Download Modeling the Orbits of the Outer Planets

Name _____________________________________________________________
Modeling the Orbits of the Outer Planets
(a NASA New Horizons activity)
Materials
¾
¾
¾
¾
¾
Paper clip
Scissors
Glue
Pencil and crayons or markers
Planet sheets
Safety Concerns: Scissors. Discuss safe and proper use of
scissors.
Procedure
1. Cut all the shapes following the instructions on the Student Activity Sheets.
2. Glue planets onto the edge of the correct planet’s orbital disk.
3. Unbend one end of the paperclip. Using this end of the paperclip, poke a hole
through the point marked “Sun” on each of the orbital disks. Work from the outer
planets, inward (i.e. first poke hole through Pluto’s orbital disk, next through Neptune’s,
etc.).
4. Bend the long end of the paperclip back into place so the planets’ orbital disks don’t
fall off.
Answer the following questions:
1. How does spinning the planets around the Sun model what is happening in space?
2. On your model, where would the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars be
located? What is different about the sizes of these inner planets’ orbits compared to
the orbits of the outer planets?
Select and answer one of the following on a separate sheet of paper. (Your response
must be complete, neatly written, and fully cover the topic. A sentence or two will not
adequately answer the question):
Õ Make a bar graph comparing the distances of the outer planets.
Õ Review the New Horizons fact sheet. Write a paper about the mission.
Õ Make a model of Pluto. Write a paragraph about Pluto.
MODELING THE ORBITS OF THE PLANETS
STUDENT ACTIVITY SHEET
Cut out the orbits of the five Outer
Planets along the dotted lines.
Color then cut out the five Outer Planets.
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Product of NASA’s New Horizons Program Education & Public Outreach
Neptune
Pluto
1
Cut out this piece!
Product of NASA’s New Horizons Program Education & Public Outreach
2
Product of NASA’s New Horizons Program Education & Public Outreach
3
The First Mission to the Pluto System and the Kuiper Belt
Voyage to an Unexplored Planet and a New Realm
The New Horizons mission will help us understand worlds at the
edge of our solar system by making the first reconnaissance of the
planet Pluto and by venturing deeper into the distant, mysterious
Kuiper Belt – a relic of solar system formation.
A close-up look at these worlds from a spacecraft promises to
tell an incredible story about the origins and outskirts of our solar
system. New Horizons also will explore – for the first time – how
ice dwarf planets like Pluto and Kuiper Belt bodies have evolved
over time.
The Journey
The Need to Explore
New Horizons launched on Jan. 19, 2006; it swung past Jupiter
for a gravity boost and scientific studies in February 2007, and will
conduct a five-month-long reconnaissance flyby study of Pluto and
Charon in summer 2015. Pluto closest approach is scheduled for
July 14, 2015. As part of an extended mission, the spacecraft is
expected to head farther into the Kuiper Belt to examine one or two
of the ancient, icy mini-worlds in that vast region, at least a billion
miles beyond Neptune’s orbit.
Sending a spacecraft on this long journey will help us answer basic
questions about the surface properties, geology, interior makeup
and atmospheres on these bodies.
New Science
The National Academy of Sciences
has ranked the exploration of the
Kuiper Belt – including Pluto – of
the highest priority for solar system
exploration. Generally, New Horizons
seeks to understand where Pluto and
its moons “fit in” with the other objects
in the solar system, such as the inner
rocky planets (Earth, Mars, Venus
and Mercury) and the outer
gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus and Neptune).
The United States has been the first nation to reach every
planet from Mercury to Neptune with a space probe. If New
Horizons is successful, it will allow the U.S. to complete the initial
reconnaissance of the solar system.
A Team Approach
Principal Investigator Dr. Alan Stern, of NASA Headquarters, leads
the mission team. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics
Laboratory (APL) manages the mission for NASA, and designed,
built and operates the spacecraft. Southwest Research Institute
(SwRI) is responsible for science payload operations, and data
reduction and archiving, and participates in the science team. The
mission team also includes KinetX, Inc. (navigation team), Ball
Aerospace Corporation, the Boeing Company, NASA Goddard
Space Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Stanford University, Lockheed Martin Corporation,
University of Colorado, the U.S. Department of Energy
and a number of other firms, NASA centers and
university partners.
