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Astronomy Outline
Big Idea
The study of space involves understanding various types of cosmic bodies and their interactions.
Essential Questions
• What do we see when we look at the sky at night?
• How does the Earth compare with the other planets?
• How can we use charts to locate and identify star patterns?
Vocabulary
• Planet—A cosmic body that orbits around a star, has enough gravity to be round, and
travels in a path free of other similar-sized objects.
• Solar System—The sun and all celestial objects bound to it by gravity, including planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, comets, meteoroids, and dust.
• Star—A massive, hot, glowing ball of plasma, or ionized gas.
• Constellation—A specific region of the sky and all the stars it contains. Many constellations contain familiar asterisms.
• Asterism—Star pattern recognized by various cultures as a character from history or
mythology. The patterns most people call “constellations” are known by astronomers
as asterisms.
• Light Pollution—Ambient sky glow caused by artificial lighting.
• Meteorite—Also called a “shooting star” or a “falling star,” a meteor is a piece of rock,
ice, or dust entering Earth’s atmosphere. It streaks across the sky very quickly and
usually burns up before hitting the ground. Astronomers call a stray piece of rock,
dust, or ice in the solar system that has not entered Earth’s atmosphere a meteoroid, a
meteor that hits the ground a meteorite, and a very bright meteor a fireball.
• Lunar Phase—A distinct stage in the cycle of the moon as it looks from Earth.
• New Moon—The lunar phase that occurs when the moon is positioned between the
sun and the Earth, making the moon look dark from Earth.
• Full Moon—The lunar phase that occurs when the moon is positioned on the opposite
side of the Earth from the Sun, making the moon look fully bright.
• Quarter—A lunar phase in which half of the side of the moon visible from Earth is
illuminated. The First Quarter (with the right-hand side of the moon shining) occurs
after the New Moon, and the Last Quarter (with the left-hand side of the moon shining) occurs after the Full Moon.
• Crescent—A lunar phase between a New Moon and a Quarter, in which less than half
of the side of the moon visible from Earth is illuminated.
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Astronomy Outline
• Gibbous—A lunar phase between a Quarter and a Full Moon, in which more than half
of the side of the moon visible from Earth is illuminated.
• Waxing—Becoming larger. The moon appears to be waxing for the first half of its
cycle, starting from the New Moon and approaching the Full Moon.
• Waning—Becoming smaller. The moon appears to be waning for the second half of its
cycle, starting from the Full Moon and approaching the New Moon.
2 Hour Outline
• Introduction (10 minutes)
• Trip to the Moon (20 minute rotation of Moon Phases and Crash Landing)
• Design an Alien
• Solar System Walk
• Make Your Own Constellation (20 minutes)
• Sky Watching (20 minutes)
1 Hour Outline
• Introduction (10 minutes)
• Solar System Walk (30 minutes)
• Sky Watching (20 minutes)
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Astronomy Activities
INTRODUCTION
Lead In
10 Minutes
Explain to the students that for the next hour (or two, depending on
the program length) they will be thinking about the universe beyond
our planet. Ask the group why they think people are so intrigued by
space.
Procedures
Separate the students into groups of five or so and ask them to think
of as many everyday things as they can with names having to do with
space. These could be cars, kinds of food, toys, fictional characters, or
anything else they can come up with. Groups can write their lists on
paper or just discuss.
Wrap Up
Bring the group back together and ask them to share what they came
up with. List the items on the board and ask the students what kinds
of categories you could use to classify them. First, categorize them by
type of item: for example, Mars Bars, Starburst, Milky Way, and Orbit
Gum would all go together. Next, put the items in different categories
based on the type of astronomical object, so that Mars Bars would now
go with Saturn and Mercury automobiles. How many different types of
astronomical objects are represented? What other types can the students
think of?
Trip to the Moon
20 Minutes
Lead In
Keep the list of different types of astronomical objects where the
whole group can see it, and ask them to put the objects in order of distance from the Earth. Which are closest and which are farthest away? A
sample list might include:
• Moon (It’s 238,857 miles from Earth)
• Rocky planets:
• Venus (25 million miles)
• Mars (35 million miles)
• Mercury (48 million miles)
• Sun (92 million miles)
• Asteroid Belt (Between Mars and Jupiter)
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Astronomy Activities
• Gas Giant planets:
• Jupiter (365 million miles)
• Saturn (746 million miles)
• Uranus (1.6 billion miles)
• Neptune (2.68 billion miles)
• Comets (They’re sometimes farther away than
dwarf planets but can come within the inner
Solar System.)
• Other stars
Numbers are included on this list in case the students are curious.
There is no need to bring up these exact distances at this point, just be
sure that the students understand the general order of distances and
realize that the moon is the closest by far. In fact, the moon is the only
celestial object humans have set foot on.
Procedures
Explain to the students that they will be thinking about many of
these celestial objects today, and because the moon is closest, they’ll start
there. There are two activities they’ll do. Keeping the students in their
small groups, send about half of the class to one station and about half
to the other.
