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FACILITATORGUIDE PocketSolarSystem Learningobjectives Thisactivityexploresthefollowingideas: • There’salotofemptyspaceinoursolarsystem—distancesbetweenplanetsarevast! • ThesolarsystemismadeupofeightplanetsandmanyotherobjectsorbitingtheSun. • NASA’ssciencemissionsareexploringoursolarsystem,andbeyond. Materials • • • • • • • • • Rollofreceiptpaper Scissors Meter-lengthmeasure Solarsystemstickers Markers ExploringtheSolarSysteminformationsheet Illustratedfacilitatorfoldingguide Optional:examplePocketSolarSystemmodel Activityandfacilitatorguides TheExploreSciencetoolkitcomescompletewithallnecessarymaterialsforthisactivity.Materials arealsoreadilyavailabletocreateorrestockactivitykits.Thesolarsystemstickersprovidedinthe physicaltoolkitarecustom-made,butyoucanuseotheroff-the-shelfstickersintheirplace.Graphic filescanbedownloadedfromwww.nisenet.org.Allothermaterialsareavailableatdiscountstores. Advancepreparation Itmighttakealittlepracticetofigureoutjusthowtofoldthepaperandplacethestickers.Before doingthiswithguests,tryfollowingeachstepandusetheillustratedfacilitatorfoldingguideifyou needhelp.(Youcanalsowatchtheactivitytrainingvideo:vimeo.com/191168509.)Notonlywillthis allowyoutopracticethesteps,butitwillalsoprovideanexamplevisualmodelforparticipants. Pre-cutthereceiptpaperintometerlengthsinadvanceofdoingthisactivitywithguests.Youwillneed onemeter-longstripofpaperperparticipant.Ifyou’reunabletocutthepaperinadvance,youcancut eachstripwitheachvisitorbeforeyoubegin. Notestothepresenter MakingthePocketSolarSystemmodel Refertotheillustratedinstructionsheettoguideparticipantsthroughthefollowingsteps: 1. PuttheSunatoneendofthepaperandtheKuiperbeltattheotherend. 2. Foldthepaperinhalfandmakesureyoucreaseitfirmly.Unfoldthepaper,drawalineinthe creasetomarktheorbit,andplacetheUranusstickersomewhereonthiscrease. 3. Refoldthepaperinhalfandfolditinhalfagain(youshouldnowhavefourths).Atthehalfway pointbetweenUranusandtheKuiperbelt,drawanorbitlineandplacetheNeptunesticker.At thehalfwaypointbetweenUranusandtheSun,drawanorbitlineandplaceSaturn. 4. Now,foldtheSunuptoSaturn.UnfoldthepaperandplaceJupiteratthehalfwaypoint betweenSaturnandtheSun.Besuretoaddalinerepresentingtheorbit. 5. FoldtheSuntomeetJupiter.Unfoldthepaperandplacetheasteroidbeltstickeratthehalfway pointbetweenJupiterandtheSun. 6. FoldtheSuntotheasteroidbelt.UnfoldthepaperandplaceMars,anditsorbitline,atthe halfwaypointbetweentheSunandtheasteroidbelt. 7. FoldtheSuntoMars.Leaveitfoldedandfoldthatsectioninhalfagain.Unfoldthepaperand youshouldhavethreecreases:MercuryanditsorbitgoonthecreaseclosesttotheSun,Venus goesonthenextcrease,andEarthgoesonthefinalcrease. Guests,especiallyyoungervisitors,mayneedclosesupervisionandhelptofolloweachstepofmaking thescalemodel.Asyougothrougheachstepoffoldingandplacingstickers,youmayliketoinvite participantstomakeapredictionaboutwhichplanetwillgoonthatcrease. Optional:Somevisitorsmaywanttotrypredictingwheretheythinktheplanetswillfallinascale modelofthesolarsystem.Thisworksespeciallywellforoldervisitorswhoarefamiliarwiththeplanets andhavelearnedtheirorder.Beforetheystartfolding,encouragethesegueststodrawinallthe planetsandotherobjectsinthesolarsystem.Worktogethertorememberalltheplanets.Then,have themflipthepaperoverfortheactivity.Whenthey’redone,theycancomparetheirpredictiontothe model.Howclosewastheirprediction?Whatwascorrect?Whatwasdifferent?Aretheysurprised? Conversationalprompts Aftervisitorshavemadetheirscalemodelsofthesolarsystem,encouragethemtolookatsomeofthe missionspacecraftimages.Humanshavesentmanysatellitesintospacetostudytheplanetsandother objects.Dotheywanttoaddinsomeofthehuman-madeobjectstravelingthroughthesolarsystem? EncouragevisitorstothinkaboutplanningtheirownNASAmission. • Wherewouldtheywanttosendaspacecraft? • Whatinstrumentswouldtheirspacecrafthave?Acameraforcapturingpictures?Amicrophone formeasuringsound?Athermometerfortakingtemperaturereadings?Achemistrykitfor