAT LEAD
THAT OP STIGATIONS AN
IMPORTA EN-MINDEDNES D
S IS
NT B
MAY BE ECAUSE THERE
MORE T
H
ONE EX
PLANAT AN
ION.
Horsehead Nebu
la. Image credit
: NASA, ESA,
and the Hubble
Heritage Team
(STScI/AURA)
Check out
other reso these
urces...
Hubble
websit
e–
ubbles
ite.org/
James
Webb
constru
c
http://w tion live feed
–
ww.jws
t.nasa.g
ov/
http://h
DISCUSSION POINTS
ubble have so
Why does mHents on board?
many instru
What are the hundreds of space
telescopes and probes doing, and
what have we learnt from them?
STARDOME.ORG.NZ
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TEACHER
RESOURCE
PLANETARIUM
STARDOME OBSERVATORY & TIES ON...
TIVI
FACTS, RESOURCES AND AC
N
O
I
T
C
U
D
O
INTR
S
E
P
O
C
S
E
L
E
TO T
SCIENC
CONTEN E
T/
CURRIC
ULUM L
APPREC
INK
IATE
ASK QU THAT SCIENTIS
E
T
OUR WO STIONS ABOUT S
TO INVE RLD THAT LEAD
THAT OP STIGATIONS AN
IMPORT EN–MINDEDNES D
ANT BEC
S IS
AU
MAY BE
MORE T SE THERE
H
AN O
EXPLAN
ATION. NE
plications in
invented for terrestrial ap
The first telescope was
ey, Zacharias
Dutchmen, Hans Lippersh
the Netherlands by three
ed with the
s. Often, Galileo is credit
Jansen and Jacob Metiu
ope was inspired by the
invention, but his telesc
ile he wasn’t the original
Dutchmen’s design. Wh
to
he was the first person
creator of the telescope,
s.
ion
vat
ronomical obser
point one skyward for ast
ts
could also magnify objec
The Galilean telescope
r the
r than three times large
thirty times larger, rathe
nage.
original versions could ma
her
d focuses light using eit
A telescope collects an
of
es
are two main typ
mirrors or lenses. There
g
and reflecting. A refractin
telescopes – refracting
e
HOW A
ile a reflecting telescop
telescope uses lenses wh
the
of
d
en
REFLECTOR
mirror at the
uses mirrors. The lens or
ht
lig
rs
the
TELESCOPE
telescope ga
from a large area and
WORKS
collects it into a smaller
area to make a brighter
image. A magnifying
lens, aka the eyepiece,
image and enlarges
then takes that brighter
more detail.
it so that we can see it in
ny different shapes
Telescopes come in ma
u can set up at
and sizes – small ones yo
Zeiss telescope
Edith Winstone Blackwell
the
like
es
on
The Very Large Telescope
r
ge
lar
to
,
home
n get very large indeed
– http://www.eso.org/public/
ca
es
op
esc
tel
t,
fac
In
.
at Stardome
teles-instr/paranal/
Large Telescope’!
escope named ‘The Very
ter main
– located in Chile is a tel
me
dia
m
8.2
h
wit
ch
ea
it Telescopes,
There, you’ll find four Un
to see details
er to enable astronomers
eth
tog
rk
wo
n
ca
t
tha
rs
mirro
individually.
en the telescopes used
wh
n
tha
l
tai
de
er
fin
es
up to 25 tim
about
es here on Earth. Orbiting
There aren’t just telescop
escopes in history.
is one of the greatest tel
569 kilometers above us
tory here.
extra-terrestrial observa
Find out more about the
Mirror
lescope
The wordotme Ancient
derives fr le’ meaning
Greek, ‘te‘skopein’ is
far, and or see.
to look
Check out this
other resource...
DISCUSSION POINTS
mical
What asturldonyoou use
object woe to look at?
a telescop
How does seeing further
away give us the ability
to see back in time?
STARDOME.ORG.NZ
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ACTIVITY
PLANETARIUM
STARDOME OBSERVATORY &
R
U
O
Y
D
L
BUI
!
E
P
O
C
S
E
L
OWN TE
is to give your students
Each of these activities
of telescopes.
a better understanding
Years 1-4
roduces children to the
The Star Craft activity int
es
how land based telescop
concept of constellations,
.
sky
ht
nig
m to look up at the
work and encourages the
the instructions.
Click here to download
Years 5-8
,
ation game from NASA
Using a clever flash anim
s for
about some of the reason
your students can learn
ments
get to select which instru
building satellites. They
would
y
the
rse
part of our unive
are on board and which
will
nts
de
of the game, your stu
like to study. At the end
is
t
ation about a satellite tha
be presented with inform
one they designed.
the most similar to the
sa.gov/build.html
Click here http://jwst.na
Years 9-13
your students can build
On their own, or in pairs
James Webb telescope.
a model of Hubble or the
es and some time, but
You’ll need some suppli
l help your students
completing the craft wil
truments a satellite
understand how many ins
they are used for.
has on board, and what
model templates:
Download the free NASA
• Hubble
_telescope/hand-held_
http://hubblesite.org/the
te.php
hubble/paper-intermedia
• James Webb
ermodel_swales.html
http://jwst.nasa.gov/pap
ity and
iv
t
c
a
r
u
o
y
f
o
o
t
Take a pho . We’d love to see it!
send it to [email protected]
education
STARDOME.ORG.NZ
09 624 1246