At station one, the students will explore the phases of the moon as
seen from Earth. Give each small group a set of moon phase cards, a
styrofoam ball, and a lamp, and explain that the ball they are holding
will represent the moon and their heads will represent the Earth. The
lamp, of course, is the sun. Have each student stand with his or her back
to the lamp and hold the moon ball up at arm’s length so that some light
shines on it. Explain that just like the Earth has day and night, so does
the moon. Ask them to point to where it is night on their moons. Why is
it night there? Where is it daytime? Why? How about on their “Earths,”
or heads? Now demonstrate how to put the moon balls in orbit by moving the ball around your head from right to left. Have the students try it,
watching how the phase of the moon ball changes. After they have had
time to explore, ask why the moon has phases. Why is only a portion
of their moon balls illuminated? So why is only a portion of the moon
illuminated? The dark area is the nighttime side of the moon, where the
sun is not shining. The lit side of the moon will always be pointing in
the direction of the sun. To review, have each small group put the moon
phase cards in order.
At station two, the students will work in their small groups to determine what is needed to survive on the moon. Pass out a laminated
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Astronomy Activities
“crash landing” sheet to each group and explain that they have become
a team of lunar explorers at a time in the future when humans have
established bases for research on the moon. Their vehicle has wrecked
about sixty miles from the nearest base, which is not too far to walk in
the moon’s lower gravity, but will still take over forty-eight hours including time to rest. Fortunately it is daylight on the moon and will be
for the entire time of their journey (it takes the moon 27 Earth days to
make one revolution). From the list provided, they must choose the five
most important things they will carry. Give the students about five minutes to come up with their lists and then bring the small groups back together to share. Some of the items are more useful than others, but there
are only two that are completely useless—follow the NASA engineer’s
list to lead the wrap-up discussion.
Wrap Up
Ask the students what they learned about the moon from these activities. Would they ever consider visiting the moon?
Teacher’s note: The following two activities can be done at the same
time, like the last two. With smaller groups they can be done consecutively, with the entire group participating in one activity and then the
other, but larger groups should be split up. For very large groups (50
or more students), there can be a rotation of three centers: Trip to the
Moon, Design an Alien, and Solar System Walk. This rotation would last
about an hour.
Design An Alien
20 minutes
Lead In
Ask the students what they already know about the other planets
besides Earth, especially about the conditions on those planets. Could
humans live there? Why?
Procedures
Explain that each student or pair of students will be in charge of
designing an alien life form that can live on another planet. They will
be given a description of a planet and should think about what adaptations an alien living there would need to have in order to breathe, move
around, eat, and defend itself. The alien will need a name as well. Give
the students 10 minutes or so to design and draw their aliens.
Wrap Up
Once the students have finished drawing and have returned their
materials, gather them in a circle. Planet by planet, starting with Mercury, have one student tell about the habitat conditions and then allow any
students who designed an alien for that planet to share. After you’ve
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gone through the whole solar system and everyone has had a chance to
share, ask the students which planets were similar to each other. Were
the aliens designed for those planets similar? Which planets were easiest
to work with, and which were hardest?
Solar System Walk
20 minutes
Lead In
Ask the students if they know what a scale model is (A scale model
shows an object in a size humans can understand. It might be scaled up,
like a model of an atom, or scaled down, like a model train. The scale is
like the scale on a map, where one inch might represent a mile.) What
kinds of scale models have they seen or used? Tell them that they are
about to make a scale model of the solar system.
Procedures
Show the bowling ball and explain that in the model, this will represent the sun. Ask the students what the next largest thing in the solar system is (Jupiter). If the sun were really the size of a bowling ball,
how big would Jupiter be? Ask them to show with their hands, then
bring out a large shooter marble and explain that in this model, Jupiter
would be about that size. Go through the rest of the planets in order:
Mercury would be a pinhead and Venus would be half a grain of rice.
Our planet, Earth, which is 8,000 miles wide, would be the other half of
the rice grain. Mars would be another pinhead, Saturn a regular marble,
and Uranus and Neptune would both be pencil erasers. Pluto and other
dwarf planets are so tiny they’d have to be represented by the pointed
end of a pin or something even smaller. Think about it: Our 8,000-mile
wide planet is represented by a grain of rice eight hundredths of an inch
wide. What is the scale of this model? (One inch in the model represents
one hundred thousand miles of solar system.)
Now that you have the sizes of the planets, ask the students how
big the entire model would have to be. Could it fit on a tabletop? How
about in the room? Explain that in this model, one yard represents
3,600,000 miles. On average, a person’s pace is around a yard, so for the
model the group will count steps. One step will be 3,600,000 miles. Just
to get an idea of the size of the model, call on a volunteer to travel from
the sun to Earth: set the bowling ball down, hand Earth to the volunteer,
and explain that Earth is 93 million miles from the sun, which would be
26 steps in the model. When your “space shuttle” approaches the edge
of the room, remind the students that there are five more planets beyond
Earth. The model will not fit indoors.
Take the group and all the components of the solar system outside to
the end of the road where the Falls Trail begins. Set the Sun at the very
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end of the road and get the group ready to start traveling through space.