testingfordifferentminerals? • Whowouldtheyneedontheirspacecraftteam?Whatrolewouldeachpersonplay? • Howmuchwouldtheirmissioncost,andwhowouldpay? • Whatwouldtheydowiththeirspacecraftoncethemissionwasover? • Whataretherisksandbenefitsofsendingaspacecrafttoexploreratherthanhumans? Importantnote:Thepocketsolarsystemmodelshowstherelativedistancebetweenobjectsinthe solarsystem.Itdoesn’tshowtherelativesizeoftheSunandtheplanets.Ifweweretoalsotakeinto accountthesizeoftheSunandplanetsonthissamescale,theSunwouldbesmallerthanagrainof sand,andyouwouldneedastrongmagnifyingglasstoseeanyoftheplanets! Difficultconcepts Thisactivity(orothereducationalactivitiesguestsmayhaveexperienced)cangivetheimpressionthat alltheplanetsinthesolarsystemarelinedupinarow.Toavoidthismisconception,encouragevisitors tothinkaboutthelinestheydrawonthecreasesaspartsofthefullcircularorbitsofplanetsaround theSun.Remindthemthattheplanetscouldbeanywhereonthosecircularorbits,butwe’rejust placingthemherebecauseoftheconstraintsofourmodel.Thelargeillustrationofoursolarsystemon theposterrepresentsamoreaccuratedepiction(ofaparticularmomentintime). Manypeopleimaginethesolarsystemasbeing“clean”oremptyasidefromtheobjectstheyknow. Whileitistruethatthespaceinbetweentheplanetsisfairlyempty,manyplanetsare“messy”with moons,bitsofdebris,andretiredspacecraft.Toaddressthisfact,youmightsaysomethinglike,“Yes, spacesometimesseems‘empty’tous,becausethedistancesaresovast.Butthereareactuallylotsof thingsinspace—they’rejustreallyfarapartortootinytosee!” Someguestsmayhavelearnedthattherewerenineplanets:Mercury,Venus,Earth,Mars,Jupiter, Saturn,Uranus,Neptune,andPluto.Plutoisnolongerconsideredatrueplanet,butresearchersthink theymayhavefoundevidenceforadifferent,still-undiscovered“PlanetNine.”Ifvisitorssuggestthere areactuallynineplanets,oraskaboutPluto,youcansaysomethinglike,“Yes,foralongtimewe thoughttherewerenineplanetsinthesolarsystem.Aswelearnmoreandmoreaboutouruniverse, wesometimesreviseourmodelsbasedonnewevidence.That’swhathappenedaswelearnedmore aboutoursolarsystem.RightnowscientiststhinkPlutoistoosmalltobeatrueplanet—butthereis someevidencethattheremaybeadifferentninthplanet!” Scaleinthesolarsystemcanbeatrickyconcept.Listentoresponsesorwatchforinteractionswith gueststhatmightindicatetheyarestrugglingtounderstand.Remember: • • • • TheSunistheonlystarinoursolarsystem(therearenootherstarssprinkledthroughout.) ThesolarsystemisinsidetheMilkyWayGalaxy(notinthecenter),whichispartoftheuniverse (butalsonot“inthecenter”).Visitorsmayconfusethesevocabularywordsandusethem interchangeably. Thelargeamountofspacebetweenplanetsstillcontainsthingslikedust,plasma,andlight,so itisn’ttruly“empty.” TheSun,nottheEarth,isthecenterofthesolarsystem. Stafftrainingresources RefertotheTipsforLeadingHands-onActivitiessheetinyouractivitymaterials. • Anactivitytrainingvideoisavailableatvimeo.com/191168509. • Acontenttrainingvideoisavailableatvimeo.com/191172070. TheNISENetworkhasacuratedlistofprograms,media,andprofessionaldevelopmentresourcesin theNASAWavelengthDigitalLibrarythatdirectlyrelatetothetoolkit.Theseresourcescanbeviewed anddownloadedfromnasawavelength.org/users/nisenet. Creditsandrights Thisactivityisaclassicthatexistsinmanyversions.NISENet’sadaptationwasinspiredbytheNight SkyNetwork’sPocketSolarSystem(retrievedfrom:https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/downloadview.cfm?Doc_ID=392)andbySciencenter’sversion,SolarSysteminYourPocket. IllustrationofJunoorbitingJupitercourtesyNASA/JPL-Caltech. PhotographofNASAcrewbuildingtheJunospacecraftcourtesyNASA/JPL-Caltech. CloseupofJupitercourtesyNASA/JPL-Caltech. PhotographofJunoLego®CrewcourtesyNASA/JPL-Caltech/KSC. PlanetsinorbitillustrationbyEmilyMaletzfortheNISENetwork. DevelopedanddistributedbytheNationalInformalSTEMEducationNetwork. Copyright2016,ScienceMuseumofMinnesota.PublishedunderaCreative CommonsAttribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlikelicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ ThismaterialisbaseduponworksupportedbyNASAundercooperativeagreement awardnumberNNX16AC67A.Anyopinions,findings,andconclusionsorrecommendationsexpressed inthismaterialarethoseoftheauthor(s)anddonotnecessarilyreflecttheviewoftheNational AeronauticsandSpaceAdministration(NASA).