Pluto and its largest
moon, Charon, belong
to a third category
known as “ice dwarfs.” They have solid surfaces but,
unlike the terrestrial planets, a significant portion
of their mass is icy material.
In 2005, using Hubble Space Telescope
images, New Horizons team members
discovered two previously
unknown moons of Pluto,
Nix and Hydra.
NASA’s First New Frontiers Mission
Artist’s concept of the New Horizons spacecraft and Pluto-Charon
Almost Ten Years and
Over Three Billion Miles …
Fall 2014:
Jupiter
Reconnaissance begins
about 200 days before the
spacecraft’s closest approach
to Pluto.
Pluto
April–July 2015:
Exploration of the Pluto
system begins with a 5-month
intensive study to understand these
mysterious worlds. On July 14,
New Horizons will make its closest
approach to Pluto and its moons.
Earth
February 2007:
New Horizons gets a gravity assist
from Jupiter and gathers unique,
exciting science data on the giant
planet and its moons.
January 19, 2006:
New Horizons spacecraft lifts off
from Cape Canaveral, Florida — the
fastest spacecraft ever launched.
REX
2017–2020:
With NASA approval, the
spacecraft will be directed
toward one or more Kuiper
Belt Objects beyond Pluto.
Science Payload
PEPSSI
• Ralph: Visible and infrared imager/spectrometer; provides color,
composition and thermal maps.
• Alice: Ultraviolet imaging spectrometer; analyzes composition and
structure of Pluto’s atmosphere and looks for atmospheres around
Charon and Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs).
• REX (Radio Science EXperiment): Measures atmospheric
composition and temperature; passive radiometer.
SWAP
ALICE
RALPH
LORRI
VBSDC (Under
spacecraft;
not visible)
Join the Adventure
New Horizons on the Web
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu
• LORRI (LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager): Telescopic camera;
obtains encounter data at long distances, maps Pluto’s far side and
provides high resolution geologic data.
• SWAP (Solar Wind Around Pluto): Solar wind and plasma
spectrometer; measures atmospheric “escape rate” and observes
Pluto’s interaction with solar wind.
• PEPSSI (Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science
Investigation): Energetic particle spectrometer; measures the
composition and density of plasma (ions) escaping from Pluto’s
atmosphere.
• VBSDC (Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter): Built and operated
by students at University of Colorado; measures the space dust
peppering New Horizons during its voyage across the solar system.
August 2007
Pluto's surface
as seen by HST-FOC
P
PLUTO
average distance from sun:
5.9 biillion km (39.5 AU)
diameter:
2340 km
CHARON
distance from Pluto:
19,640 km
diameter:
1203 km
1. Cut out globe along
thin solid lines.
2. Fold and then unfold
the dashed lines.
3. Glue the poles together
(tabs marked P).
4. Glue the equator
(tab marked E).
5. Put glue on all
remaining tabs.
6. Attach poles
to equator.
P
Map by
A. Stern (SwRI) &
M. Buie (Lowell),
Projection by
L. Young (BU)
E
Pluto Statistics
1 of 2
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/pluto/statistics.html
Planetary Symbol:
Name in Roman/Greek Mythology:
Pluto / Hades
Diameter:
2,390 km (1,485 miles)
[0.187 x Earth's]
Orbital Semimajor Axis:
(average distance from Sun)
39.48 AU
(Earth = 1 AU)
Mass:
12.5 x 1021 kilograms
(0.0021 x Earth's)
Orbital Eccentricity:
0.2488
Density:
1,750 kg/m3
(0.317 x Earth's)
Maximum Distance from Sun:
49.31 AU
( 7.376 billion km or
4.583 billion miles )
Surface Gravity:
0.58 m/s2
(0.06 x Earth's)
Minimum Distance from Sun:
29.66 AU
( 4.437 billion km or
2.757 billion miles )
Surface Temperature:
40 to 50 K
( -233° to -223° C or
-387° to -369° F )
Minimum Distance from Earth:
28.6 AU
( 4.28 billion km or
2.66 billion miles )
Tilt of Axis:
123o
Orbital Inclination:
(tilt of orbit plane)
17.16°
Rotation Period about Axis:
(length of Pluto's day)
6.387 days (retrograde)
Revolution Period about the Sun:
(length of Pluto's year)
248 years
Satellites:
3 known
Pluto Image Archive
10/31/2009 6:06 PM