You can either assign one student to count the number of steps or do it
as a whole group. At every planet, pause to share the information on the
corresponding card. Put the planet down where it will be easy to see –
the small planets are attached to their cards, which should be weighted
down so they don’t blow away. To reach Neptune, the walk is nearly
half a mile, so if time is a consideration, turn back at Jupiter or Saturn.
Wrap Up
While walking back to the Sun and retrieving all the planets, bring
the students’ attention to the fact that the planets in the model were all
laid out in a straight line. Is that the way they are arranged in real life?
(No, because they each follow their own orbital path. Planets are sometimes lined up with one another, but at some other time the two could
be on opposite sides of the Sun from each other, because the orbits are
different sizes.)
Once you have returned to the Sun, ask the students to list things
you passed on the walk. Are there really trees, rocks, a river, cars, etc.
floating around between the planets? (Of course not. As far apart as the
planets are from each other, there’s nothing of comparable size between
them. Even the Asteroid Belt, between Mars and Jupiter, is so small that
it would seem like a collection of dust in this model.) Because the Sun is
the biggest thing close to the planets, they are all attracted to its gravity
and orbit around it. The next closest star after the sun, Proxima Centauri, is 4.2 light years away, or over 24 million million miles. Light from
Proxima Centauri has been traveling through space for four years by the
time we see it, and the star itself is so far away that in the model we’d
have to walk four thousand miles to reach it. If we started the model in
California and walked all the way to Maine, we still wouldn’t be able to
put down a ball to represent Proxima Centauri. When we look up at the
stars, we see some that are hundreds of times further from us than that
– ask the students to imagine how big our model would have to be to
include every star we can see from Earth.
Personal Constellation—Outdoor Version
15 minutes
Lead In
Explain to the group that they are going to be walking outside for
some stargazing. They may bring flashlights but should avoid shining
them in one another’s eyes. If it is damp or cold, let them bring foam
sleeping mats outside with them. Hand each student or small group (up
to three) a clipboard with paper and pencil.
Procedures
Arrange the group within speaking distance on the field. Give them
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a moment to look at the sky and tell them that for thousands of years,
people who spend time outdoors at night have seen pictures in the stars.
Connecting them as in a connect-the-dots puzzle, people have made
pictures of characters from myths and legends, of people they know
or admire, or of familiar animals or objects. Some of these pictures are
well-known constellations today, while others are known only to one
culture, but they all have a story explaining how they got in the sky.
Individually or in small groups, the students are to look at the stars
until they find a simple picture of someone or something they think
deserves to be in the sky. They should draw the star pattern and the
picture on their paper and then write a story explaining it.
Wrap Up
Lead In
Show the group how to point out their constellations by establishing
some landmarks that will help the group communicate where things
are in the sky. Point out directions as compared to a clock: tell them
which direction is 12:00, then ask which would be 6:00, 9:00, etc. Show
them how to estimate distance between stars: with arm outstretched,
count how many finger widths it takes to go from the horizon to the first
star you want to show, then to the next. Everyone’s fingers are different sizes, but it’s a close approximation and will give people an idea of
how far away to look. On a night with some moisture in the air, a bright
flashlight will help in pointing at the stars. Allow students to point out
their new constellations and tell the corresponding stories.
Personal Constellation—Indoor Version
Explain that for thousands of years, people who spend time outdoors
at night have seen pictures in the stars. Connecting them as in a connectthe-dots puzzle, people have made pictures of characters from myths
and legends, of people they know or admire, or of familiar animals or
objects. Some of these pictures are well-known constellations today,
while others are known only to one culture, but they all have a story
explaining how they got in the sky.
Procedures
Hand each student or group of students (up to 3) a star map for the
appropriate month. Tell them to look at the stars and find a pattern that
reminds them of someone or something they think should be in the sky.
Next they should make up a story explaining how it got there.
Wrap Up
Using the computer and projector in the Cove Room, project the star
map on the screen in front. Let students take turns pointing out their
own constellations and telling the stories.
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Sky Watching
20 minutes
Lead In
Procedures
If the group has not been outside already making their constellations,
orient them to the night sky by establishing some landmarks that will
help the group communicate where things are. Point out directions as
compared to a clock: tell them which direction is 12:00, then ask which
would be 6:00, 9:00, etc. Show them how to estimate distance between
stars: with arm outstretched, count how many finger widths it takes to
go from the horizon to the first star you want to show, then to the next.
Everyone’s fingers are different sizes, but it’s a close approximation and
will give people an idea of how far away to look. If the group has already had some time outdoors making and showing their own constellations, acknowledge their creativity and tell them there are many more
things to see in the night sky.
Begin by showing the students the most obviously-recognized constellations of the season, such as Orion, the Pleiades, the Big Dipper, and
Cassiopeia. Briefly tell the stories that go with these easy constellations.
If the students created their own constellations indoors, have them look
for the easy constellations on their star maps and use these for landmarks to find their own star patterns in the night sky.
If the moon is out, review its phases with the students. What causes
them? Which phase is it in tonight? In the case of a full moon so bright it
obscures the stars, tell some of the moon stories instead of the constellation ones.
Ask the students how the night sky over Tremont compares with
that over their own homes. Explain that light pollution occurs when the
glow from artificial light is so bright that the night sky is no longer dark.
This makes it hard for people to see the stars, and it also harms wildlife.
Migrating birds get confused, salamanders hide instead of going out
to hunt for food, and other nocturnal animals are disturbed from their
normal routines. What kinds of artificial lights do people use? (Streetlights, indoor lights in buildings, billboards, floodlights on houses, etc.)
How could we cut down on light pollution? (Closing the curtains or
shades, putting lights on a timer instead of leaving them on, only lighting areas we really need lit) Explain that while streetlights are necessary
for safety, some shine more light into the sky than on the ground where
we need it. Using the right kind of light fixture can keep people safe at
night and still let us see the stars. To determine the current sky quality if
Orion is visible, hand a magnitude chart to every three or four students
and have them match what they see to one of the pictures on the chart.
Explain that magnitude is a measure of a star’s brightness, with 1 being
the brightest and 7 being very dim. In very dark skies, you can see very
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Astronomy Activities
dim stars, but in areas with high light pollution, only bright stars will be
visible.
Other things you may see include:
• An arm of the Milky Way: Our galaxy is spiral-shaped and appears to us as a bright cloud stretching across the sky. In many
places, light from human sources fills the night sky to such a
degree that the Milky Way is not visible.
• Planets: You can tell the difference between a star and a planet
because a star will twinkle and a planet will have a steady glow.
Because of the variation in their orbits, planets will be seen at different times of night during different times of year.
• Colored stars: Some stars have a slight tint visible to the naked
eye, caused by their temperatures. Blue stars are the hottest, followed by white, then yellow, and red stars are the coolest.
• Meteors: Also called a “shooting star” or a “falling star,” a meteor is a piece of rock, ice, or dust entering Earth’s atmosphere. It
streaks across the sky very quickly and usually burns up before
hitting the ground. Astronomers call a stray piece of rock, dust,
or ice in the solar system that has not entered Earth’s atmosphere
a meteoroid,a meteor that hits the ground a meteorite, and a very
bright meteor a fireball. There is a chance of seeing a few meteors on any clear dark night, and occasionally the Earth passes
through a greater concentration of meteoroids, resulting in a
meteor shower.
• Satellites: There are many man-made objects in orbit around our
planet. Global Positioning Systems (GPS), satellite TV, and satellite phones are a few of the ways we use these objects. The International Space Station is a satellite. In the night sky, satellites look
like small, slowly moving stars.
• Airplanes: Move faster than satellites but slower than meteors,
look very big and sometimes colorful.
• Summer Constellations: The Big Dipper, Leo, and Cygnus are all
easily seen in the summer.
• Winter Constellations: Orion, Cassiopeia, Taurus, and the Pleiades are all easily seen in the winter.
Wrap Up
Give the students some quiet time to look at the sky. With smaller
groups, let them try using binoculars to examine the moon, planets,
and stars. Before going back inside, remind them that while Tremont’s
night sky may be darker and more spectacular than what they can see
at home, there is still plenty to see in any night sky. Encourage them to
watch the sky to find out how it changes through the year.
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Astronomy Resources
Moon Phase Cards (Trip to the Moon)
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Astronomy Resources
Moon Phase Cards (Trip to the Moon)
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Astronomy Resources
Moon Phase Cards (Trip to the Moon)
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Astronomy
Astronomy
Resources
Astronaut Gear List (trip to the Moon)
AstroNAut GeAr List
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self-inflating Life raft that uses a Carbon Dioxide Canister
• this raft is standard issue on shuttles that land on earth, in case of an emergency
water landing.
5 Gallons of Water
• Water is essential to life and to reconstituting dehydrated food.
Portable Heating unit
• this unit is designed to work on its own batteries with no external power source.
First Aid Kit with Hypodermic Needles
• Hypodermic needles fit special openings in the standard issue space suit.
Box of Matches
• these might be useful to make a signal fire or campfire in case of a crash on earth, but
would they be useful on the Moon?
two 100 Pound tanks of oxygen
• these tanks would weigh 100 pounds on earth, but in the Moon’s lighter gravity they
would weigh less than 17 pounds each.
Magnetic Compass
• true North on earth varies from magnetic North by as much as 23 degrees. How well
could you navigate on the Moon with this?
Food Concentrate
• Astronaut food is notoriously bad, but light weight and compact. Just add water and
that bowl of mush could taste like a pot roast.
self-igniting signal Flare
• this flare could work underwater or in the vacuum of space.
solar-Powered FM transceiver
• this radio transmitter and receiver requires only sunlight to function properly.
50 Feet of Nylon rope
• Nylon rope is tough and light weight.
Moon Constellation Map
• Navigating by the stars on the Moon would be very much the same as navigating by
the stars on earth.
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Astronomy Resources
Astronaut Gear List Answer Sheet (trip to the Moon)
A NASA engineer’s list of items to bring, in order of importance:
1. Oxygen - The most pressing survival requirement.
2. Water - There will be tremendous liquid loss and potential for dehydration
on the side of the Moon exposed to sunlight.
3. Constellation Map - Primary means of navigation; stars are visible if you look
away from the Sun in the sky.
4. Food - Will be necessary to keep everyone’s energy up during the walk.
5. FM transceiver - For communication with any rescue ships that might pass.
6. Rope - Useful in scaling cliffs or use in case of emergency.
7. First aid kit - Needles for medicines and vitamins fit special aperture on suit.
8. Raft - Low priority, but the carbon dioxide bottle could be a possible propulsion source.
9. Flares - Low priority; could be used as a distress signal if a rescue ship is
sighted.
10. Heater - Not needed in the Moon’s daytime hours, which last 27 Earth days.
11. Compass - Useless; the Moon has no global magnetic field.
12. Matches - There is no air on the Moon, so matches will not burn.
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Astronomy Resources
Design an Alien (Mercury)
Habitat: Mercury
Atmosphere: Very thin, created by solar winds that bring in hydrogen and helium atoms
and blast other atoms off Mercury’s surface. These atoms don’t stay in Mercury’s atmosphere for very long, but quickly escape into space because they are so hot.
Gravity: About 38% of Earth’s gravity, or less than half the strength of gravity on Earth.
Temperature: Varies from -300 to 800 degrees F (-183 to 426 degress C) with an average of
354 degrees F (179 degrees C)
Surface: Solid and rocky. It is mostly covered with large craters, some so deep the sun never
reaches the bottom. Mercury also has extinct volcanoes, cliffs over a hundred miles long and
nearly two miles high, and some flat plains.
Special Feature: Because Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, sunlight is over six times
as strong on Mercury as it is on Earth.
Alien’s Name: __________________________________________________________________
What does it eat?
How does it move?
What is its home or shelter?
How does it defend itself?
Anything else?
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Astronomy Resources
Design an Alien (VENUS)
Habitat: Venus
Atmosphere: Very dense, almost totally carbon dioxide.
Gravity: About 91% of Earth’s gravity, or a tiny bit weaker than the gravity on Earth.
Temperature: 863 degrees F (461.85 degrees C) on average. The carbon dioxide atmosphere
keeps Venus very hot all the time.
Surface: Solid, rocky, and dry, with few craters and many volcanoes.
Special Feature: The atmospheric pressure is so high that being on the surface of Venus
would put the same pressure on you as being a kilometer deep underwater on Earth.
Alien’s Name: __________________________________________________________________
What does it eat?
How does it move?
What is its home or shelter?
How does it defend itself?
Anything else?
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Astronomy Resources
Design an Alien (EARTH’s MOON)
Habitat: Earth’s Moon
Atmosphere: Very thin.
Gravity: About 17% of Earth’s gravity (much weaker than the gravity on Earth.
Temperature: Average 224 degrees F (107 degrees C) during the day and -243 degrees F (-153
C) during the night.
Surface: Solid and rocky. There are flat lowlands and mountainous highlands, with some
mountains near the north pole so high the sun never sets on them and some craters so deep
the sun never reaches the bottom. Scientists think there might be frozen water in these deep
craters, but there is no liquid water on the Moon.
Special Feature: The Moon has no wind or storms, so things like footprints and craters last
much longer than on the Earth.
Alien’s Name: __________________________________________________________________
What does it eat?
How does it move?
What is its home or shelter?
How does it defend itself?
Anything else?
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Astronomy Resources
Design an Alien (MARS)
Habitat: Mars
Atmosphere: Thin and dusty. Mostly carbon dioxide with little oxygen.
Gravity: About 38% of Earth’s gravity, or less than half the strength of gravity on Earth.
Temperature: Mars has seasons, like Earth seasons, but they last about six Earth months.
Temperatures vary from -220 degrees F (-140 degrees C) in the winters on the poles to about
68 degrees F (20 degrees C) in the summers.
Surface: Rocky, dusty, and dry. There are mountains, canyons, volcanoes, and craters. Mars
also has polar ice caps made of frozen carbon dioxide as well as frozen water.
Special Feature: The highest mountain and the deepest canyon of the Solar System are both
found on Mars.
Alien’s Name: __________________________________________________________________
What does it eat?
How does it move?
What is its home or shelter?
How does it defend itself?
Anything else?
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Astronomy Resources
Design an Alien (Jupiter)
Habitat: Jupiter
Atmosphere: Because Jupiter is a gas giant, it is almost all atmosphere. The chemicals in this
atmosphere are mostly hydrogen and helium, with some ammonia crystals, methane, sulfur,
and others.
Gravity: About 2.5 times Earth’s gravity. (You would weigh more than twice as much on Jupiter as you do on Earth.)
Temperature: At Jupiter’s core, the temperature is 43,000 degrees F. The core is very small,
and the rest of the planet is much colder. The average temperature in Jupiter’s atmosphere is
-163 degrees F (-108 degrees C).
Surface: Gassy and stormy. The famouse Great Red Spot is a storm more than two times the
size of Earth that has been going on since at least 1665, and probably longer. There are many
more bands of clouds that move constantly, and lightning is common on Jupiter.
Special Feature: Jupiter’s magnetic field is 20,000 times stronger than Earth’s.
Alien’s Name: __________________________________________________________________
What does it eat?
How does it move?
What is its home or shelter?
How does it defend itself?
Anything else?
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Astronomy Resources
Design an Alien (Saturn)
Habitat: Saturn
Atmosphere: Because Saturn is a gas giant, it is almost all atmosphere, and its atmosphere is
almost all hydrogen. It is very windy, with winds up to 1,118 miles an hour (1,800 km/hr).
Gravity: About 92% of Earth’s gravity, or a little weaker than the gravity on Earth.
Temperature: Varies from 21,092 degrees F (11,700 degrees C) at the core to -243 degrees F
(-153 degrees C) at the tops of the highest clouds.
Surface: Gas. There is a small rocky core surrounded by a layer of liquid hydrogen and helium, but most of Saturn is clouds of gas.
Special Feature: Saturn’s rings are made up of many different-sized pieces of ice and dust,
in sizes as small as one grain of dust and as large as a boulder.
Alien’s Name: __________________________________________________________________
What does it eat?
How does it move?
What is its home or shelter?
How does it defend itself?
Anything else?
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Design an Alien (Uranus)
Habitat: Uranus
Atmosphere: Because Uranus is a gas giant, it is almost all atmosphere. It is sometimes
called an “ice giant,” because many of the gases in its atmosphere are frozen in ice crystals.
Gravity: About 80% of Earth’s gravity (a little weaker than gravity on Earth).
Temperature: Uranus has the coldest atmosphere of any of the planets. It can be as cold as
-371 degrees F (-224 degrees C).
Surface: Gas. There is a very small rocky core surrounded by a layer of ice, but most of the
planet is made of hydrogen, helium, and frozen methane, ammonia, and water.
Special Feature: Uranus rotates sideways. Its north and south poles are where the equator
would be on any other planet.
Alien’s Name: __________________________________________________________________
What does it eat?
How does it move?
What is its home or shelter?
How does it defend itself?
Anything else?
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Astronomy Resources
Design an Alien (Neptune)
Habitat: Neptune
Atmosphere: Because Neptune is a gas giant, it is almost all atmosphere. It is sometimes
called an “ice giant,” because there are clouds of ice in the atmosphere. Neptune looks blue
because of methane and other gases.
Gravity: About 1.2 times Earth’s gravity (a little stronger than the gravity on Earth).
Temperature: Average of -330 degrees F (-201 degrees C).
Surface: There’s no solid surface on Neptune, just a very deep atmosphere of hydrogen,
helium, and methane, with clouds of frozen methane, water, and ammonia. The core of the
planet is small, rocky, and as hot as the sun, and is surrounded by superheated liquids.
Special Feature: Neptune has the fastest winds in the Solar System. They have been recorded at 1,304 miles an hour (2,100 kilometers per hour, and are much faster than the speed of
sound, which is about 761 miles an hour.
Alien’s Name: __________________________________________________________________
What does it eat?
How does it move?
What is its home or shelter?
How does it defend itself?
Anything else?
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Astronomy Resources
SOLAR SYSTEM WALK: DISTANCES AND SIZES
1. Mercury – Pinhead – 10 steps from the Sun
2. Venus – One BB – 9 steps from Mercury
3. Earth – One BB – 7 steps from Venus
(Moon – smaller pinhead – 2.4 inches from Earth)
4. Mars – Pinhead – 14 steps from Earth
5. Jupiter – Shooter marble – 95 steps from Mars (These steps
would take you through the Asteroid Belt)
6. Saturn – Regular marble – 112 steps from Jupiter
7. Uranus – Pencil eraser – 249 steps from Saturn
8. Neptune – Pencil eraser – 281 steps from Uranus
(Pluto – Pointed end of the pin – 242 steps from Neptune)
The closest star, Proxima Centauri, is 4.2 light years away.
That would be 4,000 miles in this model.
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Astronomy Resources
PLANET CARDS (SOLAR SYSTEM WALK)
Mercury
Year: 88 Earth days – the shortest year in the
Solar System!
Day: 59 Earth days
What’s it like? Dry and rocky. It’s very hot
during the day because it is the closest
planet to the Sun. The atmosphere is so
thin that it can’t hold that heat, so the
nights on Mercury are very cold.
Size: 3,032 miles across
Distance from Sun: 36 million miles
Venus
Year: 225 Earth days
Day: 243 Earth days – the longest day in
the Solar System!
What’s it like? Hot and smelly.
Venus has many volcanoes and a
thick atmosphere. It rains hot
sulfuric acid, and sometimes there
are lightning storms.
Size: 7,521 miles across
Distance from Sun: 67 million miles
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Astronomy Resources
PLANET CARDS (SOLAR SYSTEM WALK)
Earth
Year: 365 days
Day: 24 hours
What’s it like? Home. Earth is the only
planet in our Solar System that can
support human life. It is just the right
temperature, has an atmosphere made up
of gases we can breathe, and is covered in
water.
Size: 7,926 miles across
Distance from Sun: 93 million miles
Mars
Year: 1.9 (almost 2) Earth years
Day: 24 hours and 36 minutes
What’s it like? Red, rocky, and
dusty. Its surface is covered with
craters, canyons, and volcanoes.
There is a little water, but it is all
frozen.
Size: 4,222 miles across
Distance from Sun: 141 million miles
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Astronomy Resources
PLANET CARDS (SOLAR SYSTEM WALK)
Jupiter
Year: 11.9 (almost 12) Earth years
Day: 9 hours and 48 minutes – the
shortest day in the Solar System!
What’s it like? Cold and stormy. The
atmosphere is made of hydrogen,
ammonia, and methane. There are
four large moons and over 60 small
moons orbiting Jupiter.
Size: 88,736 miles across
Distance from Sun: 483 million miles Saturn
Year: 29 ½ Earth years
Day: 10 hours and 12 minutes
What’s it like? Windy and gassy.
Saturn’s rings are made up of
millions of particles of rock, dust,
and ice orbiting the planet, and
there are also many larger moons.
Size: 74,978 miles across
Distance from Sun: 887 million miles
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Astronomy Resources
PLANET CARDS (SOLAR SYSTEM WALK)
Uranus
Year: 84 Earth years
Day: 17 hours and 54 minutes
What’s it like? Gassy, cold and sideways.
Its axis is tilted completely on its side, so
each pole has sunlight for half a Uranus
year, or 42 Earth years. Uranus has faint
rings that are like Saturn’s but smaller.
Size: 32,193 miles across
Distance from Sun: 1,784 million miles
Neptune
Year: 165 Earth years
Day: 19 hours and 12 minutes
What’s it like? A lot like Uranus. It’s
the smallest of the gas giants and is
very cold because it is more than 2
billion miles from the Sun. Some of the
gases in its atmosphere are hydrogen,
methane, and ammonia.
Size: 30,755 miles across
Distance from Sun: 2,796 million miles Great Smoky Mountains Institute
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Astronomy Resources
CREATE A CONSTELLATION - JANUARY (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION)
The Night Sky in January
Your Name: ________________________________________
Constellation Name: _________________________________
Constellation Legend: ________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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Astronomy Resources
CREATE A CONSTELLATION - FEBRUARY (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION)
The Night Sky in February
Your Name: ________________________________________
Constellation Name: _________________________________
Constellation Legend: ________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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Astronomy Resources
CREATE A CONSTELLATION - MARCH (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION)
The Night Sky in March
Your Name: ________________________________________
Constellation Name: _________________________________
Constellation Legend: ________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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Astronomy Resources
CREATE A CONSTELLATION - APRIL (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION)
The Night Sky in April
Your Name: ________________________________________
Constellation Name: _________________________________
Constellation Legend: ________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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Astronomy Resources
CREATE A CONSTELLATION - MAY (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION)
The Night Sky in May
Your Name: ________________________________________
Constellation Name: _________________________________
Constellation Legend: ________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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___________________________________________________________________
Astronomy Resources
CREATE A CONSTELLATION - JUNE (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION)
The Night Sky in June
Your Name: ________________________________________
Constellation Name: _________________________________
Constellation Legend: ________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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Astronomy Resources
CREATE A CONSTELLATION - JULY (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION)
The Night Sky in July
Your Name: ________________________________________
Constellation Name: _________________________________
Constellation Legend: ________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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Astronomy Resources
CREATE A CONSTELLATION - AUGUST (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION)
The Night Sky in August
Your Name: ________________________________________
Constellation Name: _________________________________
Constellation Legend: ________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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Astronomy Resources
CREATE A CONSTELLATION - SEPTEMBER (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION)
The Night Sky in September
Your Name: ________________________________________
Constellation Name: _________________________________
Constellation Legend: ________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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Astronomy Resources
CREATE A CONSTELLATION - OCTOBER (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION)
The Night Sky in October
Your Name: ________________________________________
Constellation Name: _________________________________
Constellation Legend: ________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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Astronomy Resources
CREATE A CONSTELLATION - NOVEMBER (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION)
The Night Sky in November
Your Name: ________________________________________
Constellation Name: _________________________________
Constellation Legend: ________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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Astronomy Resources
CREATE A CONSTELLATION - DECEMBER (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION)
The Night Sky in December
Your Name: ________________________________________
Constellation Name: _________________________________
Constellation Legend: ________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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Astronomy Resources
JANUARY CONSTELLATION MAP (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION - INDOOR VERSION)
January
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Astronomy Resources
FEBRUARY CONSTELLATION MAP (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION - INDOOR VERSION)
February
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Astronomy Resources
MARCH CONSTELLATION MAP (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION - INDOOR VERSION)
March
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Astronomy Resources
APRIL CONSTELLATION MAP (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION - INDOOR VERSION)
April
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Astronomy Resources
MAY CONSTELLATION MAP (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION - INDOOR VERSION)
May
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Astronomy Resources
JUNE CONSTELLATION MAP (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION - INDOOR VERSION)
June
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Astronomy Resources
JULY CONSTELLATION MAP (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION - INDOOR VERSION)
July
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Astronomy Resources
AUGUST CONSTELLATION MAP (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION - INDOOR VERSION)
August
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Astronomy Resources
SEPTEMBER CONSTELLATION MAP (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION - INDOOR VERSION)
September
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Astronomy Resources
OCTOBER CONSTELLATION MAP (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION - INDOOR VERSION)
October
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Astronomy Resources
NOVEMBER CONSTELLATION MAP (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION - INDOOR VERSION)
November
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Astronomy Resources
DECEMBER CONSTELLATION MAP (PERSONAL CONSTELLATION - INDOOR VERSION)
December
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Astronomy Resources
CONSTELLATION STORIES (SKY WATCHING)
Greek Constellation Myths
Ursa Major & Ursa Minor
Zeus, the king of the Greek gods, fell in love with a woman neamed Callisto, who was
a good hunter. They had a son named Arcas, who also became a good hunter. Zeus’ wife,
Hera, was angry with Callisto and went looking for her, so Zeus turned Callisto into a bear
to protect her from Hera. This worked for a while, until one day Arcas went hunting. He
didn’t know his mother had been turned into a bear, he just thought she’d been gone for a
long time. When a big bear ran towards him in the woods, Arcas thought it was trying to
attack him! He was getting ready to shoot it with his bow and arrow, not knowing it was his
own mother, when Zeus saw what was happening. Zeus quickly turned Arcas into a small
bear. He grabbed both bears by their tails, swung them around, and threw them into the sky,
where they became stars. The two star bears, whose tails are stretched out from when Zeus
threw them, are still in the sky today, safe from Hera.
Leo
Hercules, the hero of Greek mythology, had twelve nearly impossible tasks to do. The first
one was to kill a lion called the Nemean Lion. When Hercules got to the cave the lion lived in and started to fight it, he realized that the Nemean Lion’s skin was so tough that it was impossible to cut it with a spear, sword, or arrow. Hercules thought fast and strangled the lion.
Then he used one of the lion’s own claws to skin it, and he kept the skin to wear as armor.
Cygnus
Apollo, the sun god, had a son named Phaethon. Every day, Apollo drove his chariot
across the sky, carrying the sun, and every day Phaethon begged to have a chance at driving
the chariot. One day Apollo let Phaeton drive the chariot, but Phaethon was a bad driver. He
lost control of the horses, and they started running closer and closer to Earth, until the Earth
was in danger of being burned. To save the Earth and all the people living there, Zeus, the
king of the gods, struck the runaway chariot with a bolt of lightning. The horses ran back
to their master Apollo, but Phaethon fell out, landed in a river, and drowned. His friend
Cygnus had been watching the whole time, and tried to save Phaethon. Cygnus dove in the
water again and again to find his friend, but it was too late. To reward his bravery, Apollo
turned Cygnus into a swan and placed him in the sky.
Orion
Armed with a club, a shield, and a knife, Orion was a mighty hunter. He had two dogs as
well, Canis Major and Canis Minor, and together they were so good that no animal was safe
from them. There are many different versions of the story of how Orion became a constellation; here is one of those stories. One day Orion bragged to Artemis, the goddess of the hunt,
that he would kill every animal on Earth. Artemis was annoyed that he was bragging, and
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CONSTELLATION STORIES (SKY WATCHING)
Orion (continued)
she also worried that he really would try to kill all the animals, so she set a giant scorpion
after him. The scorpion, named Scorpius, chased Orion into the sky, where both can still be
seen today. Orion is still a great hunter, with a rabbit (the constellation Lepus) beneath his
feet and his dogs running behind him. Scorpius is on the opposite site of the sky from Orion,
so they do not bother each other anymore.
Cassiopeia
Cassiopeia was a beautiful queen, so beautiful and vain that she bragged that she was
prettier than the sea nymphs. This made them so mad that they complained to Poseidon, the
god of the sea, who punished Cassiopeia by letting loose a monster whale in her kingdom
and tying the queen to her throne. Cassiopeia is still tied to her throne in the sky, where you
can see it if you look for a giant letter “W.” Sometimes the throne is upside down, leaving
Cassiopeia in a very dignified position.
Taurus
Taurus is a giant bull that looks like it’s charging right at Orion, but really they just
happen to be next to each other in the sky. There are no Greek myths that involve both
Orion and Taurus, but some other cultures had constellation stories about a giant and a
bull. In Greek mythology, Taurus is Zeus in disguise.
The Pleiades
The Pleiades are seven sisters who are related to many of the other Greek gods,
goddesses, and heroes in the night sky. The oldest of the seven is the mother of Hermes,
the messenger god.
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Astronomy Resources
ORION MAGNITUDE CHARTS (SKY WATCHING)
Magnitude 1
Magnitude 2
Magnitude 3
Magnitude 4
Magnitude 5
Magnitude 6
Magnitude 7
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